User Reviews

Just got done watching this. I'd been looking forward to it for awhile. Synopsis sounded good, trailers looked decent, I'm disappointed. The acting was OK, in the beginning before it goes horror it was actually decent then it went downhill. It's an old plot, teens in the woods, backwards hillbilly town so there's nothing new or different but I've seen it done much better.

My biggest problem with this movie though is the editing. From the knocks on the door not matching up with James hand to the sharp cuts and jumps. I did find out the disc I watched was defective and missing about 6 minutes so I'll up my rating a slight bit although I can't imagine 6 min could change my mind dramatically about this film.

Or was that away from the mill? There's no mill here of course. This still fits perfectly in the slasher genre formula. The teens, the baddie and a few other "surprises". The story is not really something to get too excited about. Unfortunately the gore/blood scenes are not that top notch either. Combine that with below the average acting from most connected to this and you get something you don't really have to watch.

Don't start to wonder why character behave certain ways or why logic and reason will never apply to those kids/teens depicted in most of those movies (especially the ones at the bottom of the barrel). If it has to be a slasher movie, there are far better ones out there for you to choose from.

Just as the market was glutted with slasher films during the initial wave of the sub genre in the early 1980s, now we're being inundated with many modern homages made by people who are big fans of those films. Unfortunately, with some of these films we're not getting anything we haven't seen many times before. And "Madison County" is one of those films. It's underwhelming, even boring, with fairly likable but extremely unmemorable characters, a sorry screenplay, and, worst of all, unimaginative set pieces. The story has a young man named James (Colley Bailey) working on a thesis and travelling to redneck country to interview an author with whom he's been in contact. The author had written a true crime book about murders in his neck of the woods, and, what do you know, the killer is still alive and well and intending to do some serious damage. About the only good thing I can say is that Robert Halls' Almost Human company does well with the gore; very undemanding fans of this sort of thing will enjoy the brutality. The pig mask that our killer Damien (Nick Principe) wears is also good for a mild chuckle. Writer / director Eric England spends quite a bit of time establishing situation and character, which is fine and good, except that the action, when it comes, isn't worth that much set-up. This thing only runs 82 minutes, and in all honesty it might have worked better in an even shorter format. The acting is not so hot from all concerned, although to be fair they don't have particularly good dialogue to recite. The girls are attractive, and it might have helped if they'd shown a bit more skin. All things considered, I could only recommend this if you just CAN'T get enough of rural horror. It's poor stuff, all the way until its unsatisfactory ending. Four out of 10.

Not another total waste of time where the young girl always sobs away her location or falls down when she could have run away. Not another pig mask to make someone look primal. Girl sees her boyfriend dead and she tries to run away like she can barely move. The killers can never run but can outrun any pathetic victim they chase. This movie started out credibly enough and contained more beyond stupid outcomes than I've ever seen. I had to write this so I could say shame on you to whoever made this drivel. Shame, shame, shame on you, you untalented lousy film maker who should never be let near another camera again or one of your movie viewers should take care of you themselves for wasting their time. to reiterate, shame, shame, shame

I find it laughable that anyone who has seen this movie would describe it as 'above average' and 'decent'. You must have really low standards when it comes to being entertained. I suspect people who say they enjoyed this dribble are either friends of the filmmakers or teenagers who don't know what qualifies as a good movie.

Given the low budget, perhaps it's not fair to be too critical. Then again, the filmmakers made this with the intention of taking money from YOU the viewer. So I'm afraid I can't let the filmmakers off the hook.

What's wrong with the film? Pretty much everything: Predictable plot, cardboard characters, sluggish pacing... I could go on. The director seemed to have difficulty building tension and delivering a payoff. As one review pointed out, the editing is particularly bad. And when you consider the movie is only 81 minutes, you have to wonder what was left out.

If you want to see what good low budget horror filmmaking is about, do yourself a favor and watch Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, HALLOWEEN or INSIDE.

Madison County doesn't have an original plot, or anything special in terms of effects or storytelling. What it does have is capable acting, good cinematography and sound, and a decent score on scares and gore without really resorting to exploitation. If you adjust for the low budget, Madison County is massively successful in what it tries to do. If you don't, it's still fine as a slasher-y version of Deliverance.

My first serious complaint as such was when they stop at the diner. They were hungry and they stopped there. They are soon leaving. Did they eat? We never see the food. The creature himself is really not scary. One nutter with a pig's head in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how those remaining by the house got so separated. Anyways all you really got to do is run. The surviving girl is traumatized but as such unharmed. Run luv!! Then there is the other survivor, he beats the psycho up, but never finishes him off. And there is a lot of not hanging on to one's weapons, obviously the nutter keeps getting up. An all round cliché. What a lot of wait for nothing.

My kind of movie, as far as a fun little slasher, NOT MY KIND OF ENDING!!

I liked most of the characters (even one unlikely killer!!) I thought the plot was pretty cool, a nice change from the usual plot of ~college age friends going somewhere they shouldn't with the same end result. This was different. I liked that there was a story behind why they were going to where they met their demise.

Do YOU like disjointed, nonsensical films where the characters behave stupidly and unrealistically, where the "plot" is an excuse for some highly unimaginative killings of tedious bad actors whom you won't care to root for, and which end abruptly without any sense of closure? Well, then, Madison County may just be for you! Even by slasher movie standards, this is extremely weak. When the end credits popped up, I strongly felt that the word "written" in "Written and Directed by" should have been in heavy quote marks, as the script and continuity feel quite haphazard.

Low budget horror can be more inventive and interesting than its A-list counterparts, or it can be ... well, this.

This movie is a rip-off of so many other movies that i wonder if the producer's legal department saw it. I won't bother listing them, but it's about every horror movie released in the past 15 years. Even pieces of the set look ripped off.. The story line is borderline retarded, with a narrative technique straight out of a super-8 high-school project. The acting is good, bording on the intentional "nouveau-camp" style. The special effects are sort of gory, but well done. The make-up effects and costume design are absolutely good fore The bad guy I have to find a positive point about this movie... Hummm... The pig mask. Just that.

A group of college friends travel to hillbilly country ("we don't get many strangers around here") to interview an author for a thesis about a legendary local serial killer. Guess what happens next…

From the very opening scene in which the soon-to-be-dead teens load up their car for a few days of camping in the wilderness, Madison County is in very familiar territory, but still manages to be reasonably entertaining for a while thanks to the initially likable characters. Unfortunately, the film spends waaaaay too long getting to the horror—almost 45 minutes go by where very little happens—after which our unfortunate campers appear to abandon brains and start acting like total morons.

Despite hostility from the locals, including an encounter with a knife-wielding redneck outside a diner, they leave the safety of the group to wander around the woods by themselves, practically inviting the resident pig-mask wearing maniac to slaughter them. To make matters worse, the kids throw away every opportunity to finish off the killer, preferring to momentarily incapacitate him and make a run for it—and they never, ever look over their shoulders. Watching characters this stupid soon becomes tiresome in the extreme, and any sympathy towards them goes right out the window.

Towards the end of the film, writer/director Eric England tries to inject a little originality into proceedings with a plot twist involving the mysterious author, but the execution is ham-fisted to say the least, and not in the least bit plausible. An abrupt shock ending fails to improve matters, leaving the viewer pondering whether the film-makers had to return their equipment in a hurry.

On an ever-so-slightly more positive note, the acting is reasonable, with the exception of Adrienne Harrell, who severely lets the side down with her dreadful performance as suspicious old bag Erma, the kills are fairly brutal, the cinematography is above average for such fare, and we even get a spot of gratuitous female nudity (although NOT from the film's attractive female leads, Joanna Sotomura and Natalie Scheetz, who remain clothed throughout) in a ridiculous scene that suggests that the locals are in cahoots with the killer.

To be honest this film is pretty bad..... I paid £8 in Tesco and will definitely say it is not worth that price so Tesco you need to review your price on this. at least I can say I have watched it...... but what down turn for the ending didn't expect that at all......

I would say don't buy this film but if you see it on your mates shelf then by all means waste an hour and a half of your life :) the film.reminds me.of.The wrong turn and house of wax. the story line is pretty similar. seems to me the film is slightly low budget too. If the film had pretty good ending then I might of rated it a little higher than a 3. An ending where it shows the survivors returning with help maybe the police from another county or maybe the Army or something.

Madison County's biggest fault as a horror film is not what it does but, what it doesn't do. And that is deviate at all from the backwoods horror sub-genre formula. The movie follows the cliché' blueprint of getting five attractive twenty-somethings to a secluded rural area where they can be placed in proximity with the trademarked deranged locals. In this case they are going to research a book about a serial killer who may, or may not exist in secluded rustic Madison County. Director/writer Eric England seems to have seen enough of these films to put one together competently on a technical level. There is some nice production value for a flick reportedly made for around $70,000. The visuals are fine and creepy and he does create some nice atmosphere and some tension.His cast of young attractive characters are likable enough and there is some blood once things get going. But, England follows the formula so closely that there aren't many surprises. You know the locals are suspicious and strange for a reason and that there really is no question as to whether the killer really exists. His leads while likable are not overly interesting. The locals are generic creepy hillbillies and the villains are never given enough screen time to build their characters and thus aren't that frightening. They never rise above the cliché' evil redneck stereotype and we just can't generate enough interest in them to care or be afraid. Even the pig masked killer, Damien Ewell, that is the main nut job, is very ho hum even when on the attack. It's as if England thought a pig mask was enough to create character and menace. And, as far as these films go, Madison County is bit too tame. In this case a little over the top would have been welcome as nothing grabs us, shocks us or horrifies us. There is blood but, it is basically some routine stabbings and ax wounds. And since we've waited till the last act to get to the good stuff, we feel a bit cheated by what little we get and how soon it's over. (With credits County is barely over 80 minutes.) If you are going to present a classic scenario like this, shake things up a bit (ex. Cabin In The Woods). Or at the very least, throw all the classic elements at us with a bit of good old fashioned ferocity. For a horror flick, Madison County is far too laid back. No, I don't think Eric England is a bad filmmaker, he can create tension and atmosphere and I've seen far worse then his Madison County but, he needs to learn that innovation is far more effective then imitation when it comes to the horror movies he obviously enjoys. And if you can't innovate, throw some blood and carnage in our faces to keep us awake. Madison County is still a mildly enjoyable horror but, I think England has the potential to deliver much more.

When will American college students ever learn? All they seem to do is constantly drive off to remote towns in the mid-west in groups of four or five and get killed.

The five of this batch of kids has obviously never seen a slasher film (as perhaps has the writer, otherwise he might realise how 'borrowed' every element of this movie actually is) as they stop at an out-of-the-way diner where every snaggle-toothed yokel stares at them menacingly. They pay for food, but never eat (I didn't get that bit!) then leave, only to be threatened by another knife-wielding nut-job.

So, what do they do? All decide to split up. No sooner does this happen than a psycho in a pig mask hunts them down one by one as they run, screaming through the woods in random directions. Sometimes one of the teenagers manages to fight back and knock out the killer, but they never bother finishing him off - only knocking him to the floor so he gets straight back up to chase them down again. Oh, and they never bother finding or keeping a weapon.

What you have here is nothing you haven't seen a hundred times before in the slasher genre. The only way this film would be any good is if you invented a time machine, sent it back to the early seventies and showed it to people then. Therefore, Madison County would be the 'film that started it all' and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre would just be a poor imitation. Sadly, in the real world, it's the other way around.

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This is actually a pretty decent slasher with a decent story. Myself, I haven't really been a big fan of slashers since the 80's because they're all mostly repetitive with predictable plots. Still, every once in awhile something comes out worth watching. Madison County is worth watching.

Madison County is different in that it does have a story that was well written with good actors and decent production and sets. It doesn't have to resort to trying to become a comedy to keep the users attention. The mystery of the well written story does that which makes this movie stand out on its own.

The couple of complaints I do have is the lack of any serious gore. Could've used way more of that seeing as its target audience will definitely want to see some gore. My second gripe was the ending which seemed rushed and lacking.

Other then that the ride itself was great. The Old woman was delightfully creepy and the mystery of it all kept me interested though out the whole movie.

6/10 stars. Slasher fans should be proud. Had the ending been acceptable and gore had been more I would've given it more. Oh well, still worth a watch if your a genre fan!

This horror movie i dont like it so much but also didnt hate it

Madison County starts off with a group of college students on a mission to discover the truth behind a tell-all book which outlines a string of murders that happened in the remote town. Sounds promising right? Wrong. Unfortunately the dialog is so bad it is painful to watch because you feel bad for the actors. The camera work is shaky (and not in a good horror movie way), but just looks cheap. The director tries to develop the characters, but the dialog is just so bad you can't develop any connection to the characters and in turn the first half of the movies drones on without any reward.

Maybe the only redeeming quality is that it isn't too long, so you won't feel like you wasted too much of your life.