Full Moon Fever

FULL MOON FEVER feels like a high school play or home movie. It has been shown regionally to family and friends and the first showing was called a "premiere" and while this sort of thing can have loopy charms, this simply wasn't very good. It was made independently on a shoestring.

The "film" is written by, directed and stars David Lee Madison. A big part of the trouble is he's not real good at any of those jobs. This is a standard werewolf tale with all the familiar cliches, borrowing a few bits and pieces from BAD MOON and other older films like THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF. It mostly resembles that last one which is a pretty cheesy werewolf flick us monster kids know from watching Dr. "There Will Be Fright" Shock on WPHL. The main character has the same sort of family as that last one, except he's got a daughter played by the Madison's real daughter. That sorta adds to the home movie feel about this thing.

Madison plays an average dude attacked by a werewolf who becomes one. That's really all there is to the story except for him trying to find out why and having ridiculous nightmares. The dreams stuff is all pretty cheesy and felt like a time filler. You've seen it all before and better, but that's not really fair since this really isn't a professional film with a bunch of no name actors in the cast. There are You Tube vlogs with amateurs pulling off better makeup effects than what is in here. The blood on screen looked fake and the dialogue is always super on the nose with a few clumsy lines that I would have laughed at but I was being polite. This film means no harm and was seemingly made by the people who made it to enjoy watching it with their friends and family who are in it.

There are a couple of actors with some actual pro credits in this, Marianne Hagan and Scott Schiaffo who also did the music. He plays an oddball shrink and if you close your eyes, he sounds like Dennis Hopper. He's pretty good and actually got some decent acting talent and worked with Kevin Smith a few times. I hope to see him working with Smith again or in better things. He deserves it and seems like a cool guy. Hagan delivers her lines believably which is made harder when she interacts with the non pros in the cast which includes David Madison, if that makes sense.

I don't know if this will play in theaters since it's a real cheap straight to video thing. It's pretty amateur and I'm guessing it'll show on Tubi on the screen that recommends other werewolf movies to watch if you watch one of the big ones like the one with Benecio Del Toro which is my fave and the GOAT. Seemed like some nice people got to feel like stars making these. One of the stars also runs a realty business and many of them work other jobs.

Had the pleasure of catching a screening of Full Moon Fever on the BIG screen with Director David Madison present last night 11/1 @ Flagship Cinema. Supporting independent Artists and Creators is extremely important to me. Everyone can see a big budget cookie cutter movie every weekend. However, not everyone can watch a original, fun, labor of love every weekend. Having the ability to create something that can star friends and family and see it play out in theaters is Awesome. That alone is impressive and an accomplishment in its own right. The movie filmed locally, which was a lot of fun seeing places you recognize up on the screen. David Madison took the time to introduce the movie beforehand and hosted a Q&A afterwards. You can watch the trailer for a synapses, I am avoiding giving away anything. Had a LOT of fun with it. Independent content all day, every day for me.

This is the first time I've seen a movie by David Lee Madison. I thought it was cool to see something in a room with the guy who filmed it, and it was a fun movie.

The movie seemed to suffer from filming during covid, I wasn't told this, but you can kinda read between the lines for it. You don't see shots with a lot of people in it, and it creates a lonely feeling that does seem intentional when you consider the themes throughout the movie. It's definitely capturing the mindset of the creator from his experience during covid.

Where the film seemed most impacted though was that David Lee Madison was both the star and videographer, so shots with him in it were all on a tripod, without a lot of movement. Presumably, with this being filmed during quarantine, I believe a lot of these shots were done this way out of necessity though, and it is understandable. Though, there's a part of my brain conditioned to want far more cuts and camera angle changes, and camera movement. I do wish some establishing shots were cut a bit shorter though.

The film is acted mostly by David Lee Madison and his personal friends, and is kinda reminiscent of clerks. If you liked clerks, you'll probably enjoy this, if not, you probably won't. The pacing is similar and it too is about regular people living regular lives (except for the werewolf thing lol).

The scenes in the comic book shop are by far the best scenes, particularly the finale, because you have this movement and cutting you don't get when David is doing double duty. If you have a long shot from a tripod, your ability to edit is stunted, but the finale suffers none of these issues.

I see some one star reviews here, and I think they're not thinking of the film within the context of how it had to be filmed. For a film with very limited crew, David Lee Madison did pretty well. He filled most of the roles himself and told a unique werewolf story, which he executed in a time when most people weren't able to deliver anything at all.

Sure, I'd like to see a version of this made with more crew, cameras, and polish, but I'm happy with what I watched. Weirdly, seeing David make this under these constraints has motivated me to try and make something myself even. With helicopter footage and coreographers staging fights between actors that look like they were chiseled from stone, against CGI monsters that require teams of artists, it has always felt like making movies independently was just impossible.

All in all, it was a fun time watching this movie, and without the Hollywood polish, you can see the heart in this that's not in most movies. It's a guy with his family and friends, filming in an area far from the Hollywood sets, with the gear he had on hand from a career of making movies. It's a unique experience that's pretty good if seen through the propper lens. After watching it, you definitely feel like you know David Lee Madison a bit better, because it's clearly not filtered through the voice of some massive multimedia conglomerate.

I'm glad I saw it.

Full Moon Fever is a fun character study about a man dealing with loss and the increasingly primal urges associated with lycanthropy. The protaganist Hunter Dunne is portrayed perfectly by director David Madison as an everyman who encounters an extraordinary circumstance and shares his dramatic emotional experience with the audience. Showing his vulnerability and grief while slowly descending into the hallucination fueled madness of his affliction. This modern folk tale pays homage to werewolf classics like The Wolf Man and American Werewolf In London while staying true to its indie horror roots. The cast does a fine job of bringing this story to life with appearances by Marianne Hagan of Halloween 6 fame and CLERKS Chewlies Gum guy Scott Schiaffo as Dr. Larry.

Another noteworthy performance to look out for is Amanda Madison as Jackie Dunne. Sit back grab some popcorn and enjoy a late night Halloween inspired creature feature that explores themes of sanity, loss, the unintended consequences of brushes with the paranormal and satisfyingly different transformation scene.

There are filmmakers who are famous for being so inept people watch their movies with a mixture of astonishment and amusement since the movies these floppers make wind up being so unintentionally entertaining by being so completely awful!

Added to the list of goofball filmmakers that includes Ed Wood, Uwe Boll, Tommy Wiseau and James Nguyen is David L. Madison who may not only be the worst of the bunch but also the one with the biggest ego.

Madison's previous entry was an indie horror movie shot on digital called "Mister Hush" that somehow got limited theatrical showings. The reviews from critics and audiences were scathing. The Fandango page for the movie is filled with furious reviewers who thought they bought tickets for a horror film, but instead saw a horrible film. One reviewer took to You Tube screaming in rage, ending his review with a frantic warning to "stay away!"

Unfortunately, Mr. Madison hasn't learned from his mistake and went and made another movie.

And this time he stars in it.

For every classic werewolf movie like "An American Werewolf in London" there are terrible ones like "The Werewolf of Washington" but the makers of that stinker are now officially off the hook. Madison has most likely made the world's worst werewolf movie.

The plot of this thing is a mishmash of every werewolf story you've ever seen. Madison plays the main character Hunter (get it?) who gets the mark of the beast in the usual fashion and then proceeds to become irritable with all those around him and proceeds to have unintentionally hilarious hallucinations while whining about his fate and seeking answers to what happened.

Madison's performance makes Tommy Wiseau seem like Kenneth Branaugh. He tries in vain to look like a leading man but has a voice that sounds like Kermit the Frog. David Naughton in "An American Werewolf in London" was cast because he was a dancer in great shape. David Madison doesn't move well and looks pallid, almost like he's matching the pale of the moon.

The actual werewolf effects look like they were bought from a Halloween store in a lonely strip mall.

This is the sort of movie ready made for a comedy group like Riff Trax to perform against, mocking it at every incompetent turn. Without the riffs, this feels like a very long eighty minutes or so to sit through.

David Madison shares many of the same traits as a werewolf in that they unintentionally turn the people around them into victims. In this case, the victims are everybody that worked on "Full Moon Fever".