There are two trains of thought when it comes to rage-based zombies. The first group will lump George A Romero’s The Crazies with the rest of his Dead series and tell you there are no differences between one or the other. If you know someone like this, lose that person’s number immediately. They’re no good for you, and you can do better. The other side understands madness can be as contagious as a zombie bite, whether it be through a drop of blood in the eye ala 28 Days Later or something in the drinking supply as in The Crazies. While similarities lurk, it’s the human experience that enhances zombie-like behavior and, many times, exacerbates conditions. Regardless, the transformative process keeps mental faculties intact, allowing for the use of complex weaponry and logic. The argument is sure to be reawakened as audiences hurdle through the non-stop thrill ride MadS when it premieres on Shudder this Friday.

If you’ve heard nothing about MadS, I don’t think you’re alone. The film was “shot in five takes over five days” and plays as a single-shot horror experience. It was picked up by Shudder early this year, and unless you read the trades like Deadline, Variety, or, in this case, Screen Daily, you may have missed the news, only hearing about people’s reaction last month during Fantastic Fest or a couple of weeks ago when the film played Sitges, before finally receiving a trailer. And, if you saw it, there was no way you weren’t sold on MadS in some way after those two minutes.

David Moreau’s intense film drops us in the middle of a drug deal, where Romain (Milton Riche) helps himself to a little pick-me-up of a new designer drug, testing it out before heading to a party with his group of friends. On the way home, a strange woman with a head bandage begs for Romain to take her away from here. Unable to speak, she plays a recording with mad scientist overtones. After seeing her level of fright, Romain decides that it may be best to just get the woman away from the place. Mere moments into the film, Romain’s world is rocked as the would-be-hitchhiker starts acting strangely before hurting herself beyond any earthly survival. Covered in blood and shaken to his core, the trauma inflicted, combined with his clear drug use, caused him to panic beyond reasonable thought.

As the audience sits on Moreau’s richly tense and chaotic start, Romain rushes to clean himself off. When he returns to find the woman missing and someone knocking at his door, the electricity of uncertainty permeates the atmosphere and seeps into the mind of the viewer. There’s an abundance of nervous anxiousness that creates a spiral for Romain, made only worse as his night continues when he decides to go to the party.

We’re right over Romain’s shoulder the entire time. Following his every move until his friends Ana (Laurie Pavy) and Julia (Lucille Guillaume) come into the picture. Then, like in any party movie, the camera seems to rotate on each character and their experiences after doing the drug intersect. The fun of the film is that you’ll never be able to fully accept what you’re watching, as the characters often contemplate reality against one insanely bad trip.

Moreau doesn’t let up at any point in MadS. Just when you think this roller coaster is starting to calm down, it throws more loops and jarring turns your way, leaving you with whiplash while gasping for air. Though the interconnection is slightly loose between character swaps, playing a bit more like an anthology in two parts, the fast-paced dynamic and two-act structure makes the film impossible to tear your eyes away from. Honestly, I was kind of in awe as the movie finished. It’s an eighty-six-minute, jaw-dropping shot of adrenaline straight to the heart, gluing your eyes to the screen in sheer amazement and terror.

On the technical side, MadS looks awesome. When you consider the amount of location changes this film uses, it’s incredible how well the film came together. Even in the first scene, as the title is spelled out in the fields Romain is driving through, someone had to create an exact plan to have the camera carried or mounted to a vehicle, have the driver of the vehicle plan for the title, and allow for pans, swoops, and other techniques to capture the action without ever stopping. Simply considering the behind-the-scenes efforts while watching the film will leave you wondering how the hell Moreau even pulled it off.

Thematically, I don’t know that there’s a lot to go on here. There are some shadings about affluence and maybe zennial dystopia, but for the most part, this is a considerable free-for-all for chaos. I.E., MadS is nuts! I can easily see this being a yearly spooky season rewatch, and I’ve already started talking it up as a must-watch to my friends. This is a lights-off-sound-up, nerve-wracking scare-a-thon guaranteed to have you gripping the armrest.

Since it isn’t often that we get single-shot real-time horror films like MadS, when we get something like it, even close to it, it’s worth celebrating. If you enjoy fast action, tight runtimes, and frenetic camerawork, you may want to check out any of the following films: 2011’s Silent House features six well-edited cuts in a movie that will keep you guessing until the conclusion. Dominic Burns uses a single take for his 2010 killer clowns in the English woods movie, Cut. 2017’s One Cut of the Dead is extraordinarily fun, even if only portions of the film are continuous. 2019’s Let’s Scare Julie is a super tight film about a group of pranksters getting stalked by a masked killer. Iranian thriller Fish and Cat throws a slasher into a kite-flying competition. And the original Unfriended, though it looks like it could be easily edited, is, in fact, one single shot.