The Mad Death

1983
7.2| 2h10m| en| More Info
Released: 16 July 1983 Released
Producted By: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Britain is gripped by the "mad death", an outbreak of rabies, after an afflicted pet cat is illegally smuggled into the country.

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Reviews

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks
UnowPriceless hyped garbage
Steineded How sad is this?
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Prof-Hieronymos-Grost A woman smuggles her cat into the UK, an illegal act, the ban on animals traveling having been put in place to retain the country's Rabies free status. The woman is unaware that her cat has just been in an altercation with a fox, but back in the UK it begins to act odd. After a series of scenes involving the passing of the deadly virus from animal to animal, an American businessman Tom Siegler (Ed Bishop) resident in the UK comes across a seemingly stunned fox at the side of the road. The fox appears docile and is amiable to being petted, so Siegler takes him home, but the fox soon turns on him, Bishop becomes infected and is the first to die. The authorities become aware and immediately set in place some restrictions in the area, a cordon is placed within a five mile radius of his house. Michael Hilliard is a veterinary expert who is persuaded to take charge of the investigation and straight away he sets out to find anyone who came in contact with the dead man before he died, his actions and restrictions don't go down well with local animal lovers and the press also make him out to be a bit of a loon. But as the virus spreads, he seems to be justified, but can he restrict the spread and make the country virus free again? In the 80's there was a real fear that rabies aka "The Mad Death", might spread to the UK, there were frightening TV advertisements to warn and scare the public away from smuggling animals into the country from the continent where Rabies was widespread. A frightening premise for a film? well sure the reality of it is scary, but to make it as a horror The Mad Death really needed to push home the fear, sadly it doesn't. The Fear element just isn't explored, The Mad Death is called that for a reason, its a terrible death, but these factors are just not explored well enough to either strike fear into the viewer or to deter would be smugglers. Little or no tension is built up, too much time is spent early on showing in a rather dull way, how it spreads from fox to cat to fox to dog to human and so on, that soon the viewer will be asking what all the fuss is about. I can also say that I have never seen animal lovers portrayed in such a bad light, every single one in the Mad Death, is played as crazy or with murderous intentions, they have no interest in stopping the spread of the virus, even the merest of actions like keeping your dog indoors is treated with apathy and anger, all in all not very believable. The acting is stilted beyond belief, with numerous silences and laboured pauses, actors staring into space and these aren't the ones that are infected. There's also a love triangle going on that is dull in the extreme. The restrictions set in place by police and Dept of Agriculture are also quite laughable in their laxness, if such an outbreak occurred in reality, the UK would be absolutely doomed. Now i realize some elements of plot have to be there to further the story, but here it is pushed to ridiculous extremes. So has the Mad Death got anything going for it? well, there are a few interesting set pieces, a rabid fox locked in a garage, a rabid Alsatian loose in a shopping mall, spring to mind, but even these are lazily handled. In a time when viruses are a real threat to humanity, its hard to get scared by a poodle and a Labrador running wild in a forest. If the filmmakers were out to scare the audience they failed miserably, if they were out to educate the public as to the risks, they also failed as its a little too preachy
sigrafeas Oh yes! I remember being hooked to the screen when this mini series first aired on BBC TV. I would have been around 30 at the time, living in England, and I know the thought of rabies horrified me, as it did most British people, because we had been a "rabies free" zone for so long. This was the first time I ever really saw the symptoms and progression of the disease, and it gave me some bad dreams, too.I never saw a repeat of the series while I remained in Britain, but I thought it certainly deserved one. Going on memory, the acting was more than competent, and from the beginning - when the infected cat was smuggled into Britain on a private yacht - I was absolutely riveted.This was an excellent series - I'd certainly buy it if it became available on DVD.Mo
Opaque It didn't go far enough in the portrayal of the rabies victims (although it does a fairly job for the first), but we don't get to see the effect on the child victim either. But my main problem is with the size, strength and back-up of the response to the outbreak. As we have seen with the Foot and Mouth outbreaks, even in the past, MAFF and other agencies had the policy of strict containment and kill and burn when necessary approach. Even back in the 60's this was the case so why was there so much pussyfooting around? The scene in the pub for example, he should have been able to call in the police and got those people arrested and the publican closed down for not reporting it. And he certainly should have been armed as well.When the old woman released the dogs they should have gone straight to her house en-masse, arrested her and killed all her animals, instead one person turns up. Pathetic.It was a very good film though in general although lacking in 'power'in terms of solutions. Even with the way they 'sorted it out' there would be no way of saying whether it had got out of the containment area, going by the time elapsed (2 weeks) a 12 mile area around the first outbreak is rather naive in the least.Considering how easily rabies can be transmitted the danger was totally underestimated. A modern version of this would be interesting, at least in this film people could vaccinate their pets, I can't see that being the case these days.
james-godwin I must have been 13 when this had just been broadcasted. Like another video gem -"don't look now",my old english teacher would have probably embraced the idea of giving his fellow pupils a visual lesson or two in the profoundly morbid,with this short tale of rabid pets (& humans).Set in the english countryside,a cat is locally imported & sparks an outbreak of rabies amongst the locals.I remember it being rather dramatic with a stylish ending.I can't remember much detail, so I'm now left with the task of PURCHASING IT (anybody?) watching it,& probably throwing up my next indian.Chien jalfrezi anybody?