MadS Review: Shudder’s One Take Zombie Film

Shudder’s zombie film takes an interesting approach, with the entire narrative taking place in a single continuous shot.

PLOT: A teenager who stops off to see his dealer to test a new drug before heading off for a night of partying. On the way home, he picks up an injured woman and the night takes a surreal turn.

REVIEW: The gimmick of the one-take scene has gotten pretty out of control in recent years with varied success. Netflix’s Extraction action series utilizes various techniques to accomplish long, seemingly unbroken takes. And with the many setups that action movies require, the unbroken takes are all the more impressive. But it’s been diminished as less and less effort is made towards execution. Often digitally stitched together, the one-take-shot no longer has that same sense of wonder it did when Henry Hill walked through the back of the restaurant and finally reached his table. But if there’s anyone that can make something interesting again: it’s the French.

The story of MadS is pretty simple: Eighteen-year-old, Romain just wants to party and takes a mysterious new pill. But his trippy night takes a bad turn when he comes across an injured woman on the road. Romain has to figure out what is happening, while his mental faculties aren’t entirely present. MadS is a zombie film and like many from that subgenre, witnessing the zombie outbreak is a common occurrence. What this does so well is by following individual people during the chaos, we can see the outbreak at a more surface level. This feels like a much more personal story than the zombie films we’re used to, while still putting up a wall between the characters and the viewer that never truly allows them to feel real.

Since the story plays out in real-time, we can see this chaos unroll at the same time as our lead’s bad trip. I’m sure there’s some digital stitching going on with the edits, which is understandable given its nearly 90-minute runtime. This is a very dark movie, and I’m sure that really helped aid in some of the camera cuts. But it can be a bit nauseating with so much of the movie being visually indistinguishable. I could hardly even tell what was happening in some scenes. There were times when I desperately wanted the film to break from its one-take gimmick and just expand upon this interesting world. I’d love to see more of what’s happening, but it’s all so constrained by the storytelling method.

Right around an hour in, things start to get sloppy. To maintain the mystery of the events, despite being in real-time, MadS requires some ridiculously stupid character moments. I often struggle in movies when people ignore the obvious happening in front of them. There are some really dumb character moments like when Julia takes Ana on the motorcycle despite her clearly being messed up. It’s one of those idiotic movie moments where 99% of people would have stopped driving and pulled over. But we have a movie to finish so there’s no logic or reason allowed here.

MadS plays out like a bad trip. The one-take approach allows you to go down the journey into madness while still never quite understanding the parameters of the world shown. The zombies here are more like Evil Dead Demons than the typical shambling flesh-eaters. This makes them a bit more intriguing and allows a bit more personality to shine through. However, sometimes I wonder if the main direction given to the “zombie actors” was simply to act like Isabelle Adjani in Possession. Not that I’m complaining. It worked for Nell Tiger Free in The First Omen.

Like most gimmicky films, MadS isn’t going to be for everyone. While I found interest in even the mundane moments due to the journey of the characters, not everyone will be down for the ride. This is presented in a very different way than most audiences are used to and will therefore have a tough hill to climb. I found the narrative (or lack thereof) to be a bit frustrating as the film went on. Like any gimmick film, once that main draw starts to become tired, there sure better be other elements for the audience to attach themselves to. And sadly, MadS never really gets past the gimmick of the one-take-shot.

MADS IS STREAMING ON SHUDDER ON OCTOBER 18TH, 2024.