Spend a night in Hell with MadS, a single-shot joyride across the night when everything descends into chaos in real-time. Written & directed by David Moreau, MadS follows Romain (Milton Riche), who’s just trying to celebrate his birthday and get a little f*cked up with his girlfriend Anais (played by Laurie Pavy, who absolutely steals the movie). It has the makings of a classic early summer blowout, until a stranger crashes into his life and sends the entire night into a downward spiral.
Romain is only 5 minutes away from his dealer’s house when a woman in bandages and hospital scrubs comes running out of the woods looking for help. Let’s call her: Patient Zero. With a couple of 8 Balls in his pocket, Romain isn’t exactly keen to call the police for help so keeps quite and agrees to take Patient Zero to the hospital in town. But the night takes a dark turn when she finds a screwdriver in the glovebox and stabs herself to death in his passenger seat.
“MadS has the spirit of a Halloween Haunt, and the energy of a Found Footage movie.”
Shocked, confused, and terrified- Romain rushes home and hides the body in his garage. He’s having a complete breakdown, not to mention the worst high on the planet. I have a panic attack if my doorbell rings after smoking the littlest bit of weed. I can’t imagine trying to deal with an accidental death on a head full of chemicals. Romain‘s night is ruined, that’s for sure, but that tragic death of Patient Zero is just the catalyst for an avalanche of bad news, big problems, and unstoppable madness.
Shot in one 90-minute long take, MadS is an adrenaline-fueled example of how quickly everything can go to shit. One minute you’re taking your dad’s Mustang to buy drugs, the next minute you’re hallucinating and on the run from a heavily armed swat team with instructions to shoot you on site. The construction of the story is immersive, with the camera drifting from person to person for a city-wide scavenger hunt of death and destruction. And best of all, it’s got no downtime. It starts strong and keeps its foot on the gas, which is a real achievement when you take into account that there are no cuts and no edits.
MadS has the spirit of a Halloween Haunt and the energy of a Found Footage movie. How the story unfolds and evolves is one of its biggest strengths, so I really encourage you not look up much beyond the premise. It’s not The Sixth Sense. There isn’t some monumental plot twist but not knowing the destination is always what makes the journey so much fun. Just know that the story is confident, capable, and down to freak.
MadS is one of the most interesting single-take movies (and there have been quite a few in the last few festival cycles) that really justifies its gimmick and uses the format to its advantage. It’s brilliantly shot, ingeniously choreographed, and somehow also manages to serve up some great slices of horror along the way. I’m exhausted just thinking about the insanity of this production but kudos to literally everyone involved for pulling off one of the best movies/plays/performance art pieces/magic tricks of the year.
“…confident, capable, and down to freak.”
David Moreau’s MadS celebrated its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024, and will be available to stream on Shudder beginning October 18. Click HERE to follow our continued coverage of the festival and let us know about your craziest nights out in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord.
