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12 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Surprisingly funny take on the zombie genre, 27 mayo 2007
7/10
Author: (mack@twitchfilm.net) de Canada

I'm not sure what the fate of The Mad is but lovers of zombie films should give it a go whenever and however it becomes available for public consumption. The Mad is a surprisingly funny and twisted addition to the zombie genre. I laughed really hard at a few moments in the film and I am usually immune to laughter. But the script is very funny.

Billy Zane is pitch perfect, as is the actress who plays his daughter, Maggie Castle. The rest of the cast is admirable but the real standouts are this father and daughter duo.

It took too long to get going and lost a bit of it's steam throughout the second half. And only because it could have used more zombie action and less meaningless effects segues have I rated it as such.

Family bickering during a zombie crisis was never this good.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Another Close Call From 235 Films..., 25 mayo 2007
6/10
Author: Gavin Schmitt (gavin6942@yahoo.com) de Kaukauna, Wisconsin

A father, a daughter, a future stepmother and a boyfriend are traveling when they stop in a small town (isn't it always a small town?) for some dinner and a place to sleep. The restaurant gets its meat locally, but sometimes local doesn't always mean healthy. There's a new kind of mad cow disease in town.

When this film showed up in the mail, I was undecided on how to take it. It had "Billy Zane" written on the cover, which seemed like a promising thing. Because Zane, for whatever reason, seems to suggest greatness -- despite my inability to determine why. And then I watched the trailer on my DVD of "Bottom Feeder", and this looked like a possible American answer to England's "Shaun of the Dead". Boy, is that giving it way too much credit.

The company behind this film is 235 Films (a new company behind such greats as "Bottom Feeder" and "UKM: The Ultimate Killing Machine"). Their gimmick seems to be get a half-baked script, an unknown director, and then find one B-league star and put his/her name prominently on the cover. First Michael Madsen, then Tom Sizemore and now Billy Zane.

Now, Billy Zane ("Demon Knight", "Back to the Future") is a great actor and a wonderful action star and comedian. I think I could say he was the best part of this film without much debate. But he just couldn't save it. They gave him no good lines and he was just way too big to fill such a small character (not a small part, mind you, just such a one-dimensional character).

You see, the cool parts only take up ten minutes of the film. The rest is mostly a bunch of scenes where the daughter and future stepmother fight with each other. It's overdone, poorly scripted, poorly acted and really doesn't tie in to the overall plot. I was quite bored through much of this. I guess the daughter was sort of cute, but that didn't even come close to making up for the sheer blahness of it all.

Best scene was the "zombie debate" scene where they were trying to determine if the people they were fighting were zombies or not. They were flesh-eating and not dead... but were they undead? It's a good scene, and way too short. This sort of discourse could have carried the movie if it came in copious amounts.

Also, as with many films, I enjoyed the deleted scene. It was a music scene and nothing really happened in it, but it had artistic merit. And if you're going to give me a boring, pointless film -- you can at least make it artistic. Instead, they excised it out.

This film wasn't worthless. It had some good scenes, it had some humor, it had Billy Zane and I think the story was interesting. Maybe it had the wrong writer or director or editor. Maybe it had the wrong actors. It's hard to pinpoint it, because it seems like something that should have been kick-butt. If someone wants to remake this twenty years from now, or even a year from now (heck, "The Incredible Hulk" gets away with it) I support your cause. Because I think this one has a piece of hope buried under its large, bulbous morass.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A film that sways around like a zombie., 29 mayo 2007
5/10
Author: lumocolor de United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film is as messy as a zombie chowing down on guts. Considering it's only 80-odd minutes long, it takes a good half hour to get going. It's certainly a quirky film, there are some bits which are genuinely funny, and none at all that are scary or particularly horrifying - not quite sure what the DVD has that makes it "unrated" to be honest! Billy Zane is okay, although UK viewers may find his resemblance to "Les" from Vic Reeves Big Night Out a little disconcerting. All other actors do their jobs well enough, but they can't carry the comedy. The script tries to be too clever and/or postmodern for its own good sometimes, and any humour, irony or subtle comedy just doesn't work. Shaun Of The Dead (to which this film owes a huge debt) did it all so much better.

One scene with Amy and her dad walking through the field, dissecting their lives whilst kicking a couple of zombies to death without pausing for breath is the best scene in the film - unfortunately spoiled by inappropriate background music which just does not fit.

The director refers to this film as "social commentary" - he believes the zombies have a lust for consumption, of any material goods - but this isn't brought across to the screen. They just look like typical zombies destroying a car, it doesn't make you think "Wow, what a subtle insight into American materialism." Worth seeing only if it costs you nothing, you have 85 spare minutes, and you'll watch anything with zombies and/or cows in it.

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14 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
Total Zomedy fun, 29 marzo 2007
8/10
Author: fheywood de Toronto, Canada

You are what you eat... THE MAD was fast, funny, had some terrific gross-out moments, and snappy dialogue. The main cast was great - you could transplant the central characters (a family) into any other kind of film (romantic comedy, say) and they would work just as well - they weren't just stereotypical horror movie fodder. Loved seeing Billy Zane in a comedic role. Get your zombie fix and see the movie!

One weird thing: The upcoming DVD cover looks as if it is for a completely different movie - I'm pretty sure the picture on it isn't even from The Mad - it looks like a stock photo of a generic zombie. Why on earth would they do that? Why misrepresent a totally fun movie?

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15 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
A fantastic zom-com... Zane was great, 26 marzo 2007
8/10
Author: evansm-1 de Canada

In the increasingly popular movie genre of zombie comedies, The Mad is an excellent entry. I saw the premiere of this film at the Canadian Filmmaker's Festival last week and it was a bucket of fun.

The film stars Billy Zane (Dr. Hunt) and Maggie Castle (his daughter Amy) as they attempt to navigate the usually rocky terrain of a family road trip, complete with Amy's boyfriend and the Doc's girlfriend (played to bitchy perfection by Shauna MacDonald).

I can't say too much without giving the premise away, but suffice it to say, when the zombies appear, there's a pleasant amount of blood and gibbets of flesh to go around.

Zane does well in a comedic role, and the supporting performances are strong.

This movie does exactly what it's supposed to do: makes you laugh, frightens you, and leaves you feeling satisfyingly entertained.

One additional thing I have to mention: saw the cover art for the upcoming DVD and it doesn't really speak to what the movie's about: this is a zombie comedy, not a purely gruesome horror flick. Just my opinion.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Pretty funny zombie movie, 29 enero 2008
Author: slayrrr666 (slayrrr666@yahoo.com) de Los Angeles, Ca

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"The Mad" is a lot of fun and really entertaining for a zombie comedy.

**SPOILERS**

Driving through the country, Dr. Jason Hunt, (Billy Zane) and his new girlfriend Monica Tepper, (Shauna MacDonald) as well as daughter Amy, (Maggie Castle) and her boyfriend Blake MacNaughton, (Evan Charles Flock) decide to stop off in a small town. While they're having a big celebration, they stop off at the diner to have a bite to eat. Meeting with waitress Steve, (Jordan Madley) and her friend, Charlie, (Rothaford Gray) the cook, they are soon assaulted by a group of the patrons and notice why they're acting strangely. Running for safety, they find that they're the only survivors of a weird plague that has turned all of the locals into a raving zombie. Realizing that this is because of a supply of rancid meat from a local farm, they try to get out of the diner before become zombies as well.

The Good News: This here is one of the greatest zombie comedies of the genre. The fact that this one manages to do both, mix the serious zombie action with the humorous comedy makes for plenty of enjoyment. The film gets some rather great jabs with comedy in here, including an incredibly hilarious scene where two victims wander through the park and while one begins recounting a story, the other is grabbed and begins struggling with a zombie in the background, able to come back into view when the story's finished. It's a classic gag and one that always works well. The hilarious wordplay between everyone is also worthy of a few laughs, especially the argument on the doorstep as well as the ensuing one in the barn as they try to figure out what's going on and a later one with the characters standing around discussing whether or not they're dealing with zombies or just really sick people, providing just some examples of how good this was. Just as good is the segment where the zombies strike at the diner, which unleashes a torrent of gags including a dance sequence disguised as a fight to the tune of a jukebox playing an appropriate song for such a scene. The seriousness is made up with the graphic zombie attacks, which here are actually threatening to the others. The laughs are played more in trying to get away from them, not the zombies themselves, so they remain a fearsome threat, and the film does have some rather nice gore to thank from it. There's a bitten off foot, a pitchfork impaled in the stomach, kitchen utensils stabbed in the head, bites all over the arms and legs and a wicked decapitation that leads to a pretty nice gag but it still marvelously gory. There's also some more threats to come from them, in the form of some rather big action scenes where they attack in the diner, which leads to some really big parts later which are just as good. The film also has a frenetic pace, able to incorporate a lot of goof stuff into it from the zombies to the gags to a couple of really fun moments that make it even more of a blast to watch. This here was a thoroughly entertaining film.

The Bad News: This here doesn't have a whole lot really wrong, and the few flaws aren't that bad at all. The main one is that the zombies here aren't that well done, looking really cheaply and without a whole lot to really make them memorable. The design is to slap on contact lenses and a few blood marks over the face and it's considered a zombie, when all it does is really make the film look cheaper because it was unable to do anything at all with them. It's a hard one to get over, as these look really bad and are very hard to take seriously because of it. The other one is the fact that the storyline about the tainted farm's meat is a little too convoluted. First, it's mentioned that they're cows were sick, which became a big scandal, then used an experimental treatment to make them better, which no one knew about to make them healthy then gave it back to all of the locals. It's a little tough to understand, and doesn't really make much sense. These here are what really strike the film down.

The Final Verdict: A thoroughly entertaining zombie entry that has enough dumb humor to become entertaining, giving this one a lot to like. Highly recommended to zombie comedy fans, those in the mood for a dumb gore-fest or think it entertaining, while those who aren't big fans of the style won't really enjoy this one a lot.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
So bad, it's good., 14 noviembre 2007
7/10
Author: atomdrake de United States

"The Mad" is without a doubt meant to be bad. There can be little doubt that both the cast, the director, and most likely the screen writer foreordained this to be a laughably bad film. There are time in which Billy Zane's performance not only breaks the forth wall it shatters it into a thousand pieces, leaving the viewer in a vortex of both confusion and pure hilarity. If it's not zombies, who's only zombie like aspect is alka-seltzer driven mouth foam, it's seemingly omniscience beef patties that attack the characters in-mass. The full affect of this leaves one with more per-zombie-giggles than "FIDO". If you happen to have a group of pro-zombie minded friends and what a movie to put everyone in stitches try "The Mad".

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
I reckon I should have stayed home with the cows.., 13 septiembre 2007
1/10
Author: Peyote_Ugly de United States

No, I didn't laugh my head off at this dark comical tale of rural horror. However, I would have liked to give my head a shake for seeing it. Being a Troma and general B-circuit film buff, I was entirely let down and that's hard. I tried to have an open mind and let 'The Mad' ride its course of a humored, satirical play... I still had no satisfaction. Bring back Romeros' original zombies or Wiederhorns' aquatic zombies... well, maybe not. First and foremost, polish the dark humor and give it fuel because it sure ran dry in this film!

As many folks out there, I'm well-aware of the drawn out comical sideshows of zombie flicks. I thought I would give this film a chance, seeing how I enjoyed 'Shaun of the Dead' and other collaborations of the whole zombie genre. Now, there's only so far one can beat the zombie drum and I truly believe that it is done already, not from this film though. Yes, it's unfortunate that the horror icon, Billy Zane, seems to be the prelude to department store five dollar DVDs. I can't blame Zane though, I think he's still an under-appreciated actor that has a lot of potential.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Oh jolly ... Another lame zombie-'comedy', 13 noviembre 2007
2/10
Author: Coventry de the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

I think I can safely consider myself to be a fairly open-minded and tolerant horror fan, but there's one thing I honestly can't stand: horror comedies that are not funny, nor gory. And unfortunately we happen to see a lot of those lately, especially in the sub genre of 'zombie movies' ever since a British instant classic called "Shaun of the Dead" successfully mixed humor with splatter. By now everybody seems to think they're capable of making a horror comedy and this naturally results in a huge pile of stinking, inept, insufferable and redundant straight-to-video crap. All these untalented filmmakers don't seem to realize that "Shaun of the Dead" was actually the exception that confirmed the rule: zombies, people coming back from the dead to hunt the flesh of the living are no laughing matter. Like the case in "The Mad", there's absolutely nothing even remotely funny about family members getting killed by walking corpses that died after consuming beef infected with the mad cow disease. People will not start to make jokes or have discussions about the definition of a zombie moments after their beloved partners have been reduced to a pile of blood and intestines on the floor! "The Mad" really tries to be hilarious, with its absurd & stereotypical character drawings and clichéd father-daughter-stepmother-punk boyfriend relationship jokes, but it miserably fails. The other elements to create comedy are either totally pathetic (spontaneously attacking hamburgers) or utterly derivative (inbred farmers and banjo music). "The Mad" can't even distinguish itself from the majority of lame-ass low budget horror junk with a good amount of nauseating splatter, as the make-up effects and massacres are nothing exceptional at all. It's not a gore-soaked bloodbath and we're only treated to a couple of mundane zombie-attacks and relatively bloodless annihilations. And then there's Billy Zane, the "famous" name parading the DVD-cover; hoping to attract more viewers with it. To my surprise I encountered a lot of reviews claiming that his performance was awesome but I, on the other hand, have rarely seen someone acting so uninterested and hammy, and no, I don't misinterpreted the fact his performance was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. Zane more than obviously wasn't interested in starring in this piece of junk and he can't hide it. For crying out loud, Billy! Maybe you desperately needed the money, but if you really don't want to star in garbage like this, then don't sign the contract! "The Mad" is a terrible film, not funny, not horrific, not gruesome, nothing to recommend.

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10 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Campy, Fun, Clearly Canadian, 24 marzo 2007
7/10
Author: bpvanderburg de Canada

Having screened The Mad at the Gala Opening at the 2007 Canadian Filmmakers Festival, I can say that it would be a shame for this movie to be relegated to the 'Direct to Video Pile'. It's likely to become a cult movie in a similar vein to "Shaun of the Dead", "Evil Dead", "Return of the Living Dead", etc.

A tad slow in places, the intelligent humour and earnestness of the characters more than makes up for any shortcomings. This movie makes no pretense to being anything other than fun.

Nice to see Billy Zane in something other than a dramatic role, with luck we'll see more comedic acting from Zane in the future as he seemed to have a great deal of fun with this role.

Go 'Team Chris'

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