Madman

Madman (1981)

They thought they were alone.

Madman Marz, an old folklore legend who murdered his family before escaping into the woods, is inadvertently summoned to a campsite to finish the spree he started decades ago.

Date of release
1981-10-30
TMDB
5.0 / 10 (193)
Runtime
1h 29m
Genres
Horror, Thriller
Director
Joe Giannone

Casting

Interesting facts

Madman is a 1981 American slasher film written and directed by Joe Giannone and starring Gaylen Ross and Paul Ehlers. The plot focuses on an axe-wielding murderer named Madman Marz who, after accidentally being summoned by a group of campers during a campfire tale, begins to stalk and murder the young adults.

Production

In 1979, filmmakers Joe Giannone and Gary Sales, both graduates of Richmond College, were inspired to make a horror film after the commercial successes of recent low-budget horror films. In developing a screenplay, Sales recalled the urban legend of the Cropsey maniac which he had heard as a child and suggested it as a possible basis for the story.

By 1980, Giannone and Sales had secured enough financing to enter production; it was during this time that the filmmakers became aware of Harvey Weinstein’s The Burning (1981), also featuring the Cropsey maniac. Because the two films resembled each other too much—which would lead to a canceling effect for both projects—Giannone decided to halt production and rewrite the script.

An advertisement in Backstage was placed to cast the film, and an open audition was held in which around 300 actors attended. Paul Ehlers, originally an artist designing promotional materials for the film, was offered the role of the villain, Madman Marz, by Giannone. Ehlers had trained in martial arts for many years and so had the requirements to play the killer.

For the role of Max, the middle-aged head counsellor, Giannone and Sales had originally wanted to approach screen legend Vincent Price, but with the movie being non-union, they felt that the actor would decline the offer. Gaylen Ross, who had previously starred in the zombie epic Dawn of the Dead (1978), was cast as the lead heroine, Betsy, and credited under the name Alexis Dubin. The rest of the cast were made up mainly of first-time actors.

During the summer of 1980, the producers had begun location scouting, eventually settling on Fish Cove in Southampton, New York, which provided all of the required locations in the script. Principal photography commenced in November 1980 at Fish Cove Inn in Southampton, for what was to be all-night shoots.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended