From Jeff Nelson

Director David Moreau crafted a taut home invasion thriller with 2006’s Them (Ils). Now, he seeks to crawl under the skin once again but with a gimmick in MadS. It’s a virus outbreak movie that wears its inspirations (from 28 Days Later to The Crazies and George A. Romero flicks) on its sleeve. There’s no denying the pulse-pounding tension in this technically impressive horror show, but its structural choices often get in the way of its greatest assets.

Romain (Milton Riche) makes a stop to see his drug dealer in preparation for a night full of partying. On his way home, an injured woman climbs in his car and sends his night into an unexpected spiral with dangers that threaten the world as he knows it.

MadS merely starts its outbreak story with Romain before switching to another two perspectives over its short 88-minute runtime. An unknown woman with no tongue or teeth appears and repeatedly stabs herself in his passenger seat. You know that part of a horror movie where the final survivor escapes her pursuer and encounters a stray car on the road that may take them to safety? It feels like MadS begins its story at that point, except it’s a vehicle for unleashing a mysterious contagion all over Romain. This hellish night is made even worse by the fact that he’s facing a potentially impending apocalypse while inebriated. His friends force him to attend a raging party, where his mental and physical state continue to spiral.

Moreau occasionally sprinkles a twisted sense of humor in this otherwise bleak tale. The movie reaches its peak in its second point-of-view character, Anais (Laurie Pavy). The characterizations are paper-thin, yet Pavy’s primal performance is something to behold. She takes on the full physicality of the role reminiscent of Isabelle Adjani’s famed subway scene in 1981’s Possession. Anais’ descent into madness is intentionally over-the-top, ridiculous, and unnerving. She fights to remain who she is, as the infection takes over.

The third perspective switch follows Julia (Luicielle Guillaume), who we’re introduced to at the party. This segment has a pulse-pounding chase sequence to remember, but the movie begins to collapse on itself through the remainder of the third act. Moreau leans too heavily on predictable genre clichés, losing the palpable anxiety he ramped up to this point. 

The gimmick is the one-take trick we’ve seen in Gaspar Noe’s Irréversible to Sam Mendes’ 1917. Similarly, MadS is merely edited to look like one shot, but it does so very convincingly. It doesn’t always work to the movie’s benefit, unnecessarily dragging out some sequences and fumbling the propulsive tension between some set pieces. However, the filming technique works exceptionally well in certain scenes that capture horror in increasingly uncomfortable ways, forcing the audience to dwell in immense anxiety.

MadS is a gut-wrenching single-take horror experiment that stirs a nasty feeling in the pit of your stomach. Moreau doesn’t build much of a story or sense of character to go off of, making their struggles beyond the impending outbreak feel trivial. That’s the story being told, but it’s difficult to care about their fates. If you’re searching for a feel-bad movie exercise, then MadS is a short and potent option, even if it pales compared to the heavy hitters it's influenced by.

Rating: 3/5

MadS played Fantastic Fest 2024 on September 21st, 2024. It streams on Shudder starting on October 18th, 2024. 

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