But do not be fooled by the title, MadS is the upcoming French indie thriller from director David Moreau that will surely scare the pants off of horror fans. Moreau is best known for films such as Them and The Eye, and he brings his keen awareness of tension to a new level with this one long take experiment. Coming to Shudder on October 18, 2024, MadS is a night of partying that goes awry in a hallucinatory dive.
It recounts the story of Romain, a teenage druggie who gets dragged himself into an angrily raising nightmarish state by his use of an atrocious new drug. His problems first start after he brings a woman home who's hurt, but as reality and delusion merge into a night gone very wrong. What makes MadS special is the way they've filmed it — shot in a continuous 89 minute take, nothing happens before or after, everything happens in real time, all of it lives as it happened in Romain's chaotic descent.
MadS Poster
Moreau's decision to shoot the film in one unbroken take isn't just a technical feat; it heightens the sense of claustrophobia and panic as Romain's bad trip spirals out of control. This services to give you the audience a vista of daze and dread to the character's shifted condition. Philip Lozano's cinematography never allows the viewer to take a breath, the camera never lets up, boosting impact of the film.
Made by Lewkowski Yovel, Laurie Pavy and Lucille Guillaume, MadS bowed at Fantastic Fest 2024 and will screen at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, then streaming. This is definitely a horror film everyone is going to have to see in order to scare themselves stupid and have the scares linger long after the end credits are shown.
One MadS nightmare you won't want to miss: mark your calendars for October 18, 2024.
