French horror film “MadS” presents a familiar type of horror story via an interesting visual approach. While this is basically another typical zombie horror film, the movie steadily and fluidly follows the story and characters without any interruption, and its intense sense of doom and panic becomes more palpable to us along its relentless narrative.

At the beginning, we meet a lad named Romain (Milton Riche), who is buying some drug from a local dealer shortly before attending an evening party along with his friends. While he subsequently drives his father’s car to his home (His father happens to be conveniently absent for his business, by the way), he suddenly encounters a mysterious woman who seems to need some help right now, but, of course, the situation becomes quite disturbing as she shows alarming behaviors. Although the movie does not explain much about what exactly is going on, we come to gather that she probably escaped from a facility involved with some dangerous medical experiment, because of her patient attire and a piece of recording in her possession.

Even though she drives him into more panic and confusion, Romain tries to get things under control at least for a while, even though he does not have any idea on what is happening to her – and him. After he is exposed to the blood from that woman, he quickly washes himself, but then, of course, he begins to feel not so well. When his friends including his girlfriend eventually come to pick him up, he still does not feel all right, but, not so surprisingly, he decides to go to their evening party anyway.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Romain soon comes to realize the situation is much worse than he thought. As he gets himself swept into the chaotic mood of the evening party, he feels all the sicker than before, and then there is also a serious matter involved with his current girlfriend and some other girl who is incidentally her best friend. In the end, there comes an eventual point where he cannot control his mind and body well, but he still struggles to handle his increasingly frantic circumstance, though it is more apparent to us that not only he but also his world is already doomed.

As you will notice, the movie was actually shot in one continuous take by director/writer David Moreau, and he and his crew members including cinematographer Philip Lozano did an impressive job on the whole. As Lozano’s camera smoothly and relentlessly follows what is happening around Romain and a few other main characters, we become more immersed in their nightmarish situation, and their panic and dread are often accentuated by the harsh electronic score by Nathaniel Méchaly.

According to the IMDB trivia, Moreau and his crew and cast members had to shoot the whole film at least five times (The movie is actually the 5th shot, by the way), and you will admire how the movie effortlessly moves from one spot to another. When Romain hurriedly rides a bike for taking care of an urgent problem in his house later in the story, the camera naturally follows him as he desperately tries to pretend to someone on the other end of the phone line that everything is fine, and we are gripped more by the accumulating tension on the screen.

At the middle point of the story, the movie shifts its focus to the two other main characters in the story, and that is where it becomes a bit more interesting. While we surely see a fair share of body horror not so far from what we have seen from countless other similar horror films, we also observe that the ongoing situation around the main characters is much bigger than expected – especially when a bunch of armed (and masked) figures appear.

I must point out that the movie is rather thin in terms of story and characters, but it compensates for that weak aspect via its considerable verisimilitude. What is happening to its main characters along the plot looks real and convincing to us, and its three principal performers are believable as embodying their characters’ growing fear and panic. While Miton Riche carries well the first half of the film, Laurie Pavy and Lucille Guillaume are equally good during several scenes of theirs later in the movie, and Guillaume is particularly terrific as her character is terrified and then swallowed by whatever is happening to her (She did a wonderful job of evoking that infamous scene of Isabelle Adjani in “Possession” (1981), by the way).

To be frank with you, I have not been that scared by zombie movies for many years, but I am still capable of appreciating any zombie movie good and interesting enough to hold my attention, and now I am reminded of two recent examples. South Korean comedy horror film “My Daughter Is a Zombie” (2025) is rather disappointing for being too sappy, but it has some nice comic moments which amused me and many audiences around me, and I am not surprised to see that it is making a considerable success at the South Korean box office at this point. In case of “28 Years Later” (2025), it shows that there are still more interesting stuffs to explore after “28 Days Later” (2002) and “28 Weeks Later” (2007), and it actually touched me in unexpected ways. Although it is another case of “all style but no substance” in my inconsequential opinion, “MadS” succeeded in engaging and then impressing me enough via its distinctive style, mood, and technique, so I will not grumble at least for now.