Madman

Madman features some visually interesting cinematography and at least one creative decapitation, but that’s about it. Most of the film is actually pretty boring. This despite a relatively high body count.

The story sees an infamous backwoodsman named “Madman Marz” return to slaughter the counselors at a youth camp.

The problem starts in the script by director Joe Giannone, which tries to focus on the individual camp counselors, but fails to make any of them stand out in any kind of engaging way. Compounding this problem is the universal lack of charisma among all of the performers. These characters work only as fodder for the killer, which, unfortunately, brings us to the second big problem.

The killer/monster “Madman Marz” looks like some kind of hobbit-yeti hybrid. While he cuts an imposing shadow, he’s almost laughable when shown in any detail. It also doesn’t help that Giannone fails to setup his kill scenes effectively, which in turn robs the viewer of any real suspense. This fault could be mitigated, had Giannone come up with some creative ways for Marz to dispatch his victims, but aside from one decapitation, the various murders are mundane and uninspired.

Which leaves on the cinematography. There’s some really good use of colored light and shadow here, which belie the film’s low budget. It’s just a shame it was wasted on such a sub-par film.