MadS had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024, a one-take thrill ride with a refreshing take on the zombie sub-genre. Directed by David Moeeau, the film follows 3 teenagers, each with their own story and events in store for them in the night ahead.
We first meet Romain (Milton Richie), it’s his 18th birthday and he is meeting his dealer to pick up drugs for a party that evening, who he takes up on the offer for a new drug that is promised to give him the craziest night of his life. While on his way home, an injured woman covered in blood climbs into his car and screams at him to drive away, as he does she starts to bash her head on the dashboard covering Romain in blood. When Romain gets home, we follow him while he panics, tries to clean himself up and get ready for the party. This is when we meet the two other characters, Anais (Laurie Pavy) and Romain’s ex-fling Julia (Lucille Guillaume), who help the story unfold further. From the point when Anais and her friend take this unknown and strange drug, we really see Moeeau have fun and take the zombie sub-genre to a place rarely seen. The audience experiences the anxiety that all 3 characters go through as they seemingly encounter one of the wildest and strangest highs of their life, where watching it all play out feels truly uncomfortable.
The absolute standout throughout this whole movie is Anais, as we watch her slowly turn into a zombie we are greeted with a standout scene as she is locked in a nightclub bathroom. Anais screams, snarls and cries out for her mother as she transforms into Moeeau’s twisted version of the undead. The way Guillaume moves her body and uses her voice to create her character is abnormal and bizarre yet never less than terrifying – a truly memorable effect. From then on this is when the movie really takes strides, it is a thrill ride to watch as Anais ventures out into the world attacking other humans who are unaware of the nightmare that is unfolding around them as the night progresses. There is a fantastic balance of horror and comedy where it is clear that Anais’ zombie form is loving being let loose on the world, torturing passers-by, sometimes with devastating a effect. The film as a whole seems to strike a perfect balance throughout, Moeeau manages to grasp that sometimes difficult task of gore working alongside realism. Yes, this is a zombie movie, so of course the audience needs gore but due to the subject matter of how they turn into zombies by taking drugs, there needs to be a sprinkling of realism.
The story then moves on to a whole new place, we follow Julia as she tries to escape from Anais clutches and discover that there is an army of people trying to prevent the disease from spreading with little effect. From such a strong and entertaining middle, it feels like the climatic scenes lose their way, sometimes maintaining the mystery and not explaining the who’s and why’s or being aware that help is on its way is for the best – and sometimes it’s great to pure terror unfold with no end in sight.
As a whole MadS is a fantastic take on the zombie genre, which manages to give it a totally new spin with a fresh feel. It is a great example of filmmaking being able to seamlessly follow 3 characters for 90 minutes in one unbroken take, and while that long take style is increasingly common it is still difficult to execute well. Whilst the middle of this movie steps up a notch it is a shame that it is sandwiched between a dull first half with Romain and an ending which doesn’t quite hit home as hard as I hoped. Either way, MadS is a fantastic film to add to your zombie watchlist this spooky season.
MadS is out now on Shudder
Alice’s Archive – MadS (2024)
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