The Mad

I take any bet that everyone rating/reviewing The Mad lower than with a humble 3 never had the experience nor joy to watch a really bad movie - and the zombie genre really got a lot of unwatchable schrott produced. Anyway, The Mad is a zombie comedy that is no revelation or new cult but got me here and there smiling (including a tango dance of the father with a zombie girl) and on top we get here and there some little gore injected. For sure a B-movie that got a decent level of cheese and trash, maybe with some lengths here and there that could have easy cleaned up with some cuts. Recommended only to the lover of the genre that does not mind to dig in trash to reveal something worth to watch.

"The Mad" is without a doubt meant to be bad. There can be little doubt that both the cast, the director, and most likely the screen writer foreordained this to be a laughably bad film. There are time in which Billy Zane's performance not only breaks the forth wall it shatters it into a thousand pieces, leaving the viewer in a vortex of both confusion and pure hilarity. If it's not zombies, who's only zombie like aspect is alka-seltzer driven mouth foam, it's seemingly omniscience beef patties that attack the characters in-mass. The full affect of this leaves one with more per-zombie-giggles than "FIDO". If you happen to have a group of pro-zombie minded friends and what a movie to put everyone in stitches try "The Mad".

I was just saying that I feel like seeing one unapologetic movie like Crank or Feast. The Mad is just that: a ridiculous zombie flick that doesn't take itself seriously for one single moment.

Was it good? Absolutely not. But it was fun enough. Perfect tension breaker after you've watched three other horror movies and felt like unwinding a bit.

Anyway, it is not as good as Feast, nor as fun, but at least is one film that breaks the norm and makes a little difference. Of course, meat corporations would have approved making a movie about how eating bio steak turns people into zombies :)

Having screened The Mad at the Gala Opening at the 2007 Canadian Filmmakers Festival, I can say that it would be a shame for this movie to be relegated to the 'Direct to Video Pile'. It's likely to become a cult movie in a similar vein to "Shaun of the Dead", "Evil Dead", "Return of the Living Dead", etc.

A tad slow in places, the intelligent humour and earnestness of the characters more than makes up for any shortcomings. This movie makes no pretense to being anything other than fun.

Nice to see Billy Zane in something other than a dramatic role, with luck we'll see more comedic acting from Zane in the future as he seemed to have a great deal of fun with this role.

Go 'Team Chris'

THE MAD concerns a family vacation interrupted by a hamburger-induced zombie outbreak. Billy Zane is the dad who must face the hideous horde, with the help of his daughter, her boyfriend, and a handful of other survivors.

The first half of the movie is very good. Zane and company are hilarious. Things bog down a bit during the middle part, but there are just enough funny bits to keep it rolling.

Besides, how often do you get a chance to witness a hamburger patty crawl around, bubble green goo, and fly onto someone's face?...