The Janitor

Epically ambitious as usual from CHCH's No.1 crazy action-obsessed "Mad Scientists". Loved the open shots of the elevator reveal and worms-eye from up on the mopping. A voice-over gives us the required exposition dump but I was a little confused as to who in the film was hearing it - an unseen briefing room? The comedy plays well, the error rate is high and I thought the set-up of an assumed/mistaken identity a really good choice. The Janitor character plays his role well and seemed to relish playing with the cache of "Mad Scientist" toys.

Mad Scientists always go at it hard, making an action film regardless of the genre. It's their strength and as the song says - "Don't go changing". Instantly rewatchable.

NOTE: I could have sworn you were a finalist in 2014 with "One Man Army" as I remember it playing in full. Was this just because it was part of the "Incredibly Strange" collection?

Mad is definitely the right word for this team. A lot of bloody fun, I was worried it could be a bit too gorey for YouTube and have the live stream shut down… Some great effects, props and sound. Pretty hard to believe sometimes what insane things you can achieve in 48Hours.

After a powerful avatar lead hero slips and is replaced by a janitor, the fate of the world is left in the hands of someone with surprisingly just as much skill with a gun as a mop.

Really just an excuse for a gunslinging romp shootout with fun alien masks, great voice work and sound and tidy vfx. You know what you're going to get with Mad Scientists, tone-wise, and they delivered the goods you've come to expect yet again. One of their most OTT entries I enjoyed it!

Story: 2.5/5
Technical: 3/5
Elements: 3.5/5
Overall: 3/5

A fantastic opening with the dog tag and mistaken identity. The film lends itself entirely to what 48hour film festival is all about- creating something fun to watch for the audience. Utterly bonkers but I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Great job, team! Shame about the DQ!

Mad Scientists are a team who are both able to adapt to feedback, but also remain completely true to who they are and the stories they want to tell, and that's still true in The Janitor.

What's I'm really loving about the team's development, especially in their last two films, is a growing understanding for story structure, something that was missing from some of their earlier stuff, and here we see a really great grasp on the comedy-of-error genre, complete with goofy cartoon sound effects, a classic mistaken identity set-up, and a plot driven by Looney Tunes-esque beats as our main character bumbles his way to victory.

Really solid work from the cast, and as always the props and violence are incredible. Also as always, the technical side could use a little extra polish, though ya'll were late this year so perhaps you run out of time?

Challenge for next year: While I'm glad to see a film that isn't shot in someone's house, I am still aware that this is the second Mad Scientists film shot at Laser Strike in a row -- perhaps this is unfair and a film should be judged in a vacuum, but this team have often ventured out in the wild green (screen) yonder and I'd love to see somewhere new next year.