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:

Mannequin | Serial Killer | Photographer | Park | Cemetery

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 (cut) (1982-2004) | Australia:R (uncut) (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) | 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:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

The scenes in Frank Zito's tiny apartment were inspired by the Swedish thriller Mannen på taket (1976) ("The Man on the Roof") with the claustrophobic setting and the quiet tone with a dripping faucet and occasional sound of traffic. The color and crude décor of the apartment and other sets were inspired from the color-theme sets of Italian horror thrillers such as Profondo rosso (1975) ("Deep Red"), Suspiria (1977), Sei donne per l'assassino (1964) and several others.

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: This has got to stop. It's silly, and it's not getting us anywhere. You think they don't know. They do. I heard it and I know. They all know, and I don't like it anymore. But you don't listen do you. It's got to stop. Oh, you're right about them, all of them...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Clean (2004/I)

Soundtrack:

Non Gettarmi la sabbia negli occhi

An interesting Flick

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