Madman (1981)
Genre: Horror
Duration: 88 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Joe Giannone
Stars: Gaylen Ross, Tony Fish and Jan Claire
IMDb score:
5,1 (7.710)
Releasedate: 30 October 1981
Madman plot
"Don't say his name!"
During a youth camp, one of the teens mentions the name of the notorious serial killer Madman Marz. Not much later, the Madman rises and slaughters both the chaperones and the teenagers one by one.
Reviews & comments
Insignificance
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- 3220 messages
- 5589 votes
That no one mentions the hot tub scene. Still, it's typical of how Giannone presents his slaughter cattle. A couple of blissful, understanding babysitters who I would like to see hanging from a hook for that reason. Then there's a campfire, a scary story and before you know it, the alcoholic's throat is open. Difficult to swallow like that, but that's not going to happen. Santa Claus turns out to have a brother he'd rather not talk about. A formidable figure in the shadows, closer to the picture a clumsy bushman with much too big legs and claws, who likes to go to town with an axe. It's far from good, but all in all (that includes quality beer to pass the time between the murders) this is doable. Funny, silly and a bit bloody. Let's see if I fit in the fridge too.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Collins
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- 7346 messages
- 4345 votes
Madman. He reminded me a bit of the killer Cropsy from The Burning. Not entirely coincidentally. Later I read that the film Madman was originally going to be based on the legend of Cropsy. However, when they heard that The Burning was in the making, the script was rewritten.
Madman is a somewhat flat slasher. The kills of the slashing Madman are okay. The rest of it is not very interesting. A concrete motivation for Madman's activities is missing. Granted, this film is of course about the slashing and not about a psychological analysis, but I always find a flashback to a traumatic memory of a killer a welcome addition in a slasher.
The acting is not great. Especially an ever whining and screaming character named Ellie really gets on my nerves. I found her more creepy than the title character.
The story is not very impressive. Predictable without any creative ideas. A rudimentary skeleton that rattles considerably and that therefore has the advantage that it offers many opportunities for Madman to go wild. For example, the characters make a lot of stupid choices so that the killer can kill. Every ten minutes it hits the mark and a new kill is logically the result of a stupid move. The film uses a very recognizable rhythm and that makes it easy for the viewer to determine the moment that he has to pay attention.
Madman is reasonably entertaining because of his kills. The rest of the film is not very spectacular.
Translated from Dutch · View original
80&90’s Nostalgia
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- 543 messages
- 600 votes
Seen this slasher on the 4K release from Arrow video, who used the same transfer of the original 35mm camera negatives as Vinegar Syndrome for its UK release. Not an official video nasty, but this film was pulled from the shelves and confiscated at the time.
Story opens around a campfire where mentor Max (Carl Fredericks) tells an urban legend to some youngsters and supervisors. The story is about a farmer who lived in the woods and slaughtered his family. He was then caught by the villagers and hanged from a tree. The next morning his body was gone. Rumor has it that his name cannot be mentioned, because he will hear you and will not let you escape from the woods. Of course there is one joker who immediately shouts his name through the woods, and so it begins..
A dime a dozen slasher film of which hundreds were made around that time. All the clichés are there:
- group that breaks up
- people disappear and go looking for each other one by one
- running away and stumbling
- car suddenly won't start anymore
Worthless acting by almost the entire cast with the most idiotic decisions, culminating in hiding in a refrigerator.
Only Carl Fredericks and Gaylen Ross were still somewhat convincing. One of the characters was also called TP which immediately reminded me of Beavis & Butt-Head
The highlight of the film was the campfire story and the kill with the hanging from a tree, which looked quite realistic. The gore looked nice too, but otherwise quickly forgotten this film.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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