Madman

This hasn't any originality, but its decently constructed mood of fear and larger-than-life villain makes it one of the best of the many FRIDAY THE 13TH ripoffs of the '80s. A story whispered round a campfire tells of old "Madman Marz", a local farmer who, for no reason at all, went nuts and killed his own family one day. He was caught and done in by a lynch mob but his body disappeared and the locals believe he's still out there somewhere haunting the woods. It is said that if anyone goes near his old empty farmhouse and says his name aloud, the old coot will come out and murder anybody he can get his clawed, wrinkled old hands on. Of course some idiot goes to the property, calls out his name and dares Madman Marz to come kill his fellow campers. Naturally the ornery old reprobate obliges, stomping out of the dark forest growling in rage and armed with various sharp objects to bump off the cast. Madman Marz, a disfigured, overweight old ghoul with a long beard and most of his nose missing, is a frightening creation and the merciless cruelty with which he dispatches innocent bystanders is appropriately shocking. Gaylen Ross of DAWN OF THE DEAD and CREEPSHOW is the main star, billed as Alexis Dubin. Again, there's not much imagination here, but good lighting and professional camerawork keep things watchable and it must be admitted that, in the end, the nice, simple, spooky summertime slasher movie does succeed in being creepy and suspenseful often enough to make it of at least marginal interest. It ain't high art, but it is pretty scary.... and that's what horror movies are supposed to be, right?

The last night of Summer Camp finds a group of badly-dressed pubescent teens and over-sexed counselors deep in the woods telling ghost stories by the fireside. A story is told about a local farmer (Marz) who decided it was rather appropriate to hack his family to pieces while they slept in their beds. After discovering this, the locals hung Marz from a tree-branch and left him for dead. However, his body disappeared and now it is said that when his name is uttered, he appears and randomly hacks around for a while.

From here, a story emerges about a psycho killer, aptly named Madman Marz who likes wielding various sharp, heavy implements - chiefly an axe. You always know when madman's about to hack into someone because you hear the creepy bars of music that closely resembles "dow dow dow...eheheheheheh".

The film is straight from the teen horror text book and features the obligatory hot tub scene (featuring a man with a rather strange belly button and a buxom blonde ripe for a horror film hacking). Despite some inane killing, Marz shows true compassion when saving characters with a bad 70s/80s 'do from additional shame and embarrassment by mashing their head right into a car's engine and jamming the bonnet down on their shaggy mess of hair (that's one shonky sounding starter motor).

While it won't win any awards for originality, you have to admire the simple fun that Madman offers. Whether it be watching the "special" campers get separated and randomly massacred in the woods or the screaming blonde try to hide in a refrigerator, there is no doubt that Madman is a very under-stated horror classic.

"Madman" is essentially an early '80s retread of the summer camp slasher (done exponentially better by "Friday the 13th" and "The Burning" before it, and "Sleepaway Camp" after it). In the beginning of the film, a group of camp counselors and preteens are around a campfire— it's the week before Thanksgiving (who goes to camp in November?), and since the camp is shutting down, the counselors decide to tell the story of a local farmer named Madman Marz who hacked his family to death with an axe. One of the counselors decides it would be a good idea to call out his name to the surrounding woods, and lo and behold, when they come a'calling, he comes a'killin'.

Hailed as a cult film by many fans, I'm halfway baffled as to why so many consider "Madman" to be as extraordinary as they do. It's not that the film suffers from being routine — that's expected from an '80s slasher epic— but there are a lot of other issues with it that leave something to be desired. The script, for one, is beyond hokey, and the villain himself is about the least scariest maniac I can recall on film— an ogreish redneck in overalls with a clearly prosthetic face? It just ain't scary, folks. Lackluster performances and truly indistinguishable characters don't help much either.

The film does feature some really great photography at times, especially during the nighttime sequences in the woods, which make up the bulk of the film, but incredibly dodgy editing and an abrasive synth score detract from the moodiness of the proceedings. Even the darkness of the upstate New York forest and the musty cabins of the camp fail to establish a solid sense of atmosphere here, and the film suffers for it. There are a couple of gruesome killings, but by and large even the murder sequences are anticlimactic. Perhaps the film's most indubitable sin, however, is that it flashes the murder sequences of each character across the screen in the opening campfire scene. I mean, obviously we know that most of them are going to die anyway, but why strip any potential surprise from a virtually incredulous film?

It's not that I have a bias to the summer camp/backwoods slasher either, nor did I want to dislike this film. There are dozens of films that follow this thread which I am a fan of: "The Burning," "Friday the 13th," "Just Before Dawn," "The Final Terror"— the difference with those films though is that, despite their formalities, they excel in other areas and are able to distinguish themselves because of it. "Madman" doesn't do that; the most it has to offer is some neat nighttime cinematography, a ridiculous hot tub sex scene, and perhaps the most absurd theme song in film history. Highlights: the eerie silhouette of Madman in the tree (as depicted on the 2003 Anchor Bay cover art), and the downbeat ending. 4/10.

This is my kind of movie. This is a perfect slasher, and its hard to find slashers worth watching. It has blood, gore, crunching of bones, all the elements of a slasher. Beautiful. It only lacks some nudity, but I don't care about that. I like the kind of slashers that can give me a rush from the deaths (I know this sounds freaky), but this is one. This movie was ahead of its time in the slasher history.

Some surprisingly old camp counselors anger legendary ax-murderer, so he makes a successful come-back.

Obvious Friday the 13th knock-off, but hey, it manages to be worth a few laughs. As low-budget as this film is, it does well with what it has, making a fairly good villain and possessing an atmospheric spookiness. Gore-seekers will find plenty of blood flying in this one, the gore FX are pretty nicely done for a low-budgeter. The locations are decent and the electronic music score ain't bad. Dig that clunky theme song!

The films biggest flaw is in its casting. While leads Alexis Dublin (better known as Gaylen Ross) and Tony Fish are OK, the supporting cast are completely awful in their wooden performances. I suppose we're not watching this movie for the acting though.

Still, Madman is an enjoyable tongue-in-cheek slasher movie.

** 1/2 out of ****