madman

It was a night like tonight, many years ago…

As the camp counselors prepare for leaving after their summer season is over, one of the kids takes the tale of a reputed serial killer for granted, mocking this psycho's name (that lives on in infamy), and in calling it out loudly and brashly, seems to reawaken the monster that is Madman Marz.

**

While TP (Tony Fish) sings the song of Madman Marz for the counselors around a campfire, foretelling the reasoning behind why this psycho kills, with director Joe Giannone foreshadowing what it to come (I never liked this technique; telling us who will die ahead seems, to me anyway, to remove some of the suspense behind how and who will get it) for many of them.

Absent all the killing, I always thought the 80s brought out how a good deal of fun it seems to be for young adults around camp time. It was as if they were allowed the chance to be free from societal pressures and the grind that comes with careers to guide, organize, and be a little part in the development of the “youths of America”. In Madman (unlike Friday the 13th films), at the very least the killings occur after camp has taken place, with the counselors preparing for their return to the regularities of life. Couples that formed over the summer seem intent on staying together. That is until Marz kills them all.

“If you say his name above a whisper, in the woods, he will hear you, because he could be anywhere, anytime. If he hears you call his name, he’ll come for you.”

Well, guess what? Madman Marz’ name is shouted by one of the bratty teen boys (Jimmy Steele) around the camp fire as Max (Carl Fredericks), the head counselor, mentor, and veteran looked up to as a sort of father figure by the adult counselors, tries to apologize to the supposedly fictional boogeyman whose window received a thrown rock into the kitchen of the old, decrepit, cob-webbed house just out in the woods a piece.

Obviously, Gaylen Ross is the “marquee” name of the cast because of her association in the Romero zombie masterpiece, Dawn of the Dead (1978); in this film, she’s landed the “final girl” role, although she’s a bit older compared to the usual “virginal 18” requirement often associated with that particular heroine. She has been having one of those summer camp romances with a fellow camp counselor, TP. Their relationship could either end or continue once camp is over, with Ross not sure she wants to take it any further while he’s up for something more permanent, not temporary. Stacy (Harriet Bass) is a pal Ross has made during camps current and in the past, an ear and opinion to confide in, mainly as it pertains to guys and exhausting relationships with them. There’s a cheesy bit of business involving Ross and TP in a hot tub as the two dance around an eventual sexual embrace as some cornball AM radio love song plays. Yuck.

The execution of TP early was a rather interesting decision, I thought. Set up as a possible hero, typically he would die sometime towards the end while trying to rescue Ross from harm’s way. Instead, he goes out looking for Richie (Steele), one of the boys under his camp watch, gets a noose around his neck, pulled across the ground, lynched on a tree, almost escaping from this peril by holding onto the tree branch above his head, with a final jerk from Madman Marz (Paul Ehlers) causing an instant, crunching neck snap. Right away, the film tells us no one is safe. Hell, Ross might could be dispatched at any time if the potential hero of the film is the first victim to meet his end.

Madman Marz. He growls like a Bigfoot. He’s got rotted flesh. He dresses like some haggard undead redneck zombie, walking barefoot. He has overwhelming power. He pulls an ax, long-buried in a tree stump, no man able to remove its blade, from its resting place, and off Marz goes, ready to chop somebody up if so inclined.

You know, watching this I think the film looks great. Exquisite isn’t a word I use for the slasher genre very often, but I did think the photographic compositions, heavy emphasis on lighting, and inventive ways to convey Marz’ movement among his human targets were quite well crafted. My problem is with the story and screenplay. Marz just appears because his name is mentioned around a campfire…how? The exposition involving Marz—this undead thing that has somehow reawakened from his slumber to kill a bunch of people—is more than a bit ambiguous. When he was nearly dead by hanging for slaughtering his family with an ax, having escaped from the rope lynching him, where did he go? Where does he suddenly emerge from? If he died by rope, how did he just up and become undead in the first place? What makes the mentioning of his name a reanimation device that allows him to go about killing people when it’s obvious by the make-up effects that he’s dead (his flesh is rotted, his grotesque finger/toe nails are long/sharp)? I guess I should not even think about it. I know: just enjoy it all and not dwell on how it is Marz can do what he does, regardless of how nonsensical and illogical it all is. This is a pill that will swallow a bit more easily if details aren’t dwelt upon. I laugh my ass off at how contrived the screenplay is: Richie “gets lost” in the woods, with subsequent attempts to find him ending with the camp counselors winding up dead one by one. This film just continues to show one camp counselor after another going into the damned woods to find missing members of their number. The results are the same, even if the deaths are a bit different. Lynching, decapitation (my favorite: the use of a truck hood while the victim is trying to jump start the vehicle with Marz jumping on top of it!), back break, ax to the jugular.

Besides Jan Claire's performance as Ellie (oof, is it bad; good for some giggles, though), her decision to hide in the refrigerator rates as an all-time laugh-out-loud highlight for “stupid things people do when totally scared in the slasher genre”. It comes at just the right time, too. Not long before this, we saw Marz hoist her beau (Alexander Murphy, Jr.) in the air like a power lifter, with the accompanying snap, crackle, pop of the poor fellow’s back as she shrieks. This portion of the film I found undeniably entertaining if just for how ridiculous it all is. I guess Ellie didn’t believe that Marz heard her tossing out food from the fridge or felt he’d see all of it on the floor while pursuing her whereabouts? Whoever come up with this scene had to know it would elicit plenty of wtf’s from the viewing audience. Something this asinine couldn’t have been unintentional…right?

Ross’ Betsy then decides that she must find the others to see if they are still alive, leaving the comforts of the bus (with the kids of the camp in tow) in order to do so. Questioning judgment of characters at this point was simply futile to me. She had just successfully fought off Marz getting inside the bus with the butt of her shotgun, yet undeterred (after seeing Marz carry off the corpse of Ellie) still feels the need to see who might still be alive (despite the obvious signs that they weren’t). It is all about getting Betsy to Marz house—even if this seems to be the most ignorant idea possible—the lair of the killer, and so she goes, right into the belly of the beast. It doesn’t end well with her, either.

I think Gaylen Ross’ treatment at the end is perhaps the biggest surprise. As a heroine, she flops. I can’t imagine anyone watching felt she should leave the comforts of the bus, the safety on the horizon, and walk to the house of Madman Marz. Not only does she make this grave mistake, as a final girl, I think many consider her one of the least resourceful/effective. Upon firing a shotgun blast towards a noise, and unable to reload in time, Betsy gets knocked to the ground, her face ripped open (with a nasty gaping wound straight down), and dragged by Marz to his basement where all his corpses are kept as trophies. She begs for help, flails her legs and arms, but Marz just pulls her down, plops her on a meat hook, and is able to leave her to die when she just happens to stab him with a pocket knife. That, my friends, is it in regards to her effectiveness. A fire starts when a candle is tipped over, but there’s nothing shown that signifies that Marz has been quelled. If anything there was opening for more ax carnage. Thankfully, no franchise started. This was, phew, the only film with Madman Marz.

This is more or less a film for slasher fans that demand very little, don't require anything of specific value, and just want to plop down in their comfort chair, with chips and drink, for a Friday night at 8 to waste. It is nicely shot and lit, though, and works as eye candy (the emphasis on blue, especially) with a heavy visual aesthetic that is pleasing. With it at least being visually impressive, the style can somewhat alleviate the woes of the plot and characters.