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Mad Heidi
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Australia - Umbrella Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (17th July 2023). |
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The Film
 "Mad Heidi" (2022) Taking place in an alternate Switzerland, the country’s dictator leader President Meili (played by Casper Van Dien) has monopolized the cheese industry by issuing only government produced cheese and severely punishing the illegal trade of personally made cheese in the country. In addition, those who refuse to eat Meili’s cheese or are lactose intolerant are forced into reeducation camps and forced to succumb to Meili’s orders. Heidi (played by Alice Lucy) has lived her life in the rural mountainside along with her grandfather Alpöhi (played by David Schofield), trouble comes when her boyfriend Peter (played by Kel Matsena) is brutally killed by government officials as he was caught selling his personally curated cheese for the black market. Emotionally devastated and also becoming a target as a conspirator, her life is turned upside down for the worst. But the government doesn’t realize that it has awakened a beast within her… Swiss filmmakers Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein were looking to produce a film that would showcase their home country but in a sensational way like an exploitation feature, a genre that they both loved. There had never been a Swiss film that could fall into that category, so it was their plan to make an over the top bloody and action packed film that would have the stereotypes of Switzerland. The children’s book “Heidi” for over a century has become an iconic staple of Swiss literature loved by the entire world, and was an easy choice for character use as the book and characters have lapsed into the public domain. Exports such as cheese and chocolate would also be portions of the plot and story. Taking influence from various exploitation subgenres like Blaxploitation, Naziploitation, J-Exploitation, and the films of Roger Corman and Russ Meyer are all saluted in “Mad Heidi”, a vengeance story that takes place entirely in an alternate reality Switzerland. For financing, the filmmakers went the unorthodox route of crowdfunding, by first shooting a promotional trailer to showcase their product, as a colorful and gory retelling of Heidi with a vengeance. With the trailer and the website launching in 2018, it attracted a good enough buzz to raise more than $2 million from more than 500 backers from various countries. Unfortunately there were several roadblocks along the way with the production. Some of the original cast members from the short such as the actress playing Heidi couldn’t commit to the scheduling of the feature film. There was also backlash from some Swiss organizations for the violent portrayal of the character and the exploitive nature that they were urging businesses to not help with the production, such as lending out Swiss garments for the costume department. There was also the issue of COVID-19 disrupting the world at the time. But the production was still able to secure locations, round up an international cast, and shoot the film on a 27 day schedule in 2021. The story does take influence from countless exploitation films, as the tale of avenging the death of a loved one has been done many times before. The main character’s downfall into sadness and anger turning into strength through training to take down the main villain… How many kung fu films have used that as a basis? Or samurai films? Blaxploitation? The list of titles themselves would be endless. The filmmakers had no particular intention of changing the often imitated plot, but instead placing it in a time and place that was quite unique in Switzerland. The lush greens of the grass, the bright blue skies, the Alps in the background are part of Swiss identity and they are beautifully showcased here through the visuals, which are quite extraordinary. There were a lot of existing locations used with the buildings and structures, though the filmmakers utilized CGI to enhance certain areas and also create some of the dictator’s cold and bleak looking structures, inspired by The Third Reich. As for the visuals, there is a boost in colors to heighten the brightness which contrasts the dark tone of the story, making it more like a comic book rather than a metaphor for the horrors of a dictatorship. While taking place in Switzerland, the film was not planned to be produced in the German language as the original Heidi would have spoken, but instead in English with an international cast. Alice Lucy and David Schofield are British. Kel Matsena was born in Zimbabwe and raised in Wales. Almar G. Sato is Spanish-Japanese. In addition there are Swiss born actors such as Max Rüdlinger and Pascal Ulli. The actors would play their roles in English with their natural accents for the most part. There were some exceptions like Sato’s portrayal of Klara, who was an Austrian character in the original story, is changed to Japanese, so her accent was aptly reflected. Casper Van Dien is American, but he plays the role of the president with a slight accent. The performances are all over the place with each character seemingly coming from different worlds entirely. President Meili, Kommandant Knorr, Fräulein Rottweiler (played by Katja Kolm) and other government officials are straight out of cartoon villain territory with their outbursts and over the top reactions. Alpöhi plays things strict and straight but is secretly a badass with a past. Klara is an oddball that easily gets entrapped. Interestingly, the character is able to walk unlike the original character who was wheelchair bound. Although, there is an homage to her original literary character near the end of the film. As for Heidi, there is little influence from the original story, and instead she is the one character whose emotions are played with the most. Alice Lucy does a wonderful job with the character, from the cute beginnings to the later action sequences, and it certainly helped that the actress has taekwondo skills. The one-liners she spits out may be awkwardly cliché at times, but she is able bring laughs when necessary. The comedy is also an important aspect of the film in addition to the action choreography and the gore sequences. The propaganda aspects such as the television ads of the Swiss people saying "I'm doing my part" is darkly humorous and also a nod to "Starship Troopers" (which also happens to star Van Dien) and the propaganda ads within that film. The violent scenes are so over the top that they are mostly laughable rather than being painful. With a mix of practical effects and digital enhancement, the effects look quite good without being too fake. Though the film was produced on a fairly small budget, the crew were able to make the most of their tools for a visually enticing and pleasing film with its use of visual effects, color palate, and direction. Sure it may not have complete originality, but it gets the work done as what was intended - a Swissploitation feature. The film premiered at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on September 7th, 2022, followed by other international festival screenings throughout the rest of the year. It was released theatrically in its native country of Switzerland and a few other European countries on November 24th, 2022. Two weeks later, it was offered for streaming on its own website www.madheidi.com for a limited two month period, then licensed for streaming to other platforms. The film has received positive reviews from critics and has received a number of festival rewards. Umbrella Entertainment has released the film down in Australia, and the Blu-ray release is quite a nice one. Note this is a region ALL Blu-ray
Video
Umbrella Entertainment presents the film in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4. Shot digitally and having quite a lot of visual effects and color enhancements, it is a visually bright and bold film and it looks absolutely wonderful here in a basically flawless transfer. The red from blood, the blue skies, the green grass all look bright and strong throughout, showcasing light and dark hues very well. It's certainly a wild ride and the transfer here does it justice. The film's runtime is exactly 93:00.
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo Though taking place in Switzerland and being a Swiss production, it was shot almost entirely in English (with a few words here and there being in German), and is presented in both lossless 5.1 and 2.0 stereo. The 5.1 track is quite immersive, using the directional speakers for music and effects very well while keeping dialogue centered. From the gunfire to punches to explosions, the soundtrack is quite effective, and never drowning out the dialogue which is always clear and crisp. An excellent job with the sound design and the transfer here. There are optional English HoH subtitles for the feature in a white font.
Extras
Audio Commentary with directors Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein This commentary has the directors discussing about the difficulties of making the film in their home country due to the exploitation content, the references to other exploitation films and genres, about the visual effects, information about the cast, behind the scenes information and more. There's quite a lot of information, though there are some dead spaces and some repeated information here and there. in English Dolby Digital 5.1 without subtitles Audio Commentary with Alice Lucy (Heidi), Casper Van Dien (President Meili), and directors Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein The directors return with Lucy and Van Dien for a group commentary, this time focusing more on the performances. They discuss their reaction to the film, the behind the scenes, changes made from script to screen, their favorite scenes, and more. It sounds like they were recorded remotely, with Hartmann and Lucy sounding clear while Klopfstein and Van Dien sounding like they are on a Skype call with distorted audio. in English Dolby Digital 5.1 without subtitles "The Making of Mad Heidi" featurette (22:49) This excellent featurette has the directors discussing the film from its inception in wanting to create something that could only be done in Switzerland while inspired by exploitation filmmaking, the creation of a trailer to raise funds from fans, footage of preproduction and conceptual art, interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, rehearsal footage of the fight sequences, and the cast and crew at festival screenings. It is well shot and well edited together and could have easily been much longer. The featurette is in a mix of German and English, and the English subtitles both translate the German as well as caption the English audio. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in German/English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles "Stunt Reel" featurette (8:24) This featurette looks at the stunt coordinators and the stuntwork done through interviews with the team along with training footage, rehearsals of the choreography and behind the scenes material. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles Fundraising Teaser (1:52) Presented here is the original teaser that was shot to help with funding for the film, which has some different cast members and is entirely different from the finished feature which reshot most of the scenes presented here. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.39:1, in English/German Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in English subtitles for the German portions Teaser (0:31) This is the original teaser for the finished film, announcing the theatrical and streaming dates. It has been embedded below. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.39:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles Trailer (1:51) The original finished trailer, filled with gore and language to showcase the Swissploitation nature of the film. It has been embedded below. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.39:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles The film was originally made available on Blu-ray from the official www.madheidi.com website, in a standard single disc edition as well as a 4-disc limited edition with a bonus Blu-ray, a DVD copy, and a soundtrack CD (which we do not have specs for in our database as of yet). The disc was multilingual and licensed to other countries, while in Germany, Nameless Media released their edition in a 3 disc edition, with a 4K UltraHD Blu-ray, standard Blu-ray, and a soundtrack CD, with some differing specs and extras. The Umbrella Entertainment release from Australia retains all the extras found on the Swiss release plus the stunt featurette. In Germany, it lacked the stunt featurette but included an exclusive German featurette. Other notable clips from the official "Mad Heidi" YouTube page: Some of the footage from the above clips can be found in the featurette on the disc.
Packaging
The disc is packaged in a standard clear keep case. The inner artwork is of the Heidi character. The packaging states region B only, but is in fact region ALL. In addition, the initial pressing comes with a slipcase with alternate artwork that interestingly states "Monster Fest Presents" as well as a "001" number on the spine. It seemed like Umbrella was halting their numbered series releases (Sunburnt Screens, Ozploitation Classics, World Cinema, etc.) so it is a surprise that this comes with a number. In addition it comes with a double sided poster. One side is for the film itself and the opposite side is a propaganda poster of President Meili.
Overall
"Mad Heidi" is a fun and visually wonderful action gorefest which is highly enjoyable even if it falls into cliché territory quite often. The Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray is top notch, with a great transfer with the film's audio and video plus a number of well-produced extras. Highly recommended.
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