Mad Heidi
These are hard times in a make-believe Switzerland which lives under a fascist regime and where lactose intolerance is an offence punishable by prison sentence. Luckily, there is Heidi, who rebels and transforms into a kick-ass desperado. MAD HEIDI is an action adventure exploitation spoof and the very first Swissploitation film.
The makers of Mad Heidi have a passion for the exploitation cinema of the 1970s: B-films which shamelessly combine topical pop-culture trends, niche genres and lurid content.
Absurd sub-genres of this are “Blaxploitation”, “Nunsploitation” and “Naziploitation”. So it was high time for a “Swissploitation” film!
The Heidi we all know from the children’s story book was the perfect starting point. Published in 1880, it is the story of a small girl from the Alps which is one of the bestselling books of all time.
The clichés of the so-called “Heimat-film” are the perfect foil here. This genre, whose popularity grew after the Second World War, offered viewers light entertainment usually against a romanticised and cheap and cheerful background of the Alps. In order to give the film a grim and bloody twist, a democratic Switzerland is transformed into an evil dictatorship.
In a dystopian Switzerland which is subjected to the tyranny of a fascist dictator (Casper Van Dien), Heidi (Alice Lucy) lives out a simple existence in the Swiss Alps. Grandfather Alpöhi (David Schofield) does his best to protect Heidi, but her pursuit of freedom soon attracts the notice of the regime. A seemingly innocent girl is transformed into a female kick-ass desperado who is hell-bent on liberating the country from its evil, cheese-loving fascists.
What also makes the film Mad Heidi unusual is the way that it has been financed and distributed. Via crowd-funding, two million euros were collected, with fan investors immediately sharing in its revenue. In so doing, the makers have proven that there are alternative production and distribution methods for independent filmmakers.
( A Film Company / Swissploitation Films )
