Madman

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Madman is a pretty clear product of its time, even by the standards of early 80s slasher movies. A group of twenty-somethings that works at a campground unwittingly brings a terrifying local legend to life. The villain, known as Madman Marz (loosely based on the Cropsey legend), begins stalking and killing them (as your typical slasher killers do). This seems to be one of those movies kind of lost to obscurity, and it isn’t that hard to see why. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed the hell out of this movie, even if it was seriously flawed and genuinely stock. It kind of seems like a copycat wanting to do what the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13^th did. Unlike movies like The Burning and Sleepaway Camp (movies that debatably wanted to do the same thing), this movie doesn’t really do enough to stand out for people. Granted, I can’t say for sure whether or not that is true. I’m speaking only out of speculation here. The characters don’t really have a ton of personality to them. You’re never really given much in terms of who they are or what they like. They’re pretty much just there to die. To be honest, I don’t have that big of a problem with this. It’s pretty commonplace for slasher movies. However, the best slashers offer characters you actually want to root for. As much as I enjoy rooting for the killers in slasher movies, I can admit that films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween wouldn’t be nearly as effective if we didn’t like characters like Nancy Thompson or Laurie Strode. That’s where Madman suffers the most. I don’t really feel one way or the other for these characters. The acting isn’t very good, but I won’t dwell on that too much since slasher movies aren’t known for having stellar acting. Calling out the movie having bad acting would be like calling it out for not being particularly well written. I don’t necessarily watch slashers for Oscar-worthy story or dialogue. The foreshadowing doesn’t quite work as well as it should. The basic concept seems to be there, but in can feel awkward. The reason I bring things like the acting and writing up are because they are legitimate issues with the movie, whether you can overlook them or not. I will give the movie props for having some legitimately good kills. The kills in this movie can be pretty mean-spirited and gruesome. I mean a character gets decapitated with the hood of a car. In my opinion, this is the movie’s best kill. There are points where the scene going on doesn’t feel necessary. In the end, I enjoyed Madman as a fan of slasher movies, and I enjoyed it in spite of its pretty noticeable flaws. 

6 / 10