Episode 259: MadS (2024)

And I am back from a few nights in a cabin in the woods to work on the book and today I was at Frightfest 2025 down in Leicester Square were slasher 213 Bones was showing as I turned up for my merch, and now I am home and onto something different, French, 2024, MadS on Shudder.

August 4th 2023 Party night. One single shot, (although like the show Adolescence, it took several takes, 5 in this case to get it 100% right). Is it a bad trip? Or is it something else? One thing for sure, its only the beginning of the night.

From the trailer I got Summer Camp and Unhuman in a club scene feels, where they are drugged and seeing or acting like zombies because of it.

It stars Milton Riche, Laurie Pavy and Luceille Guillaume as Romain, Anais and Julia respectively

It gets a very impressive 6.4 on IMDB 94% on RT

The story follows Julia (portrayed by Lucille Guillaume), Anaïs (Laurie Pavy), and Romain (Milton Riche), who all snort an unknown powdered substance that causes them to grow increasingly erratic. 

Taking inspiration from the 2015 film Victoria, Mads is presented in real time and was filmed in one continuous shot. Production took place in and around Mulhouse over ten days, with cinematographer Philip Lozano also serving as the lone camera operator. The cast and crew filmed five takes, with the final take being used for the film.

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com described the film as "George A. Romero's Run Lola Run", praising its pacing, originality, "viciously bleak" tone, and "moments of sharp, wicked humor"

What did I think?

Incredible cinematography. Superb acting. Unique story line.    

I wish I’d made this movie

Again, initial take…

7/10 the best movie I have seen in ages certainly the last couple of years

However then I slept on it… and kept waking up to make notes

The movie is my Darren Ted Talk on what a zombie is, a zombie for me is control. It is losing control, no longer being in control. That can be because you are being controlled by a voodoo priest a la the 40s and 50s. It could mean your brain has been fried with radiation a la 60s and 70s. Or a parasite. Or an alien. Or more recently a virus, on in this case a drug and or virus. You lose control, and each of the three leads, over the duration of their story lost control

I am still enamoured the next morning, and when you stop amidst the bloody chaos and then remind yourself this whole movie, spreading across a city, told by 3 people, with car rides and bikes and mopeds, taking in a dozen locations from remote farmland to up and up a residential tower block, is one continuous unbroken shot. Sure, it took 5 takes, but this was that, this was One cut of the dead and final cut, the French and better version in my opinion.

So how highly do I rate Mads?

I’ll use michaels logic – It is at least a 7 for me, personally, but putting nostalgia aside is this better than a 7 and as good as some of the other 7.5s? Is this movie top 10?

Looking at the 7.5s that do include Dawn 2004, Army and Double tap, is it a better movie than those? Yes I think so. This was fresh. This was unique, and the way it was told added even more to the weight of scoring and personal enjoyment. Damn you David Moreau, you have upturned the apple cart of my zombie scoring, put