Memorable, crazy movie

A Disappointing Continuation

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A campfire horror story come alive! Madman Marz has a great back story, original song, and some awesome kills. And I haven't even mention the awesome synthesizer every time he's spotted. Can someone please perform some maintenance on the camps vehicles!?

At a camp in the woods for gifted youngsters, a group of senior counsellors sit around a fire telling spooky stories. Max (Frederick Neumann), the eldest head counsellor, recalls the urban myth of Madman Marz, a notorious local drunk and brute, who butchered his family one night with an axe not too far from where the camp now lies. The locals hanged him from a tree and left his body for the crows, only to return the next day to find an empty noose. He will re-emerge if his name is spoken, and so cocky youngster Richie (Tom Candela) takes the bait and challenges Marz to show himself. As the various couples break off into the night in the hope of sex and fun, Richie notices a shadow in the woods and stays behind to investigate. Meanwhile, a hulk of a man starts to bump off the teens.The slasher genre produced a seemingly endless list of badly executed sex-and-murder-in-the-woods movies during the 1980s, all following a set formula, usually suffering from minimal cash injection and often made by directors never heard from again. As trashy as the majority of these movies tend to be, there's a morbid comfort to be had in their predictability, especially amongst horror fans. Just why I keep returning to the genre I know will ultimately disappoint is a question I asked myself at various points as I watched Joe Giannone's Madman, despite the film being one of the genre's better offerings, at least aesthetically speaking.Shadowy lighting and a subtle use of music to announce the arrival of Marz help the film drum up some atmospheric set-pieces, and a few gory moments offer the desired amount of blood and just a little in way of invention. But these highlights are too fleeting, and for the most part we are made to suffer through terrible dialogue, sex scenes filmed like soft-porn, and some utterly atrocious acting from its young cast. The main group of characters are even more annoying than those commonly found in these types of movies, especially T.P. (Tony Fish), a grating douchebag with a belt buckle displaying his nickname. In order to flesh out the running time, characters are forced to repeatedly make stupid decisions so they can wander endlessly through the woods in search of each other. For slasher enthusiasts only.

I had always heard of this film but never had an opportunity to see it. Once I saw it - I confess I fell in love with it. It is in the tradition of Halloween and Friday the 13th and that whole slew of slasher films that littered the movie scene in the late 70's and more aptly the early 80s. While not on a par with Halloween(few films like it are) I thought Madman was MUCH better than Friday the 13th. It is undeniably cheaply made but really does not show. The film opens with a wonderful red drawing of two clutching, gnarled hands whilst the titles play and this loud yet engrossing theme plays. We then go to a campfire where we see an older-looking camp counselor singing some bizarre ballad about people getting killed as he goes from person to person(the counselors out-number the children). Then the leader of the camp, an older guy named Max, tells this terrifying tale of Madman Marz and how he butchered his family with an axe and then was strung up by a group of people but escaped from being hanged where he now waits to do the like to any one who says his name above a whisper. Well, his name is said above a whisper and you can imagine what follows: deaths - many of them. While this is a very formulaic film, it has style and I was truly impressed. None of the actors except the lead female - Gaylen Ross who was one of the leads in Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow - has had any career(hers as an actress preceded this film actually). None of them are embarrassing - in fact I though everyone was pretty good, BUT it is the tension of the film that carries it. The Madman looks scary as we really see little of him through the film. The deaths are scary - from a guy being strung up and almost freeing himself to a girl hiding in a fridge to, my favorite, the hot girl(Harriet Bass as Stacy) taking the lyrics to "Keep truckin" a little too seriously. The film is mostly separate killings until the end when Ross realizes what is happening. The ending takes place in Madman Marz's dilapidated house. The direction by Joe Giannone and the story by Gary Sales and company really are quite entertaining and I am surprised more did not come out of their careers. They have obvious talent. The print I saw was by Anchor bay and was PRISTINE. I also enjoyed much of the director/cast/crew commentary provided.

Madman (1982): A Memorable 'Woods' SlasherReleased in 1982, Madman is another Slasher flick that features helpless campers sent to the slaughter for our viewing entertainment. At this point in the game you're probably thinking, "Again?!" Although it's difficult to overlook clichéd elements within this sub-genre some movie directors manage to get the balance right – regardless of a low budget. This is where the cult classic, already-out-of-print Madman (aka Madman Marz) makes its appearance in order to woo us over.The film opens with a varied group of campers huddled around a campfire in the dead of night, scaring each other with ghoulish stories of the macabre. Their supervisor and camp counselor, Max, entertains the small crowd with a grisly tale about a lunatic farmer by the name of Madman Marz; convicted for the crime of murdering his family, and as a result, condemned to hang by the neck. Marz escapes and remains on the prowl; widely believed to be a legend among the wide-eyed younglings. In common practice and impeccable timing, a young man by the name of Ritchie stands up and shouts Marz's name…challenging him to appear in order to prove the validity of his existence. The campers expire for the evening and reminisce about the fun times of the camping season. Waiting in the wings, however, is the 'Madman' – called forth by Ritchie and awaiting the opportunity to eviscerate the unsuspecting troupe.Madman is a competent and simplistic Slasher from the early days of the sub-genre. The film's director, Joe Giannone, would not further his career as a director. He died in 2006 at the age of 60, leaving me to wonder how well he could've sculpted his talents had he pursued show business more adamantly. Gary Sales, one of the writers who contributed his talents to the film, is currently in the works with Paul Ehlers (the man who portrayed the 'Madman') to release a second film entitled "Madman Marz"…slated for a 2011 release in 3D. It's all part of the recent remake craze. Besides, Madman has generated enough underground interest that allows a remake of this caliber to happen. Madman is definitely worth a look – from the isolated camp trails to the eerily shot Marz house, this film allows us to shut our brain off and enjoy a chilling collection of events. Think back four years ago to a splendid tale called Hatchet. There are obvious influences drawn from Madman and that's enough evidence to prove that this formula works.