Let's talk about one of the more lowkey entries from the golden year of slasher film, Joe Giannone's Madman.

Starring: Gaylen Ross (credited as Alexis Dubin), Tony Fish, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones, Jan Claire and Alex Murphy.

Along with Friday the 13th (1980), The Burning (1981), and Sleepaway Camp (1983), Madman is one of the seminal films which helped cement the now-beloved summer camp themed slasher. Shot on Long Island, NY in late 1980, Madman was initially planned as an adaptation of the Staten Island urban legend of Cropsey, a boogeyman-like figure who would kidnap children, but production got off to a bumpy start for Joe Giannone as he was beaten to the punch by Tony Maylam, Brad Grey, and Harvey Weinstein in co-opting the legend for The Burning (1981), an early Weinstein production, and inarguably the better of the two films.
Now unable to use Cropsey, since The Burning explicitly uses that name, Giannone had to quickly re-write and alter his antagonist, conjuring a new urban legend, or at least a variation of Cropsey, and so for better or worse, the yarn of Madman Marz - the homicidal farmer, was spun.

You know, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the kids in these summer camp slasher flix, they only went away for the summer to have a good time and make lasting memories, instead they end up traumatised, or worse, murdered by a maniacal living legend. Comparatively to the poor fuckers seen these movies, I had relatively safe and uneventful summer breaks as a kid. Sure, I fractured my wrist one time falling 6ft from a rope swing, but that's all part of growing up, what I didn't experience is seeing a friend being decapitated by a 7ft lunatic farmer wielding an axe, and I struggle to recall are any instances of urban legends coming to life after a word or two of disrespect - no matter how hard we tried, and chasing us through the woods. Nor do I recall any of my so-called friends suffering a psychotic episode, donning a mask, and stalking the rest of us around a forest with an instrument of death.



In any event, Madman opens with a ragtag group of shithead youths and gaggle of bored-looking counsellors gathered around a campfire. The eldest counsellor, a middle-aged yet utterly haggard-lookin' Max (Frederick Neumann) is relating to the group the terrifying legend of Madman Marz, a local farmer who one day for no-apparent reason took up an axe and decided to dismember his entire family, and was subsequently lynched by villagers. Max warns the campers that merely saying his name aloud is enough to summon him, so ace twat Richie (Tom Candela) decides it's a good idea to defy Max's warning, yelling "Marz" at the top of his lungs and lobbing a rock through the window of Marz's abandoned abode.

The group breaks-up to return to camp with Richie catching a brief threatening silhouette of Madman Marz hanging out in a tree above. Captivated, Richie absconds to snoop around the Marz house instead of returning to camp with the other kids, meanwhile counsellors Betsy (Gaylen Ross) and T.P. (Tony Fish) engage in the most awkward and unromantic hot tub romance scene in cinematic history, complimented by Gaylen Ross' criminally gormless expression. Marz wastes no time initiating the body count, brazenly slashing the chef's throat with his razor-sharp fingernails. From here on out, Madman kind of aimlessly meanders along with a handful of kills sprinkled throughout, until the last 20 mins when the action becomes a bit more desperate.



"One by one you'll start to fall, before night's over I'll get you all" - Max (Frederick Neumann)

Marz, the titular madman, manages to simultaneously appear imposing and laughably-ridiculous; from a distance he's menacing, but in close-up the effects don't sell it, still as silly as he often appears, with his gnarled blancmange features, the tone is always stone-cold vicious. The kills are mean spirited and brutal in execution; a hanging of one counsellor is cruelly drawn-out, and the shot of Marz holding another above his head is a formidable sight to behold. Unfortunately, characters are so one dimensional that it's hard to give a shit when any of them are in peril, let alone about to be decapitated by the hood of a car - yes that's a verified kill here in Madman. Whether it's down to ability or boredom; Gaylen Ross/Alexis Dubin in particular looks even more vacant, bordering on comatose, than she did as Francine Parker in Romero's zombie epic Dawn of the Dead (1978), or the script they're working from, but performances are noticeably wooden and lacking any sense of enthusiasm.



For the most part Madman follows every established slasher trope, but breaks convention during the final moments by offing and allowing the cocky brat Richie - who started Marz's rampage, to survive the whole ordeal, only with his sanity in tatters, in a way, it's kind of poetic.

I dig Madman although it's taken several watches over a very many years to fully appreciate its charm, there's enough to admire. I think the biggest problem for anybody watching it for the first time is just how dull it is, sure it has a great poster to pull you in and all the necessary ingredients to be a great slasher, as well as, a pretty iconic antagonist in the form of the hulking Marz, but it's all so flavourless and lacking. Cinematographer, James Lemmo, does his best to keep everything visible; naturally it's a very dark film, everything happens over the course of a single night, and there's no day-time footage. Lemmo infuses most outdoor sequences with a blue tint, adding to the already cold and chilly atmosphere.
Sadly, Madman is further bogged down by the collective apathy of the cast, rendering a good portion of the runtime as a bit of a slog. Mercifully, in the last 20 minutes the tension is ramped up and you're bludgeoned by a few (welcomed) shocking sequences, creating a sense of dread and mayhem as the remaining characters fight to survive against a seemingly unstoppable boogeyman.