FRENCH horror MadS is a visceral and often unhinged trip of a film which opens with 18-year-old Romain (Milton Riche) stopping off to see his dealer to test a new drug before heading off for a night of partying.
On his way home he picks up an injured woman, and all rhyme or reason is quickly lost, as the night takes a nihilistic and nightmarish turn of Hunter S Thompson proportions.
Directed by David Moreau, this is a euphorically apocalyptic ride with all-grinning and vacant-eyed young party people consumed by a drug-fuelled night of hedonism where nothing is what it appears to be.
A fast-paced and disorienting zombie film, Moreau takes us on a dizzying journey into madness and recklessness that is exquisitely chaotic. Think Run Lola Run crossed with Night of the Living Dead or 28 Days Later.
Dreamlike in its savage momentum, MadS, which is all shot in one single take, is a brave and bold horror film that is fluid, clever and unapologetically bleak and vicious in its delivery. This is a gutsy end of the world tale that is ominous, unpredictable and blissfully elated throughout.
Unconventional and skilfully unsettling in its narcotic-driven psychosis, we follow Romain on a disturbing rollercoaster ride as plans of partying and debauchery quickly turn into a bad trip from hell. There was moments I was reminded of cinematic classics such as Trainspotting and Irréversible, but Moreau’s film is very much his own as he takes an innovative ramble down the well trodden road of bloodthirsty viral infection zombie flicks.
MadS never lets up from beginning to end. I was left spinning and confused, like I had been slapped from one side of the face to the other with a wet mackerel of doomsday proportions.
And when it was all over, the wise words of Nancy Reagan, were left ringing in my ears.
“Just say no”, indeed!
(5/5)
