David Moreau's "MADS" Is The Kinetic Zombie Flick You've Been Waiting For! (REVIEW)

How does one reinvent the zombie film? If we’re being honest, there’s not a lot to work with once you get past metaphor and execution. It seems impossible to find a new avenue with the multitude of films over the last 92 years since “White Zombie” in 32’. We’ve had shambling, (Night of the Living Dead) fast, (Train to Busan) funny, (Shaun of the Dead) sexy, (Cemetary Man) and sadistic (Sadness) just to name a few.  We’ve seen class warfare, urban blight, rural chaos, and survival porn. The zone is flooded with every tired theme and trope, but what about suburban malaise mixed with unbridled teen decadence? Add to that a hypnotic, frantic one-take structure and it certainly starts to feel like we may have something new on our hands. This is the unique vision adding a new spin to the genre with David Moreau’s “MADS.” streaming on SHUDDER on October 18th. Is it worth taking a bite?  Read on….

THE PLOT:

Eighteen-year-old Romain has just graduated and makes a stop at his dealer’s place to try a new pill.  As he heads off to a party, he sees an injured woman on the side of the road and decides to help her, but when she gets in the car, she suddenly smashes her own head against the dashboard, bleeding out until she dies.  Is this a bad trip? Or is it something else? One thing is for sure, it’s only the beginning of the night

OUR TAKE:

Moreau’s “THEM” was a nerve-shattering, nihilistic take on the home invasion thriller and showed what he can do with escalating tension and dread. Here he zeros in on the frenzy of reckless youth at a time when the party’s always raging but the shadow of adulthood is slowly creeping toward you. Take 4 or 5 episodes of “Euphoria” add a pinch of Linklater’s “Slacker,” toss in a gallon of gore and a dash of Boyle and Romero, and have an idea of what “MADS” delivers, but that’s not really fair because this is a wholly unique vision.  You would think that the one-take structure would diminish the ability to dazzle the viewer visually or limit the scope of the narrative but Moreau finds increasingly impressive ways to overcome these obstacles and it’s those choices, both subtle and grand, that elevate the film from what could be perceived as a clever experiment to a cinematic success.  The scope of this film starts small with the personal story of Romain (Milton Riche), a handsome young grad living his best life.  Starting the night off at his local dealer, he’s almost floating with the freedom of youth and the endless possibilities of an epic night celebrating graduation.  Enter stage left a heavily bandaged woman desperate to escape…something…. and the night takes a turn from fantastic to problematic immediately. From there the night escalates in increasingly frantic and kinetic ways. To say more would spoil the fun.

BOTTOM LINE:

For any zombie film completist this is a must see.  It adds to and elevates the sub-genre while carving out an exciting new direction.  The use of the one-take structure is perfectly suited for a zombie film and we’re surprised it hasn’t been tried before. (We see you “One Cut of the Dead” but you’re not quite there). For horror fans in general it’s a must see for the escalating tension and practical effect mastery on display and the fantastic job of every actor in this film. Special shout out to cinematographer, Philip Lozano, who shoots the hell out of the sleepy streets of the French suburbs.This film has done what we thought was impossible, it’s convinced us that a director can find  a completely new direction to take horror films we were convinced had no life in them (see what we did there) and injected a remarkable new direction that might not set a new bar but certainly proves that there are new tricks for this old dog. 

THE DETAILS:

Written & Directed by: David Moreau

Cast: Milton Riche, Laurie Pavy, Lucille Guillaume

Genre: Horror

Language: French

Runtime: 88 min

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