“Madman” (1981) feels like a fairly ordinary imitation of “Friday the 13th.” The film is set at a youth camp on Long Island as summer concludes, and a frightening figure from the wilderness begins targeting the counselors during the last night. Gaylen Ross, who previously appeared in “Dawn of the Dead” (1978), portrays one of the main characters, Alexis Dubin. Watching "Madman" highlights just how good “Friday the 13th” really is. The films share a similar premise and setting, and it starts off well, taking inspiration from “The Fog” (1980). There’s also an unstable killer with an axe that brings to mind “The Shining” (1980). However, the movie never manages to become anything more than a disappointing experience, even though there are some atmospheric nighttime scenes at the camp. Limiting the action to just a few hours and keeping everything within the same night isn’t helpful, since there are no daylight sequences; this makes the story feel rather simplistic for a film that lasts close to ninety minutes. Some of the slower moments seem pointless and could have been shortened. Also, I found it noticeable that the director and writer doesn't appear to know how to portray women well on screen—and I’m not referring to anything sexual or exploitative. Despite all this, if you enjoy “Friday the 13th” movies and are willing to accept something less than great, "Madman" might be acceptable, though it doesn’t offer much more. The makeup job on the central character is at least well-executed; he resembles Bigfoot if he were human and preferred axes. The film's running time is 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was filmed entirely at Fish Cove Inn in Southampton, Long Island, New York. GRADE: C/C-

Source on TMDB