Billy Zane is Jason Hunt who's driving his girlfriend Monica (Shauna MacDonald), his daughter Amy (Maggie Castle), and Amy's boyfriend Blake (Evan Charles Flock) to a vacation spot and decides to stop off at a roadside diner. The diner gets the beef for its burgers from a farm down the road that's been feeding the cattle some funky green liquid. That's all you really need to know about the "how." The real focus of The Mad is the strained father/daughter relationship, but don't for a minute think it's of the soap opera flavor.
Monica, who was a snotty wench anyway, is one of the first to be taken out. Blake gets his foot gnawed on. The diner owner and his daughter save them but then become lunchables. Eventually, Jason and Amy escape and then inexplicably decide to go to the farm to stop the madness, so to speak. This action makes no logical sense, which is in line with most of the rest of the film. If this was a Ron Howard or Clint Eastwood endeavor, I could see how this might be bothersome. The Mad doesn't pretend to be something it's not, however, so it really doesn't matter. What does matter is the tongue-in-cheek humor. It's so dry and subtle and ubiquitous that you can forgive the faults.
Breakdown
Acting: Competent. Above-average for a zombie flick.
Story: Unimportant, really, and not terribly inspired.
Direction: Again, not terribly inspired, but above average.
Production Values: It's got the feel of an A movie instead of B. I attribute that to Billy Zane's participation.
Gore: Yep. Although not what I'd call buckets. Just enough to keep it honest.
Ending: About what you'd expect but with a welcome twist of humor.
Verdict: Should you see it? If you're a zombie movie or Billy Zane fan, then absolutely.
My Rating: 3 out of 5
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