VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

mpaulso 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!?

Mr_Ectoplasma "Madman" is essentially an early '80s retread of the summer camp slasher (done exponentially better by "Friday the 13th" and "The Burning" before it, and "Sleepaway Camp" after it). In the beginning of the film, a group of camp counselors and preteens are around a campfire— it's the week before Thanksgiving (who goes to camp in November?), and since the camp is shutting down, the counselors decide to tell the story of a local farmer named Madman Marz who hacked his family to death with an axe. One of the counselors decides it would be a good idea to call out his name to the surrounding woods, and lo and behold, when they come a'calling, he comes a'killin'.Hailed as a cult film by many fans, I'm halfway baffled as to why so many consider "Madman" to be as extraordinary as they do. It's not that the film suffers from being routine — that's expected from an '80s slasher epic— but there are a lot of other issues with it that leave something to be desired. The script, for one, is beyond hokey, and the villain himself is about the least scariest maniac I can recall on film— an ogreish redneck in overalls with a clearly prosthetic face? It just ain't scary, folks. Lackluster performances and truly indistinguishable characters don't help much either.The film does feature some really great photography at times, especially during the nighttime sequences in the woods, which make up the bulk of the film, but incredibly dodgy editing and an abrasive synth score detract from the moodiness of the proceedings. Even the darkness of the upstate New York forest and the musty cabins of the camp fail to establish a solid sense of atmosphere here, and the film suffers for it. There are a couple of gruesome killings, but by and large even the murder sequences are anticlimactic. Perhaps the film's most indubitable sin, however, is that it flashes the murder sequences of each character across the screen in the opening campfire scene. I mean, obviously we know that most of them are going to die anyway, but why strip any potential surprise from a virtually incredulous film?It's not that I have a bias to the summer camp/backwoods slasher either, nor did I want to dislike this film. There are dozens of films that follow this thread which I am a fan of: "The Burning," "Friday the 13th," "Just Before Dawn," "The Final Terror"— the difference with those films though is that, despite their formalities, they excel in other areas and are able to distinguish themselves because of it. "Madman" doesn't do that; the most it has to offer is some neat nighttime cinematography, a ridiculous hot tub sex scene, and perhaps the most absurd theme song in film history. Highlights: the eerie silhouette of Madman in the tree (as depicted on the 2003 Anchor Bay cover art), and the downbeat ending. 4/10.

Christopher Risdal (chriscmrfilms) I'm not going to say that a film titled 'Madman' is a masterpiece or anything such as that, but a slasher film such as 'Madman' is harder to come by than some would think at first glance. While the usual staples are there: teens, woods, killer it still manages to stand out among so many others in the genre and show some strengths that most couldn't claim. For one thing, the antagonist Madman Marz is one of the most memorable slasher villains in the whole genre, with a strong but basic back story that you would see in the most famous of urban legends of days past, and its this 'urban legend' aspect that keeps the film going strong for its short running time.Where the film could use some improvements is mostly in the acting & mostly out of being spoiled by other films, I wish the Madman Marz makeup could've been so much better than it turned out to be. However, these are minor nitpicks & really I should stop expecting any of these characters to be memorable unless the film has 'Halloween' 'Nightmare' or 'Friday' in the title.Overall, 'Madman' is a wonderful little gem that I try to include in my horror fan friend's watch-lists. If you love slasher films or horror, don't pass up 'Madman'.

happyendingrocks This time capsule from the Golden Age of slasher movies utilizes every single touchstone of the genre with such abandon that anyone who has seen a handful of offerings from the era can probably predict every step of the action before it unfolds. But thanks to a suitably intimidating killer and a generous dollop of gore, Madman has enough spunk to be a fairly entertaining diversion.The film opens with our future victims huddled around a campfire hearing the tale of the film's titular Madman, and while this exact same set-up appears in nearly every "teens in the woods" splatter movie from the period, it's worth noting that since Madman was released fairly early in the cycle (1982), this establishing scene had not yet been rendered cliché. For what it's worth, this is the only slasher film I've seen in which the killer's legend is actually SUNG by one the characters, so Madman certainly scores a few dubious points for originality there.Once the ball gets rolling, everything else pretty much runs by the book. The victims-to-be are a bevy of uninteresting counselors at a camp for "gifted children", and after we've been filled in on the baritone back-story, they pair off to have sex and/or pointless conversations before finding increasingly foolish reasons to wander off into the woods alone.Madman Marz is the hulking behemoth the hapless counselors encounter amidst the trees, and in terms of sheer size, he is certainly an imposing presence. Unfortunately, the glimpses we get of him seem to suggest a sasquatch on the loose instead of a deranged killer. His bloody handiwork is a bit more impressive than his furry jowls, however, so that aspect of the film ably delivers the goods.Along with the grue, the film also boasts some priceless moments of unintentional hilarity. A definite high-point is that one of the male counselors is named T.P., a moniker he's apparently so proud of that he has it printed on his belt buckle. This buckle is a prominent feature in the funniest scene in the movie, which features a lugubrious montage of him and his lover slowly disrobing for a dip in the jacuzzi, accompanied by the most atrocious soft-core porn music you've ever heard.Certainly, this wasn't the first or last slasher movie to feature an ensemble of overwhelmingly brain-dead characters, but the zeal with which this crew invites their own demises is often astounding here. The general train of thought which sets up most of the murders is essentially, "some people are missing, and now the people who went looking for the missing people are missing too, so we should split up and go search the pitch black woods for them by ourselves." Later in the film, an even sharper lad bumps into his hysterical girlfriend, who has just seen the mountainous Madman appraising the decapitated body of his latest victim. His brilliant and comforting solution is to have her take him to where the killer is so that he can see exactly what she saw and "make sure". You can probably guess how that turns out.But wait, there's more. The same hysterical girlfriend, while being chased later in the film by the rampaging murderer, finds the most novel and sensible place to hide that I've ever seen utilized in a horror film... inside a refrigerator. I already knew refrigerators were useful for many things, including keeping food fresh and protecting Indiana Jones from atomic explosions, but it never occurred to me that they also offered perfect safe havens from pursuing mass murderers. Even better, Marz is about ten feet away from his shrieking prey when she loudly removes the contents from the unit to make room for her, and despite his proximity and the scattered food strewn all over the ground, the Madman apparently doesn't think to look inside the fridge. Yes, locking herself inside a refrigerator actually SAVES her. This is a plot twist I never saw coming, especially in a film this paint-by-numbers, so kudos to Madman for offering at least one big surprise. Sure, she eventually catches an axe to the chest, but that's what she gets for leaving the safety of the oxygen-less icebox.To the film's credit, the stereotypical final confrontation between the killer and the lone female survivor doesn't adhere to the same stringent formula that the rest of the movie does. Though the last frames before the credits are decidedly silly, the very fact that the film-makers did things a bit different is certainly admirable.I know it sounds like I'm being hard on poor, monkey-faced Madman Marz, but since the movie is just a big slice of pure, dumb fun, it's only fitting to celebrate the more ludicrous aspects of it. The best part of many of the early '80s slasher pics was how rife they were with accidental humor, and Madman offers up a healthy dose which ultimately only makes it more entertaining. If you love that period of cinematic history as much as I do, this is definitely one you should add to your list.