A keen viewer of anything which "drips blood", is located on "Sorority Row" or has "The Prowler" in it, I snapped up MADMAN for next to nothing at a garage sale. I knew I wasn't going to be seeing SUSPIRIA by the cheesy silhouette artwork, but I gave it a go. The first thing anyone notices about this film is the stupidity! Check it out when the girl hides in the fridge (that only has ice in it - was there starvation at summer camp in 1981?), or when another is hit over the head with a piano by the killer, or when the woman carries a torch around with her - but doesn't even switch it on, or where the girl thinks she's seen the killer but shoots her best friend! There's just so many daft things going on - and don't forget the super decapitation with car bonnet! This film stars DAWN OF THE DEAD'S Gaylen Ross - under the pseudonym Alexis Rubin - wonder why she changed her name for this stinker! But don't get me wrong - MADMAN is a pretty good horror. The bodycount is high with imaginitive deaths, and even though it's full of already-done ideas from FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH, THE BURNING, HALLOWEEN, and THE PROWLER, the production values are okay and the gore is quite good. The cast are not bad and can scream on cue. The "score" is pretty bad, a sort a eighties synth take on the HALLOWEEN "stalking theme". The killer is effective - usually in silhouette form or very sparing glimpses - that's a good thing for a)atmosphere and b) he looks like a overgrown garden gnome! Get MADMAN if you ever see it! It's camp, corny, has a few chills, and some great laughs! Joe Giannone should have made more horrors - where is he now? LIVE ON MADMAN MARZ! 10/10 :-)
