Written and directed by Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein, co-written by Gregory D. Widmer, Swiss mountain girl Heidi is abducted by brutal government troops and must defend herself and fight a war against a cheese-fuelled machinery of hate. Starring: Alice Lucy, Max Rüdlinger, Casper Van Dien, David Schofield, Kel Matsena, Almar G. Sato, Pascal Ulli, Kaspar Weiss and Katja Kolm.

A few things that are best to get out of the way first when talking about Mad Heidi, yes there is going to be some dodgy accent work, some questionable choices and a big amount of not giving a f*ck. The next thing to consider is that there are no rules when it comes to horror and especially not when it comes to truly indie cinema. All bets are off and you can make a film that is not just cheesy in tone but is drowning in cheese. So your enjoyment of this film is going to entirely depend on what mindset you’re going in with, if you’re open to an over the top, 1970s style, violent, gross and preposterous piece of entertainment, then you’re all set.

The next question is, does its loud, brash and absurd style work as a whole? The simple answer is yes and no. What you’re getting basically feels like a Swiss twist on the Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo type of cinema. It’s not really trying to be believable, and that’s perfectly fine, but the story still has to pace itself out well and have enough going on to hold your attention and it doesn’t feel like Mad Heidi achieves that. It has a classic dictator type villain versus the wild underdog, and that works but the way that the story moves is quite clunky. There’s no real surprises in store and it’s dragging its feet which ultimately undercuts the energy of its big finale.

It also has one other key weakness, its leading lady Heidi, played by Alice Lucy. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really have that big, charming energy to drive this story. There’s something to the character that feels a bit meek and hollow, she has that fury on the outside but she’s missing a significant personality on the inside. However, outside of that the rest of the cast are all striking those melodramatic and exaggerated notes well. Surprisingly, Casper Van Dien is one of the strongest, he eases into that silly, ridiculous nature that’s akin to the personality of Trump mixed with the styling of Hasselhoff.

Mad Heidi is exactly the film you think it’s going to be, it genuinely revels in the absurd. Not everything works but it truly does just go for it, the effects work is strong and the direction is again, right where you’d expect. The writing does let it down somewhat, it needed to up the pace and add in a few more turns to keep things interesting and grab a firmer hold on your attention. As well as missing out on beefing up the personality and presence of its heroine, to give her the feel of a character like Foxy Brown. Rounding her out rather than revolving her entirely around simple revenge.

Verdict: ✯✯✯ | 6/10

On Blu-ray, Digital HD & VOD July 21