Customer Reviews

The Mad (Unrated)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

A doctor (Billy Zane) and his family stop in a small town during a festival. This was a mistake. Underneath the charm of small-town living a strange horror is about to burst forth. Tainted meat is going to affect the locals and turn them into zombies (or are they zombies?). Whatever they are, the crazed killers very quickly outnumber the unaffected. Zane quickly becomes the leader of the survivors. As they are besieged by the mad killers they work up a plan of escape and how to stop the menace from spreading. Will they succeed? Who will survive?

This is a tongue-in-cheek movie that works well on the absurd and comedy levels but is not really scary. But then scary was not really the goal of this film. Billy Zane is excellent and at his deadpan best as a doctor trying to deal with family, vacation, zombies, and killer hamburgers. If you thought a killer dessert topping was wild (The Stuff) then you will get a real kick out of marauding cuts of meat. Creative cinematography really helps drive the movie while blood and guts take only a minor role. If you are looking for a horror spoof then check this one out.

Maybe I'm being about a half star too generous with the flick, but then again maybe I'm not because after all it does have Billy Zane in it and I do love me some Billy Zane. Here he's the absolute antithesis of the amped up character he played in DEMON KNIGHT but it still works. Zane plays a rather quite, restrained medical doctor who is vacationing with his daughter Amy (Maggie Castle), her boyfried, and his own prospective second wife Monica (Shauna MacDonald) who is very much at odds with teenage Amy. Against his better judgment they stop at a small town where some sort of country fair seems to be taking place, his girlfriend read an article about the town in which it was referred to as "hillbilly nouveau"--very chic apparently, so there's no getting out of it.

What none of them know however, is that the $16.95 hamburger special made from local "free range" cattle is not what it seems and before long everybody who has eaten one is foaming at the mouth and attacking all those who haven't. Naturally this brings up the discussion of whether or not they are really zombies or not--a subject they decide to leave for another time. Ultimately they learn that all the tainted meat came from one area farm and they decide that some course of action should be taken, and all sorts of bloody comic mayhem ensues. There is one especially funny scene involving father/daughter bonding as they casually fight for their lives in a field of zombies that can justifiably be called classic.

Written by Kevin Hennelly and directed by John Kalagis, THE MAD has a few new twists to offer the genre if only in the form of characterization. Haven't you always wanted to see at least ONE person keep their head on straight and think rationally during a zombie attack? Well Zane's your boy. He's virtually unflappable, even going so far as to discuss with Monica what dress she should be buried in as he performs an autopsy on her to see if he can learn more about the disease that's infecting everyone! Sure this flick isn't perfect but when you have scenes like that you have to love it.

I got this movie on a whim, loved every minute of it.. it is your basic incredibly corny, tongue in cheek undead movie. Billy Zane is hilarious in his role, the surrounding actors seem to really understand that the movie is supposed to come across as fun and some of the scenes featuring Zane and his "daughter" carrying on a calm father daughter conversation as they walk into and out of numerous attacking zombies is more than worth the price of admission. And popcorn!
This movie is fun, has no lessons to be learned, carries no useful message, probably won't change your life.... but aren't those all good reasons to watch it ????

THE MAD concerns a family vacation interupted by a hamburger-induced zombie invasion. Billy Zane (Critters, Dead Calm, Memory) plays the dad who must face the hideous horde w/ the help of his daughter, her boyfriend, and a few other survivors. The first half is my favorite, as Zane and company are hilarious. Things drag a bit in the mid-section, but there are enough funny parts to keep things rolling. Besides, how often do you get a chance to see a hamburger patty crawl around, bubble green goo, and fly onto someone's face?...

1) ACTING--No problems here. Everyone here can act and there were no big stand outs when it came to bad actors. Billy Zane seemed to really have fun doing this movie, and it makes ya wonder how much of his character was scripted and how much of it was him, "hamming" it up. A lot of character development in this movie and the actors all seemed to enjoy doing the "slapstick" in this movie.

2) MAKE UP & SPECIAL EFFECTS--No issues here. A good amount of blood and gore is thrown around and the zombies look pretty good. Speaking of zombies...

3) THE ZOMBIES--Nothing new to see here. Good makeup, minimal use of the "white faced, raccoon eyed zombie make up that seems to be in abundance nowadays. The zombies aren't runners, but they are very aggresive when attempting to chow on various peoples.

4) THE CAUSE--This is our little morality lesson for the day. The farmer that provides the beef to the town is using some very un-organic chemicals to fatten the livestock so he gets more money for his produce and gets away with it, due to some loophole in the USDA's guidelines. Anyone who eats any of his tainted meat begins their transformation into a blood-thirsty zombie. Usually, it's the big corporation taking advantage of the little business guy trying to hold his own, but this time, it's just one guy (and his son) out to make a quick buck at the expense of others. The survivors feel they need to make this situation "right" and head off to the farm where it all began to stop it all, instead of just hightailing it out of town.

5) SOUNDTRACK--Done by a Canadian group named Half Past Four. The movie ends up with a fun 1980's sound, but when the bass begins, it's turned up so obnoxiously loud and forces you to grab the remote control to try and balance out the music in between the talking and regular chomp fests. No heavy metal thrash, though.

6) CONTINUITY--Only one real thing stood out. Near the end, when Jason turns the lights on at the farm, the plaster on Johnny's forehead is gone, leaving his wound visable. A little bit later, it has reappeared covering up the wound again.


Overall, a fun little entry in the "zomedy" genre, in the same vein as Shaun of the Dead. (SofD was Much better) It's not incredible, but at least worthy of a rental.


3 out of 5

I believe Billy Zane either knew someone involved with this movie, or he was very desperate for money. This movie was not entertaining in the least.. I don't see where anyone found this funny. If your sense of humor is all about people wading through zombies holding monotone conversation and cracking flat jokes, then your ready to split a rib here. But I for one felt like the script was written in about two hours by someone with very, very, very poor writing skills. Billy Zane and company stroll through the story babbling and mumbling, while they split zombie heads and even tango with them. Meanwhile, growth hormones bring beef patties to life and they attack people like the blob. I hope the person who wrote this script never works in Hollywood again.. It is really that bad. Any idiot with a quarter of a brain could probably write something better than this. I actually dozed during this DVD.. and never in my life have I fell asleep during a movie. I think after watching this junk job, it has left me slightly insane.

This movie is so cheesy! It has some funny parts but for the most part it was just odd. Hamburger meat that causes people to turn into zombies paired with some really bad acting. The movie would have been a little better if they could have delivered on all the failed jokes. The jokes were so slow that by the time they delivered you were just bored. Some parts of the movie dragged so badly you just would completely loose interest. I think this movie could of been better but someone just didn't bother to fix the issues.

I love a Zomedy. I'm addicted to Zombie flicks...this one was almost as good as they get. A silly departure.

...then "The Mad" should be it. After recently watching a string of zombie movies that cannot be easily squeezed into the standard zombie-movie mold ("Undead," "Last of the Living," "Days of Darkness," "Dead Meat"), I can now add to it a zombie/comedy that also sits outside the box. "The Mad" is surreal in its execution - from the infra-red look of the scenery to the consumerism of the zombies to the off-the-wall characters and on up to the exquisite absent-mindedness of Billy Zane's character. And, best of all, it works. Together, these elements produce a tapestry as funny, as scary and as creepy as any zombie movie I've ever seen. The only let-down is that the mad cows do not rampage; they merely push one another aside to get to the special feed the farmer has given them; but, to make up for it, the meat patties they produce do rampage. Truly, this movie acts out The Smiths' signature song "Meat Is Murder" (of course, that song is nowhere to be found in the film, but it's there in spirit).

Not a bad movie. Not the best by any means, but it is a good addition to any zombie fanatics collection.