Mad Heidi

Starting with that first yodel, Mad Heidi is as crazy as it is, well, cheesy. The self-proclaimed Swissploitation action-splatterfest is all about illegal cheese, fascist rule, warrior nuns, and a madcap Casper Van Dien whose mustache-twirling villainy is as high as the Alps. Yet for all its silliness and over-the-top parodying, Mad Heidi should have been a lot crazier.

Mad Heidi is a crowdfunded project helmed by Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein. The indie movie parodies not only general exploitation films but specifically the good-natured Heidi stories of old (such as the sappy Shirley Temple classic). Here, Switzerland is under the fascist control of cheese-loving President Meili (Van Dien). When both Heidi's (Alice Lucy) freedom-loving grandfather and goat cheese-smuggling boyfriend are killed, Heidi transforms herself into a kick-ass fighter and goes after fierce retribution against Meili and his brutal regime. In short, cheese happens.

Mad Heidi is fun and silly. Mad Heidi was not made to promote the artform of cinematic splendor. This is a riotous goof that caters to a specific audience, a level on which Mad Heidi completely succeeds.

The trouble with Mad Heidi is that it actually does achieve basically everything it sets out to do. You know, it's this ridiculous quasi-exploitation movie that's just the dumbest thing they could come up with. It's difficult to be overly critical of a movie like this when it's clearly supposed to be like this.

My biggest complaint is that it needed a lot more violence. It has some, especially in the second half, but I think to really be effective in what it was doing, it needed to go all the way and basically be all violence all the time. As it is, Mad Heidi got a little too bogged down in showing Hedi going mad and not enough time showing her be mad.

I think what the production team for this either forgot or failed to realise is that it's not like in the early '70s anymore where people are going to be shocked by a little bit of gore anymore; especially in a movie like this which is mostly a fairly standard action movie otherwise. It really needs to either be all gore all the time with basically no plot or it needs to sorta be trying to be this decade's answer to A Serbian Film before it really gets that shocked reaction from most people.

I don't think this was awful or anything because it's doing most of what it set out to do and I think it was worth doing. It's just that I think they probably needed to lean into the violence a bit more.

Mad Heidi is trash! ... and that's a good thing. The film has a very high quality and thus leaves many other trash films behind. Actors, setting, cinematography - all great! Johannes Hartmann did a great job with the film and created a wonderful (Swiss) ploitation film that is at the forefront of the genre.

If you like Switzerland, you will love all the clichés. Cheese, chocolate or the Swiss army knife are just a few examples.

In terms of acting, Casper Van Dien and Max Rüdlinger stand out in particular. Van Dien plays the slimy "very Swiss leader" with great humor, while Rüdlinger, with his Swiss accent, plays Commander Knorr with exaggerated spite.

The cinematography shows the most beautiful sides of Switzerland, while the action comes along with lots of blood, splatter and killing jokes.

Mad Heidi is a simple revenge story set in a world obsessed with dairy products where the lactose intolerant are shunned, publicly humiliated and even taken away to re-education camps and tortured with cheese. This daft film romps away in its own bewildering world of 'Swissploitation' for an undemanding 90mins and is well produced (particularly considering the means of funding) and features good cinematography and fight choreography with strong performances from Alice Lucy and Rebecca Dyson Smith, as the cruel Lutz. Bizarre, absurd and the most original thing that's been along in a while. 'Rest in cheese, b*tch!'

"I work for the industry" is a general term in LA if someone works for the movie industry (been there, done that). This movie originates from no industry. It is handcraftet with tons of love and effort and it reflects throughout the whole movie. I was very surprised. The crew is learning... but did their homework well with great professionalism and it turned out to be great fun to watch the outcome. If you are open for low budget independant movies with a mid budget feel... go see the movie. Will watch it again with friends and a couple of beers. And no, I'm not part of the crew and I'm not a crowdfunder. In general I don't even like the genre. But i've had to write this to add another POV after reading some of the negative comments.