Mad Heidi (2022)

The movie takes place in a dystopian version of Switzerland. We see a protest against the government mandating a single cheese manufacturer, one controlled by the “very Swiss Leader”. This results in the black shirted stormtroopers gunning down the crowd. This is important later as you will see. Then the action moves twenty years later when we see a mountain girl, Heidi, spending some grown up “quality time” with her fella Goat Peter. Why is he named Goat Peter? Because he has goats which allows him to make goat cheese. This is illegal because only government approved swiss cheese is allowed. When he gets caught and is executed by the evil Kommendant in front of Heidi it sets some stuff in motion. Bad stuff…

Heidi is chased back to her grandfather’s farm. Here we find out he was a leader of the rebellion we saw earlier, and that Heidi’s parents were killed in the crowd. It seems that in the shootout that results he dies and Heidi is tossed in prison. But later we see that the grandfather lived and eventually after she breaks out and has an awesome training montage to become the hero Switzerland needs, they reunite to defeat the evil President Meili aka. “our very Swiss Leader”. Many goofy and awesome shenanigans are had along the way! 

It seems like I’ve been waiting for this movie forever! I was so excited when it finally showed up and I have to say it wasn’t a disappointment. The movie is a loving homage/parody of everything exploitation from the seventies. We have the Swiss government lead by “our very Swiss leader” played by Casper Van Dien wearing their black uniforms standing in for the Nazis. There is also a sequence when Heidi is caught and tossed in jail that has definite Women in Prison vibes, which was another mainstay of seventies exploitation. There is also a brief Blaxploitation nod with the wardrobe and dialogue of Goat Peter, which had me cracking up. Seriously though we should all dress as smoothly as Goat Peter. The trick that the filmmakers do very well here is never staying too long on a joke and moving onto the next funny bit.

Our "very Swiss Leader"

Speaking of funny bits there is also some great dialogue like the Nazi like salute followed by “Long Live our very Swiss Leader” and some catchy one-liners like “Rest in cheese bitch!” to amuse us along the way. Oh and there is a bit with the mug shot for Goat Peter that I couldn’t believe that they did but cracked me up. These are just a few examples from a movie that is incredibly funny. This along with all the movie homages/references kept things running smoothly and quickly which itself made for a very fun time.

In addition to the nods to exploitation flicks the movie also includes some awesome Swiss themed kills. First is the reoccurring theme of them killing lactose intolerant folks with various types of cheese related tortures. We also get exploding heads, stabbings with human bones, people split in half, death by accordion, an overinflated government official, and my personal favorite… death by Toblerone! These are all very much on theme with the movie and were fun.

It is quite rare that a movie I’ve been waiting for not only meets my expectations but exceeds them. Mad Heidi is one of those flicks and I can’t recommend it enough. This is such a lovingly silly effort from filmmakers who clearly love the same stuff that many of us do that we need to support it. Go out now and rent or purchase this movie. I know they want to make a sequel and that is the best way as fans we can make sure that happens.

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer