A zombie movie unlike any other, MadS goes inside the heads of the infected, presenting a frightening vision of isolation and insanity—all captured in one continuous shot.
MadS begins with a young, well-off man on drugs driving to a party—but who first stops to pick up a bandaged and bloodied women who proceeds to bite him and then bludgeon herself to death while in his car. From there, we are drawn into director David Moreau’s delirious descent into madness—depicted both in the physical world as infection inevitably spreads, and in the minds of the cursed. At first, seeming protagonist Romain (Milton Riche) attempts to ignore the infection (and what he witnessed) like we all do when we first start to feel symptoms of the cold—ignore, push through, hope for the best, and go to that party anyway. But visual and audible hallucinations follow—this is the mind breaking down, degrading into mush. I can’t think of another zombie movie where we get to see the turn from the perspective of the victim itself.
At 86 minutes, MadS is not only efficient but slickly told and laid out. Loaded with entertainment value and a dangerously fast pace, you all but forget that the camera never cuts away or changes angles. The “one continuous shot” gimmick is hardly a gimmick here, and MadS serves as one of the rare films to achieve such a feat so effectively and seamlessly.
Clever, entertaining, and downright fascinating, MadS is a highly enjoyable zombie flick—and one of the best horror movies of 2024.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.
