Madman (1981)

Director: Joe Giannone

Starring: Gaylen Ross, Tony Fish, Harriet Bass

A legendary psychopathic murderer stalks a summer camp.

I have fond memories of watching this as a child, when mindless teenage slasher films were the hype of the day, like ‘Hell Night’,  ‘The Burning’, ‘Friday the 13th’… I was therefore very interested in watching (and reviewing) it as an adult.

This is still one of the better, more stylish slasher films made during the slasher period. And what would an 80’s teenage slasher film be without nipples and a hunky guy’s behind? Interestingly enough, in this film the girl who shows her boobies is not the first one to die. On the contrary, she becomes the film’s heroin. It was also nice to watch a horror film before mobile phones, thinking of the annoying “no reception” routine in almost every modern horror (yawn). Off course there’s still the ‘car won’t start’ and ‘dying flashlight’ scenes…

This is a better than expected slasher film with a few great scares and genuine suspense. The film has some unusual long shots (for this genre, at least), which were very effective. There’s some really creepy shots of Madman. I must admit, the stalking scenes were very deja vu, though. The film also offers an unexpected ending, which I enjoyed. So, even now, as an adult, I still enjoy this teenage killing frenzy.

The film received an award nomination for Best Low-Budget Film.