Full Moon Fever

This is the first time I've seen a movie by David Lee Madison. I thought it was cool to see something in a room with the guy who filmed it, and it was a fun movie.

The movie seemed to suffer from filming during covid, I wasn't told this, but you can kinda read between the lines for it. You don't see shots with a lot of people in it, and it creates a lonely feeling that does seem intentional when you consider the themes throughout the movie. It's definitely capturing the mindset of the creator from his experience during covid.

Where the film seemed most impacted though was that David Lee Madison was both the star and videographer, so shots with him in it were all on a tripod, without a lot of movement. Presumably, with this being filmed during quarantine, I believe a lot of these shots were done this way out of necessity though, and it is understandable. Though, there's a part of my brain conditioned to want far more cuts and camera angle changes, and camera movement. I do wish some establishing shots were cut a bit shorter though.

The film is acted mostly by David Lee Madison and his personal friends, and is kinda reminiscent of clerks. If you liked clerks, you'll probably enjoy this, if not, you probably won't. The pacing is similar and it too is about regular people living regular lives (except for the werewolf thing lol).

The scenes in the comic book shop are by far the best scenes, particularly the finale, because you have this movement and cutting you don't get when David is doing double duty. If you have a long shot from a tripod, your ability to edit is stunted, but the finale suffers none of these issues.

I see some one star reviews here, and I think they're not thinking of the film within the context of how it had to be filmed. For a film with very limited crew, David Lee Madison did pretty well. He filled most of the roles himself and told a unique werewolf story, which he executed in a time when most people weren't able to deliver anything at all.

Sure, I'd like to see a version of this made with more crew, cameras, and polish, but I'm happy with what I watched. Weirdly, seeing David make this under these constraints has motivated me to try and make something myself even. With helicopter footage and coreographers staging fights between actors that look like they were chiseled from stone, against CGI monsters that require teams of artists, it has always felt like making movies independently was just impossible.

All in all, it was a fun time watching this movie, and without the Hollywood polish, you can see the heart in this that's not in most movies. It's a guy with his family and friends, filming in an area far from the Hollywood sets, with the gear he had on hand from a career of making movies. It's a unique experience that's pretty good if seen through the propper lens. After watching it, you definitely feel like you know David Lee Madison a bit better, because it's clearly not filtered through the voice of some massive multimedia conglomerate.

I'm glad I saw it.

Went to see this in the Theater not really knowing what to expect. The movie clearly is low budget, but had some interesting people attached to it, so I gave it a chance. I am glad I did. The story follows a recently widowed man who lost his wife to Covid. As he is trying to adjust to this, his daughter leaves home to go to college. One fall night, as he is exercise walking, he is attacked by a huge wild animal who takes a chunk out of his arm. Over the next couple of weeks, the man starts to get sick, hallucinate, and have nightmares. None of this is reinventing the wheel, but where this movie really succeeds is in the claustrophobic feel it has. You feel like you are inside this guy's head. And the transformation seen though not high tech, is really disturbing for some reason. Scott Schiaffo (Clerks 1-3) does a particularly good job as the widowed man's psychiatrist Dr. Larry. For a small low budget movie, it is quit a formidable entry into Werewolf lore. Give it a look.

I'll start by saying this is my favorite of Madison's films. It's very difficult to carve a path as an independent filmmaker, yet David Madison doesn't let that stop him. With nothing but family, good friends, and a passion for film, he is able to bring his stories to life on the big screen.

I saw this in theaters today, and thoroughly enjoyed the event. Full Moon Fever has moments that make you jump, make you laugh, and make you think deeply.

There was excellent use of locations in the writer/director's hometown to give a large scope to the environment within the film.

Madison plays the main character, Hunter, with great emotion. Although short lived, Scott Schiaffo and Marianne Hagan's performances were excellent to say the least. Amanda Madison, who plays the daughter of Hunter, Jackie, made me believe she was scared, executing her role perfectly.

Full Moon Fever was all together a great feel-good film for the spooky season!

FULL MOON FEVER feels like a high school play or home movie. It has been shown regionally to family and friends and the first showing was called a "premiere" and while this sort of thing can have loopy charms, this simply wasn't very good. It was made independently on a shoestring.

The "film" is written by, directed and stars David Lee Madison. A big part of the trouble is he's not real good at any of those jobs. This is a standard werewolf tale with all the familiar cliches, borrowing a few bits and pieces from BAD MOON and other older films like THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF. It mostly resembles that last one which is a pretty cheesy werewolf flick us monster kids know from watching Dr. "There Will Be Fright" Shock on WPHL. The main character has the same sort of family as that last one, except he's got a daughter played by the Madison's real daughter. That sorta adds to the home movie feel about this thing.

Madison plays an average dude attacked by a werewolf who becomes one. That's really all there is to the story except for him trying to find out why and having ridiculous nightmares. The dreams stuff is all pretty cheesy and felt like a time filler. You've seen it all before and better, but that's not really fair since this really isn't a professional film with a bunch of no name actors in the cast. There are You Tube vlogs with amateurs pulling off better makeup effects than what is in here. The blood on screen looked fake and the dialogue is always super on the nose with a few clumsy lines that I would have laughed at but I was being polite. This film means no harm and was seemingly made by the people who made it to enjoy watching it with their friends and family who are in it.

There are a couple of actors with some actual pro credits in this, Marianne Hagan and Scott Schiaffo who also did the music. He plays an oddball shrink and if you close your eyes, he sounds like Dennis Hopper. He's pretty good and actually got some decent acting talent and worked with Kevin Smith a few times. I hope to see him working with Smith again or in better things. He deserves it and seems like a cool guy. Hagan delivers her lines believably which is made harder when she interacts with the non pros in the cast which includes David Madison, if that makes sense.

I don't know if this will play in theaters since it's a real cheap straight to video thing. It's pretty amateur and I'm guessing it'll show on Tubi on the screen that recommends other werewolf movies to watch if you watch one of the big ones like the one with Benecio Del Toro which is my fave and the GOAT. Seemed like some nice people got to feel like stars making these. One of the stars also runs a realty business and many of them work other jobs.

Had the pleasure of catching a screening of Full Moon Fever on the BIG screen with Director David Madison present last night 11/1 @ Flagship Cinema. Supporting independent Artists and Creators is extremely important to me. Everyone can see a big budget cookie cutter movie every weekend. However, not everyone can watch a original, fun, labor of love every weekend. Having the ability to create something that can star friends and family and see it play out in theaters is Awesome. That alone is impressive and an accomplishment in its own right. The movie filmed locally, which was a lot of fun seeing places you recognize up on the screen. David Madison took the time to introduce the movie beforehand and hosted a Q&A afterwards. You can watch the trailer for a synapses, I am avoiding giving away anything. Had a LOT of fun with it. Independent content all day, every day for me.