MADMAN
(1981)Director: Joe Giannone
Anchor Bay Entertainment
MADMAN
(1981)Early 80s slasher movies were a dime a dozen back in their day, and usually very little or new was gotten for your money. Once in a while an exception or two would topple off the assembly line, though. One of these had been MOTHER'S DAY. Another is 1981's MADMAN.
Filmed in late 1980, MADMAN was originally based on an upstate New York summer camp legend known as The Kropsy Maniac. As the cast and crew prepared their shoot, they learned that another movie company was already filming a similar tale in actual upstate New York. Undeterred, the MADMAN staff cut a couple of corners and eventually wound up moving to eastern Long Island (hurrah!) to make a decent horror movie in the tradition of the current FRIDAY THE 13TH wave.
The story is as predictable as you can get, beginning with a group of summer campers sitting around the campfire one evening telling ghost stories. The elder member of the party (a role revealed on the audio commentary to have been originally intended for seasoned veteran Vincent Price!!!) tells of a spooky legend regarding a certain "Madman Marz," a maniacal farmer who slaughtered his family with an axe and retreated into the woods. Legend has it that if you should dare to say his name above a whisper, the Madman would heed the call and return to kill anyone entering his domain. Sure enough, one jerky loud-mouth shouts the killer's name at the top of his lungs.
The Madman's stalking spree is aided by some fine photography and excellent eerie blue lighting in the dark moonlight. His identity is shown only gradually, ultimately revealing a large and twisted-looking Grizzly Adams in mangy overalls. His slaughter techniques are above average in their presentation, and the feeling generated is that everyone involved put extra effort into making the whole affair better than standard. None of the young cast of would-be victims went on to bigger things, but it should be mentioned that leading lady Alexis Dubin is none other than Gaylen Ross, formerly from DAWN OF THE DEAD.
For what it's worth, MADMAN was nominated for best low budget picture by the Ninth Annual Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Awards. It also made the Top Ten Variety list the week of its New York opening and was number nine on critic Joe Bob Briggs All-Time Top 10 Drive-In Movie Classics. Oddly, there were no sequels nor franchise generated despite the film's reputation.
This is one immaculate looking DVD from Anchor Bay, especially when you consider the type of production we're dealing with here. Letterboxed at 1.85:1, the image is clear and smooth, the colors deep and rich. For the sake of being official, there are fleeting indoor shots on occasion that have scratches on them...but this is really a non-issue and is only mentioned here for the sake of completeness. The scenes in question are not crucial anyway, and the defect is most likely on the original negative. You won't even notice it while you adore the other 99% of the glossy transfer. The 2 channel audio is fine.
A heapin' helpin' of extras include several television spots, the theatrical trailer, and the audio commentary track with writer/director Joe Giannone, writer/producer Gary Sales, and also actors Tony Fish and Paul Ehlers (who played the Madman). (Joe Lozowsky)