First released in 1982, Madman takes place on the last night of camp.

Max (Carl Fredericks), the jovial and beloved owner of the camp takes his senior counselors and his campers on one last outdoor adventure.  As they sit around the campfire, he tells them the story of a farmer named Marz who, years before, went crazy and hacked up his family with an axe.  The local townspeople attempted to hang Marz but somehow, he escaped from the noose and disappeared into the wilderness, along with the bodies of all of his victims.  The locals say that Madman Marz is still out there in the wilderness, waiting for someone to shout his name so that he can return to life and kill again.  Max tells his campers that it’s very important that they only whisper the name of Madmam Marz.

“MADMAN MARZ!” Richie (Jimmy Steele), one of the campers, shouts.

Everyone tells Richie not to shout his name so Richie shouts it again.

Max announces that it’s time to return to camp.  He specifically tells none of the campers to deviate from the path back to the camp.  He tells everyone to follow their counselor.  He makes the directions very specific and clear.

So, of course, Richie decides to wander off by himself.  As he wanders through the wilderness, he comes across Madman Marz’s old cabin and he breaks a window….

Now, if you’ve ever seen a slasher film before, you are probably expecting Richie to be the first victim of rejuvenated Madman Marz.  Well, you would be incorrect.  In fact, Richie turns out to be a bit of a Karma Houdini because, while Madman Marz does return with his axe, he never actually goes after Richie.  Instead, Madman Marz just stalks the various counselors who go into the woods in search of Richie.  Don’t get me wrong.  Richie is definitely a bit traumatized by what he sees inside of Madman Marz’s cabin.  But it’s still hard not to feel that Richie got off pretty easy when compared to everyone else.

But that’s really what makes Madman a superior slasher film.  It defies our expectations when it comes to who dies and who doesn’t.  Though it was obviously inspired by the camp-centric horror of Friday the 13th, Madman isn’t afraid to break the rules of the genre.  It’s one of the rare slashers where it feels like anyone could fall victim to the killer depending on how their luck goes that night.  As opposed to slashers where it sometimes seems that the victims are being punished for having sex or doing drugs or going against the rules of society, the victims in Madman tend to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Marz doesn’t really have a complicated motivation.  He’s a madman and he’s so ruthless and relentless that he becomes a genuinely frightening monster.

Madman Marz is not only genuinely frightening but so is the film featuring him.  Madman was a low-budget, non-union production, with the majority of the cast and crew credited under pseudonyms.  (Dawn of the Dead‘s Gaylen Ross, who appears as one of the counselors, is credited as Alexis Dubin.)  But that low budget does prevent Madman from being an atmospheric and suspenseful slasher film, one that will not only inspire nightmares but also probably cure most people of any desire to go camping.