''Waking Madison'' (originally titled ''Mad World'') is a 2011 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film written and directed by

Katherine Brooks Katherine Brooks (born March 15, 1976) is an American film writer and director. Brooks is a member of the Directors Guild of America, a Jury Member for Samsung Fresh-Films 2007 (the largest teen filmmaking program in the USA) and is the recipie ...

and starring

Sarah Roemer Sarah Christine Roemer (born August 28, 1984) is an American actress and model. One of her best-known roles was a supporting character in '' Disturbia'', and she has also starred in a number of films including ''Asylum'', '' Hachi: A Dog's Tale ...

and

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), '' Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), ''B ...

. The film was screened at the

Newport Beach Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival have permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival beg ...

, in

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

, on May 2, 2011. The film was released straight-to-DVD on July 12, 2011.

Plot

Madison (

) lives in New Orleans. Suicidal and desperate, she meets with Dr. Elizabeth Barnes who videotapes each patient's interviews. Dr. Barnes interviews Madison who confides that there's a little girl who she isn't allowed to talk about, that someone will get mad and try to hurt her if she does. Dr. Barnes isn't sure whom she's referring to. Dr. Barnes interviews Alexis who says that her priest touched her, but her mother didn't believe her. She wore a thorny crown on her head, slit her wrists and feet and said she tried to look like Jesus. Dr. Barnes interviews Grace who claims she was raped when she was 13 and the man killed himself. She tried to have an abortion when she was pregnant at 16, but had no money, the guy she got to do it messed up and now she is unable to have kids. Dr. Barnes tries to interview aggressive Margaret who doesn't want to do the interview. While strapped to the floor of a padded room, Margaret says that her mom forced her to read the bible in the closet. Madison did things she never would've done; had sex with strange men, smoked, taking what looked like ecstasy and fools around with women. When her landlord says Madison could pay the rent with sexual favors like before, Madison said she had no idea what he was talking about, so he got angry and ordered her to pay him with cash. She even did drugs by sticking a needle in her arm with the help of Grace. Each patient—aside from Madison who wasn't there—was assigned to film herself with a video camera, talking about anything, like a visual diary, Margaret refused. Madison, however, locks herself in her apartment, using a video camera to document herself, similar to the girls in the mental hospital. Madison vows that if she does not have the answer to her questions and feel more at peace with her life, she will kill herself on the 30th day. Oftentimes, Madison has various, frequent dreams; everything being upside down, a girl whose mouth is taped, and one hand reaches for her, walks through the hall with dripping water and weird light bulbs. She sees a reflection of herself in the mirror and imagines herself putting her head through it, yet a second later, the glass is intact. There was also a little blonde girl. She also has what seems to be a flashback/memory of her mom abusing her; dunking her head over and over in the tub. One minute, Madison gets mad whenever Dr. Barnes calls her by her name, saying that her name isn't Madison. The next minute, Madison says that she doesn't remember what had happened just then. Madison or whomever said, "She called you. She's going to die. She's not real. I'm real," and Madison went back to her old self. Madison realizes that each girl that Dr. Barnes interviewed; Grace, Margaret and Alexis, happened to be her. She realized that she has dissociated personalities. Dr. Barnes gets a call from one of Madison's personalities who said, "Madison will die." This worries Dr. Barnes who goes to Madison's house and then goes into her room, seeing the notebook that Madison mentioned that she hid under her mattress. It's titled, "The Helper". She flipped through it and it has drawings of each girl, their names labeled underneath; Margaret, Alexis and Grace, and even the little blonde girl she calls "The helper". Madison later realizes that Dr. Barnes didn't exist either. That Dr. Barnes is a part of her like the others. Now that she realizes that, she can move on with her life and not think about killing herself like she thought of doing on the 30th day.

Cast

as Madison Walker, a young woman determined to find a cure for her mental illness *

as Dr. Elizabeth Barnes, Madison's doctor *

Taryn Manning Taryn Manning is an American actress and singer. She is best known for portraying Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett in the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), Cherry in ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2010), Nola in ''Hus ...

as Margaret, a fellow mental patient * Erin Kelly as Grace, a fellow mental patient *

Frances Conroy Frances Hardman Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005), for which she won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received four Pr ...

as Dolly Walker, Madison's mother *

Will Patton William Rankin Patton (born June 14, 1954) is an American actor and audiobook narrator. He starred as Colonel Dan Weaver in the TNT science fiction series '' Falling Skies''. He also appeared in the films ''Remember the Titans'', ''Armageddon'' ...

as Mr. Walker *

Imogen Poots Imogen Gay Poots (born 3 June 1989) is an English actress and model. She played Tammy in the post-apocalyptic horror film ''28 Weeks Later'' (2007), Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic '' Jimi: All Is by My Side'' (2013), Debbie Raymond in ...

as Alexis *

McKinley Freeman McKinley Freeman (born June 9, 1973) is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films and on television series, including the starring role of Derek Roman in the drama series '' Hit the Floor'', portraying the role of Dominic in the OWN's ...

as Henry

Production

Filming took place in New Orleans starting on November 5, 2007.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waking Madison 2011 drama films Films about dissociative identity disorder Films shot in New Orleans American independent films Films scored by Klaus Badelt Films about self-harm Films produced by Megan Ellison 2011 independent films 2011 films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films