One thing I learned from this film: Billy Zane is a better actor than I ever thought he was. We found this film to be thoroughly enjoyable. It was kind of the Airplane of zombie films. You aren't going to be scared, there is no suspense.Instead, you get a lot of intelligent dialogue, disguised as dumb dialogue. If that makes sense to you, you will enjoy the film.Maggie Castle was an actress we had never heard of. Sometimes it seems odd as to why some actors and actresses make the big time while others do not. She is actually quite good in her role.We found the film to be a fun evening's entertainment. It is different and clever.p.s. The zombies sound like cows. We'll leave you to figure out why.

I think I can safely consider myself to be a fairly open-minded and tolerant horror fan, but there's one thing I honestly can't stand: horror comedies that are not funny, nor gory. And unfortunately we happen to see a lot of those lately, especially in the sub genre of 'zombie movies' ever since a British instant classic called "Shaun of the Dead" successfully mixed humor with splatter. By now everybody seems to think they're capable of making a horror comedy and this naturally results in a huge pile of stinking, inept, insufferable and redundant straight-to-video crap. All these untalented filmmakers don't seem to realize that "Shaun of the Dead" was actually the exception that confirmed the rule: zombies, people coming back from the dead to hunt the flesh of the living are no laughing matter. Like the case in "The Mad", there's absolutely nothing even remotely funny about family members getting killed by walking corpses that died after consuming beef infected with the mad cow disease. People will not start to make jokes or have discussions about the definition of a zombie moments after their beloved partners have been reduced to a pile of blood and intestines on the floor! "The Mad" really tries to be hilarious, with its absurd & stereotypical character drawings and clichéd father-daughter-stepmother-punk boyfriend relationship jokes, but it miserably fails. The other elements to create comedy are either totally pathetic (spontaneously attacking hamburgers) or utterly derivative (inbred farmers and banjo music). "The Mad" can't even distinguish itself from the majority of lame-ass low budget horror junk with a good amount of nauseating splatter, as the make-up effects and massacres are nothing exceptional at all. It's not a gore-soaked bloodbath and we're only treated to a couple of mundane zombie-attacks and relatively bloodless annihilations. And then there's Billy Zane, the "famous" name parading the DVD-cover; hoping to attract more viewers with it. To my surprise I encountered a lot of reviews claiming that his performance was awesome but I, on the other hand, have rarely seen someone acting so uninterested and hammy, and no, I don't misinterpreted the fact his performance was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. Zane more than obviously wasn't interested in starring in this piece of junk and he can't hide it. For crying out loud, Billy! Maybe you desperately needed the money, but if you really don't want to star in garbage like this, then don't sign the contract! "The Mad" is a terrible film, not funny, not horrific, not gruesome, nothing to recommend.

What in hells teeth is going on with this film ? Billy zane's career is plummeting faster than the comet in Armageddon. Now i am a 35 year old horror fan, i can appreciate the finer detail in most horror films, and i have one weakness, zombies...they genuinely scare the holy outa me..i know ...sad. But i have no idea of what they were trying to do with this film. I mean did i just not get the point! Zane's reaction to the zombies is bizarre, his expression doesn't change, the tone of his voice or anything. People getting eaten around him and he just looks bored, or again, was that the point. The zombies are awful, the effects were special needs rather than special effects. I kinda got the impression the director wants to be early Peter Jackson, bad taste, braindead, but he has completely missed the point, no humour, no acting, no plot. I just realised that it was 90 minutes of my life i will never get back. Avoid at all costs

This film is as messy as a zombie chowing down on guts. Considering it's only 80-odd minutes long, it takes a good half hour to get going. It's certainly a quirky film, there are some bits which are genuinely funny, and none at all that are scary or particularly horrifying - not quite sure what the DVD has that makes it "unrated" to be honest! Billy Zane is okay, although UK viewers may find his resemblance to "Les" from Vic Reeves Big Night Out a little disconcerting. All other actors do their jobs well enough, but they can't carry the comedy. The script tries to be too clever and/or postmodern for its own good sometimes, and any humour, irony or subtle comedy just doesn't work. Shaun Of The Dead (to which this film owes a huge debt) did it all so much better.One scene with Amy and her dad walking through the field, dissecting their lives whilst kicking a couple of zombies to death without pausing for breath is the best scene in the film - unfortunately spoiled by inappropriate background music which just does not fit.The director refers to this film as "social commentary" - he believes the zombies have a lust for consumption, of any material goods - but this isn't brought across to the screen. They just look like typical zombies destroying a car, it doesn't make you think "Wow, what a subtle insight into American materialism." Worth seeing only if it costs you nothing, you have 85 spare minutes, and you'll watch anything with zombies and/or cows in it.