MadS (2024) Review: A Visceral One-Take Zombie-Apocalypse Thriller

Movies about zombie apocalypse have been reanimated ad nauseam with occasional fresh takes (e.g. [Rec], Train to Busan) and here comes the French import MadS. Directed by David Moreau, best known in Them but also responsible for the tepid remake of Jessica Alba-starred The Eye, he frames his zombie-apocalypse thriller completely in a continuous long take right from the beginning.

The story begins with Romain (Milton Riche) out somewhere in the French countryside getting high after ingesting a designer drug. Feeling all euphoric, he hops into his father’s Mustang and heads back to town. He was forced to stop the car midway due to a careless accident. It doesn’t take long before Moreau increases the momentum when Romain finds himself surprised by the sudden appearance of a heavily bandaged woman in a hospital gown. She couldn’t speak because her tongue is missing and freaking out the whole time while Romain tries to make sense of what happens to her. Let’s just say it leads to a bloody end, which further startles Romain while on his way home.

As he attempts to figure out what to do, his girlfriend Anais (Laurie Pavy) shows up and later, his friends arrive to pick them up to go to a house party. It also happens to be Romain’s birthday but it barely matters as things escalate to a breaking point. Is the side effect resulting from the designer drug that Romain ingested earlier, making him hallucinate things beyond imagination?

Moreau’s one-take approach means the viewers have to tag along for the ride to find out what’s going on in real-time. There’s no time jump or flashback whatsoever. You only get what you see here from Romain’s first-hand perspective. The story isn’t just zeroed in on Romain as the camera focuses on Anais and her best friend Julia (Lucille Guillaume), who later find themselves equally involved in a terrifying night of frenzy and all things macabre. While the movie tends to lull with some tedious moments, Moreau’s dynamic camerawork with the help of Philip Lozano’s matter-of-fact cinematography successfully captures the ominous dread and a sense of hopelessness.

As the night wears on, the tension grows and the whole situation gets bleaker with heavily armed soldiers subsequently showing up trying to contain the zombie outbreak. The story focuses mainly on these clueless young people (Romain, Anais and Julia) as they become the unfortunate victims facing the biggest nightmare of their lives. MadS benefits from these young actors played by Milton Riche, Laurie Pavy and Lucille Guillaume in their respectively energetic performances.

Narratively speaking, the story isn’t the strongest suit here since Moreau keeps it conventional, relying heavily on his one-take approach to maintain his viewer’s interest. At least it doesn’t feel like a mere gimmick as Moreau makes a valid point levelling up his technicality with enough visceral mayhem of blood and gore before culminating in a downbeat finale. It’s a pity that MadS is sent straight to streaming because such a movie deserves to be experienced on the big screen for maximum visual immersion.

Equally worth mentioning here is the pulsating score and the nifty use of a sound design that complements the movie’s nerve-racking atmosphere. The movie also runs a scant 86 minutes — a wise decision for a one-take horror thriller that has its scope narrowed to the plights of three young people going through their ordeals. It’s far from the best that I hope for but I truly appreciate Moreau’s technical accomplishment in filming his movie entirely in a long, unbroken take as fluid as possible without resorting to annoying jittery camerawork.

MadS is currently streaming on Shudder.