Rish Outfield's reviews
First of all, on a general note, when it comes to the slasher era, I think 1981 is the year of choice. Thanks to the runaway success of Friday the 13th, released by an honest to goodness studio, everybody and their rich comatose aunt was cashing in on the craze. It makes me wonder how many slashers were made that year that never got any distribution and are still floating around unseen. On a specific note, Madman is one of those films that is a joy to watch and give Skulls to, truly one of the reasons this website exists.
It's summer camp time, folks (is it summer, though? Fall? Everyone's wearing coats and I could swear I saw someone with gloves on. A cold weather camp?), and around the campfire a counselor tells the tale of Madman Marz, the local maniac who roams the woods butchering anyone who calls his name ("One by one, you'll start to fall; Before night's over, I'll get you all."). One of the kids calls that bluff (and the maniac), and inadvertently gets his friends and counselors killed (damning his soul to Hell in the process, I needn't add). The rest of the movie has the killer doing what he does best, just juggling different weapons as he does it (let's see, death by axe, rope, knife, gun, and car trunk). It's basically the exact same film as The Burning, featuring the same locale and based on the same legend (this one apparently changed the killer's name after finding out about the other film), they came out within a couple months of each other. Though I preferred The Burning (which had the advantage of incredible gore effects and some someday-celebrities), this was a very fun movie. I'd give tyranist's left nut to be able to see this on the big screen with an audience (I was shouting at the screen, "Run, you moron! Shut up! Shhhhh! Don't just stand there!"). It has a lot in common with the other slasher films in the period: It features another killer who seems to be in all places at once, who doesn't go after the kids, just the counselors (and did you notice that there's five kids at the camp, versus seven or eight counselors?). There's some bad dialogue ("Dave, are you hurt?" He has no head, kids), lapses of logic (a cool TV spot had the famous Voiceover guy say, "For God's sake, why don't they run?"–that's pretty funny) and geography (the woods are huge enough to lose a legion of people in, but small enough people always run into dead ends or the bodies of those just killed), overused cliches (I'd give this three Car Won't Start Skulls if I could), and characters who act very unlike real people (she just saw the headless body, and now she calmly works on the car). The obligatory love scenes were more disturbing than titillating--The hot tub love dance was actually grotesque. As usual, one girl survives the mayhem.
A lot of it is strictly by-the-numbers, but it's still fun (and perhaps some of that is due to its generic, nothing-you've-never-seen-before feel. Perhaps that's why people went to the Jason movies year after year--there's a sort of welcome familiarity about it all), and there are some unusual elements in Madman: There's nice framework and effective camera use. Some stylistic blue lighting. Nice sound too. There's a great set up with the axe in the log that is well paid off. Something of a crude logic at work in the story. The madman isn't clearly shown until one hour and twenty minutes into the flick--which works well. Although the killer wields an axe throughout, I have to credit the car's hood with the Weapon of Choice--it was just too great. The hanging sequence also works really well. It's atypical because the victim tries to save himself. Usually they just die, and because of it, you think the character will survive the attack. Another hard-to-predict moment was the fate of Richie. The character is an obnoxious butt, played by a thinner, gayer version of Fred Savage. Richie taunted Madman Marz, and caused the death of every character in the film, yet somehow, he survives it all. How is that possible? There is a bizarre scene with one guy monologuing about madness--but it's all normal to these folks. Chalk it up to a bad actor, I guess. Another bizarre scene where I can only guess they are all stoned. Who knows? The producer, Stephen Horlick, also wrote the music and songs. The synthesizer music works well when it doesn't sound just like Play that Funky Music White Boy, and a creepy '70s love ballad plays at an inopportune moment, but there is a GREAT theme song sung at the beginning and end.
In the cast, there's one sad-looking girl counselor. I felt bad for her, because she sort of looked like a fish. There was a lot of crying and cringing from the sad-faced girl. One of the highpoints of the film was when sad-faced girl hid from the killer, of all places, in the refrigerator! Ten seconds later, however, she went looking for him. What is she looking for? The killer, obviously. Sorry, but you deserve to die. Gaylen Ross, the female star of Dawn of the Dead, appears, credited as Alexis Dubin, which I can only assume she did to avoid troubles with SAG for appearing in a non-union film. Her best moment is when she accidentally blows her best friend away with a shotgun. Whoops, sorry, sad-faced girl.
I'd Recommend It To: Slasher fans looking for a fun time. It's not a great movie, or even a good movie, but hey, it is a movie.
Note: In every one of these films, dating back to well before Halloween, the killer is always silent, though this one grunted a lot and spoke one line (sounding very much like Jabba the Hutt). I'd like a killer that constantly chuckled; it seems like that would be scary (this is coming from someone who's never seen Dr. Giggles, though), or at least a healthy change.

Total Skulls: 27

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film		Friday the 13th
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?