Good movie but grossly overrated

A Major Disappointment

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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.

~Spoiler~ The Mad is a movie that came late to the party. Shaun of the Dead showed us how to make a zombie comedy and became an instant classic. Dead and Breakfast was a perfect midnight movie that became an instant cult classic. The Mad will be instantly forgotten. And that sucks because I really love Billy Zane. He just picks the wrong projects. I had been excited for this movie since it was first announced. That announcement made no mention of comedy. It was supposed to be Billy Zane and his daughter fending off zombies at a gas station. Imagine my surprise when 2 months later (literally) the movie came out direct to DVD and it was touted as a "zombedy." Flags went up after seeing how soon this came out, but I decided to give it a chance anyway because I love zombies and I love Zane. Let me say after viewing it they could have called it The Bad. It was just blah; not funny, not gory, certainly not memorable. This is a classic example of trying too hard. If a joke doesn't work, no amount of zaniness (pardon my pun) is going to fix it. Believe me when I say The Silence of the Hams was funnier.

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.

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'