MadS

 

Mads

Writer & Director ~ David Moreau

2024, France

Stars ~ Lucille Guillaume, Laurie Pavy, Milton Riche

 

Well, it had me fully interested as soon as I realised it was a One-Shot Wonder, but then gave a quite jaw-dropping title credit sequence. I went in not knowing which direction it would take, and the allure is in the angle David Moreau takes to a familiar subject. Just like the ‘V/H/S’ series conceit can give an immediacy and veracity to regular tropes, or how ‘In A Violent Nature’s approach provides a little deconstruction of the Jason Vorhees’ style of slasher. ‘MadS’ isn’t trying to reinvent any wheel, but just taking a certain route to make something well-worn exciting again.

 

Of course, the technical achievement of a One-Shot Wonder is alone worth watching – it’s all that driving alongside vehicles, the choreography, the dedication of the actors – the logistics dazzle and Philip Lozano’s gliding camera is rarely incomprehensible. Rather, the gimmick tracks the route of infection, and just seeing a familiar trope done at a slightly different angle of intimacy and subjectivity invigorates it. One night out becomes a nightmarish descent into martial law. The trip into chaos is tightly steered.

 

It's not about narrative, but just the sheer careening into increasing fear and craziness in real time. One of the best sequences is Romain (Milton Riche) just getting home, already high for a night out and with a corpse in his daddy’s car, trying to make sense of how he deals with the situation: it’s here the subjectivity has the most resonance, with the character being duped into a WTF?! horror moment and wondering what to do next (just carry on as normal?).  

 

As a victim’s-eye-view of an End-of-the-World event, ‘MadS’ makes an effective evocation of the confusion with a punkish, pell-mell energy that complements its tag-team structure.