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Maniac (1980)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
14 November 1980 (West Germany)
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Tagline:
Run from this man! more
Plot:
A schizoid serial killer randomly stalks and kills various young women in New York, which he sees as revenge for the mistreatment he got while being raised by his own abusive mother. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Mannequin
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Serial Killer
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Photographer
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Park
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Cemetery
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Awards:
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(86 articles)
Uncle Bob Martin: A Long Thank-You to Frank, Part One
(From Dread Central. 16 November 2009, 4:05 PM, PST)
Sweatshop to Show as Part of Nychff
(From Icons of Fright. 7 November 2009, 8:17 AM, PST)
(From Dread Central. 16 November 2009, 4:05 PM, PST)
Sweatshop to Show as Part of Nychff
(From Icons of Fright. 7 November 2009, 8:17 AM, PST)
User Comments:
An interesting Flick
more (153 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Joe Spinell | ... | Frank Zito |
| Caroline Munro | ... | Anna D'Antoni |
| Abigail Clayton | ... | Rita (as Gail Lawrence) |
| Kelly Piper | ... | Nurse |
| Rita Montone | ... | Hooker |
| Tom Savini | ... | Disco boy |
| Hyla Marrow | ... | Disco girl |
 | James Brewster | ... | Beach boy |
| Linda Lee Walter | ... | Beach girl |
| Tracie Evans | ... | Street hooker |
| Sharon Mitchell | ... | Nurse #2 |
| Carol Henry | ... | Deadbeat |
| Nelia Bacmeister | ... | Carmen Zito |
| Louis Jawitz | ... | Art director |
| Denise Spagnuolo | ... | Denise |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
87 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Australia:(Banned) (original rating) |
Australia:R (uncut) (2004) |
Australia:R (cut) (1982-2004) |
Canada:16+ (Quebec) |
West Germany:18 (cut) |
Sweden:15 |
Italy:VM14 (video rating) |
France:-18 |
Argentina:18 (re-rating) |
Argentina:X (original rating) |
Italy:VM18 |
New Zealand:R18 |
Italy:VM14 (DVD rating) |
Finland:(Banned) |
Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) |
Chile:18 |
Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1989) |
France:-16 |
Norway:18 |
UK:(Banned) (original rating) |
UK:18 (video rating) (cut) |
USA:R |
West Germany:(Banned)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The headless corpse in the end is the Betsy Palmer corpse (Jason's mother) from Friday the 13th (1980). The helicopter shots are recycled footage from Inferno (1980).
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Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Frank slits the woman's throat on the beach, the knife makes no contact with the throat, even though blood spurts forth from the wound.
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Quotes:
Frank Zito:
How come all your models are women?
Anna D'Antoni: Well, it's just something I'm interested in, as a woman. In fact, this is my fourth series. It's called "Women Form". Not very original is it?
Frank Zito: Well, it's not the title that matters that much.
Anna D'Antoni: No, I guess not.
Frank Zito: Do you get to keep them all?
Anna D'Antoni: I'm hoping to sell them.
Frank Zito: I wouldn't. I'd keep them forever.
Anna D'Antoni: But why? Part of my profession is to sell photographs. It's not all for art's sake you know.
Frank Zito: I know, but why do you take pictures of women this way?
Anna D'Antoni: I like to make them look beautiful.
[...]
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Anna D'Antoni: Well, it's just something I'm interested in, as a woman. In fact, this is my fourth series. It's called "Women Form". Not very original is it?
Frank Zito: Well, it's not the title that matters that much.
Anna D'Antoni: No, I guess not.
Frank Zito: Do you get to keep them all?
Anna D'Antoni: I'm hoping to sell them.
Frank Zito: I wouldn't. I'd keep them forever.
Anna D'Antoni: But why? Part of my profession is to sell photographs. It's not all for art's sake you know.
Frank Zito: I know, but why do you take pictures of women this way?
Anna D'Antoni: I like to make them look beautiful.
[...]
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Welcome to Hollywood (1998)
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Soundtrack:
Goin' To a Showdown
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (153 total)
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Maniac is one of those hard to define flicks. Although, it would seem easy to lump this into one category because of the subject matter, this is actually a hard movie to categorize. It is not really a horror film and not really a slasher. Sure, it has its typical slasher suspense scenes with the random girl running and hiding from the killer and the gory moments are all there, but, there is something about this movie that separates itself from most of the others of its genre. This, in my opinion, is typical of Tom Savini special effects flicks from the early 80's. The grittiness, disturbing nature of most of those films will never be duplicated. And I am not talking about flicks like "Creepshow" or "Day of the Dead" (although, that one is disturbing), I am talking about films like "Friday the 13th", "The Prowler", "The Burning", and "Nightmare in a Damaged Brain" (even though Savini said he never worked on that flick it certainly looks like his style).
Maniac is simply about a man named Frank (played very well by actor Joe Spinell) who was tormented by his mother when he was very young. As a result of this, he grew up to be a sick person who murders woman, scalps them, and uses their hair to nail on to a collection of mannequins. He ends up falling in love with a woman named Anna (Caroline Munro), and when he sees her he seems to be a normal fellow. This all leads up to an interesting climax.
Now, the storyline is rather simple but the movie is suspenseful enough to hold your interest. I will admit, the first 40 minutes were a bit slow, but once when the story starts going more into Franks behavior when he is by himself and then when he acts towards Anna, things start picking up.
Of course, Savini's gore scenes are excellent just like the rest of his stuff. We get to see Savini in the movie himself in a rather famous scene where he gets his brains splattered all over the inside of a car. Though, as a gore fan myself, this is definitely not the goriest flick I have seen. But after listening to the cast and director talk about the movie, I don't think it was meant to be. Joe Spinell himself said that the flick wasn't as violent as a Hershell Gordan Lewis film but was meant to be more realistic and shocking. So, when watching this movie it is important to know this instead of going into the movie expecting a real gore-fest.
I enjoyed this movie, but that is just me. Many people don't like this movie, but if you haven't seen it yet this is for you to decide. I just hope this review helps out. 7/10