Maniac (1980)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

William Lustig

Writers:

C.A. Rosenberg (writer)
Joe Spinell (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 November 1980 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Run from this man!

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.

Plot Keywords:

Park | Mannequin | Photographer | Serial Killer | Bathtub

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

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

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

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 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) | France:-16 | Norway:18 | UK:(Banned) (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (cut) | USA:R | West Germany:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

Gene Siskel was so disgusted by the infamous "shotgun head explosion" scene that he walked out of the movie, saying on his TV show with Roger Ebert that the film could not redeem itself after the ultra-violence that he had seen.

Goofs:

Continuity: The nurse is supposedly alone in the subway station, but during one shot (from inside the subway train as it pulls away) we can see several people walking about on the platform.

Quotes:

Frank Zito: I told you not to go out tonight didn't I? Every time you go out this kind of thing happens.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Post Traumatic: An American Nightmare (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Non Gettarmi la sabbia negli occhi

Excellent make-up FX and claustrophobic atmosphere.

I'd like to applaud Tom Savini for his work here--MANIAC contains some of the most realistic and unrestrained gore FX I've seen. Anyone who says that horror film make-up men (and women) don't deserve to be called artists is an idiot. Here you get explicitly bloody multiple scalping, stabbings and strangulations, plus an excellent head-being-blown-off-with-shotgun murder and a man being ripped apart nightmare and it all looks pretty damn convincing to me.

Aside from the FX, director William Lustig does an OK job with color schemes (especially considering the budget), the seedy New York locales are well used and the film, I thought, was scary, disturbing, intense and suspenseful in parts (the subway sequence was especially well handled). Reliable character actor Joe Spinell (from TAXI DRIVER, THE GODFATHER, etc.) also offers an effective performance as the sweaty, overweight, emotionally-scarred killer.

On the down side, a plot would have been nice and it's unforgivable to waste talented British actress Caroline Munro on such a poorly scripted nothing role. Her beauty, charm and smile light up the screen and could have been better harnessed to counteract the ugliness on hand. Anyway, the film at least provokes some kind of reaction from it's audience. Seeing a few of my squeamish female friends appalled and horrified by the film made it well worth the watch to me!