‘Madman’ is the Thanksgiving Slasher You Probably Forgot About
Thanksgiving has regularly been given the short end of the horror stick. While other holidays are abounding with horrific takes on annual traditions, Thanksgiving offerings—despite the innate horror of both its origins and practices (family dinner…)— remain sparse. There’s the perennial slasher Blood Rage, and last year’s Thanksgiving was refreshingly fun. But other than some cryptic indies and made-for-television shorts, Thanksgiving doesn’t yield the horror buffet something like, say, Christmas does. Every year, the lists of horror watches are the same, and I pretty much skip straight to Black Christmas on Thanksgiving night. Until I rediscovered Madman. I rewatched it for the messy, endearing slasher nonsense, and wouldn’t you know? Madman is technically a Thanksgiving horror movie. Better still, the film is now streaming for free.
Per Tubi: At a summer camp haunted by legends of an axe murderer, counselors and campers are slaughtered one by one when his spirit returns with a vengeance.
Joe Giannone’s Madman was originally based on the Upstate New York Cropsey mythos, though the outline was changed last minute to avoid veering too closely to Tony Maylam’s recently released The Burning. Not that either of those wasn’t also heavily indebted to Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, which invented the summer camp slasher template. Curiously, while all three titles amount to the same thing—horny teens forgo sleep for camp tomfoolery are slowly picked off by masked maniacs—Madman is distinct insofar as it’s not a summer camp but… a November camp?
It’s a throwaway line, and in fairness, Madman otherwise has next to nothing to do with the Thanksgiving holiday. If not for the easily missed interjection, you’d be forgiven for thinking Madman took place in the dead of summer. Still, after the legend of Madman Marz (Paul Ehlers) is shared with the campfire counselors, it’s acknowledged that it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving. Never mind the incredulity of anyone operating a mid-November sleepaway camp—there are bigger problems to deal with.
Madman technically qualifies as a Thanksgiving slasher, then, and absolutely deserves a slot in your holiday horror rotation. Beyond the tenuous, though valid, link to seasonal slaughter, Madman is additionally one of the most engaging additions to the dead teenagers in the woods cinematic canon. Not that there’s much need to iterate. While decried by critics for decades, the familiarity of sexy teens and their gruesome deaths is a formula I’ve personally not tired of yet.
And to its credit, Madman lives up to its title. While not a classic like either The Burning or Friday the 13th, Madman has a gory, manic energy that helps to set it apart. Practical effects especially were the dealmaker or dealbreaker for slasher films in their heyday, and Madman delivers. Heads are severed, bodies are dragged through the woods and strung from trees, and axes are swung with abandon. Some of the deaths here are Grand Guignol in nature, exhibitions of cartoonish, excessive violence that elevates Madman above most of its contemporaries. Compare it to something like The Mutilator and you’ll know what I mean.
Interestingly, too, Madman pairs well with Thanksgiving perennial Blood Rage. I stream Blood Rage every year, in part because I live 15 minutes from where it was filmed and it’s the best thing about my town. And, as noted earlier, what other Thanksgiving horror movies really are there? Both Blood Rage and Madman share the same grotesque violence, but they also share an undercurrent of humor guaranteed to lift spirits and generate laughs.
Consider, for instance, Jan Claire’s Ellie. Largely unassuming, she and Gaylen Ross’ Betsy are in competition for Madman’s final girl status. Either could reasonably be the last survivor, though when Ellie absconds with Bill (Alex Murphy) in the finale, desperate to flee after discovering the body of a peer, everyone knows it’s Ellie’s last stand. She’s thrown from a car, stalked through the woods, and soon chased through one of the camp’s many cabins. Reasonable. Familiar. Very Ginny in Friday the 13th: Part 2.
What’s unfamiliar is when, with full sincerity, Ellie races off down the hall as Madman Marz axes through the cabin door. In the same frame, we see Marz creep down the hall as Ellie empties out the cabin fridge to hide inside. Seriously, she just throws everything she can. Trays and racks clatter, food gets everywhere, and it’s impossible to imagine Marz doesn’t either see or hear her doing that. Yet, she confidently crawls inside Indiana Jones style, closes the door, and waits the killer out. Of course, he’s a slasher killer, so it’s all about the misdirect. She thinks she’s in the clear, quietly tries to leave, and is killed just as she’s about the get out through the front door. Rest in peace, Ellie. Genuinely, the genre has rarely seen anyone quite like you.
That scene alone nicely conceptualizes what Madman is really about. It’s a holiday treat that earnestly draws laughs. The film knows what it’s doing, inviting audiences to join in on the fun rather than making itself the butt of the joke. And while I won’t spoil it here, Madman’s ending goes considerably harder than most of its ilk. It’s certainly not what you’d expect, calling to mind The Dorm That Dripped Blood, another hidden holiday horror gem.
Madman is now streaming free on Tubi. Whatever your holiday rituals are, I encourage you to carve out some time alongside the turkey to give Madman a chance. It’s outrageous, hilarious, gory, and nothing short of a fantastic time. It may not feel like there’s a lot to be grateful for this year, but at least we’ll always have Madman Marz. Rumor has it, he’s still out there. All you need to do is say his name aloud. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway. I’m going to leave it to you to find out whether it’s true.
If you find the time to watch it, let me know what you think over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
Categorized:Editorials
