Maniac (1980)

A psychopath, troubled by his childhood abuse, loose in New York City, kills young women and takes their scalps as his trophies. Will he find the perfect woman in a photographer, and end his killing spree?

Director:

William Lustig

Writers:

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

Stars:

Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton

1 nomination.

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 L. Brewster	...	Beach Boy (as James Brewster)
Linda Lee Walter	...	Beach Girl
Tracie Evans	...	Street Hooker
Sharon Mitchell	...	Second Nurse
Carol Henry	...	Deadbeat
Nelia Bacmeister	...	Carmen Zito
Louis Jawitz	...	Art Director
Denise Spagnuolo	...	Denise

Storyline

Frank Zito misses his mother, who was killed in a car accident years before. She was abusive to him, and made money selling her body, but Frank still misses her. He tries to keep her from leaving him, and reform her evil ways, by killing young women and putting their scalps on mannequins which he displays around his apartment. Photographer Anna D'Antoni takes a picture of him in the park, and he pursues and befriends her. Is she the one he has been looking for or just another mother wannabe?

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Plot Keywords:

grindhouse film | slasher | cult director | rotting corpse | cult film | 

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Taglines:

I warned you not to go out tonight

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Maníaco

Filming Locations:

Hotel St. James, 109 West 45th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$350,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$6,000,000, 31 December 1981

Company Credits

Production Co:

Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original budget of the movie was $48,000 in cash. $6,000 of which came from Joe Spinell which was part of his $10,000 salary from the movie Cruising (1980) that he recently completed before filming began. $12,000 came from Andrew W. Garroni and the rest ($30,000) came from William Lustig which was from their profits in the adult film business. The three of them put all that money into a stock market account and the amount grew to $135,000 as production continued. It was British producer Judd Hamilton who came up with the rest of the money (around $200,000) to complete the movie as part of a condition that his then-wife, Caroline Munro, would be cast as the heroine.

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Goofs

Vaguely reflected from the inside of the subway windows, when the nurse struggles to get into the subway to escape from Zito.

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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 ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Extra Terrestrial Visitors (2011)

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Soundtracks

Non gettarmi la sabbia negli occhi
Written by Matteo Chiosso (as Chiosso)/Gigi Cichellero (as Cichellero)
Performed by Gino Bramieri

User Reviews

Maniacal For Sure.

"Maniac" is one of the few horror movies that I have seen that actually got under my skin a little. It made me feel uncomfortable while I watched what was happening on screen, and very few movies have ever done that to me. The movie follows a psychotic murderer as he wanders the streets of New York City, in cheap restaurants, rundown apartment complexes, and subway stations, searching for his next victims, each of them savagely murdered.

The plot for this movie may not seem very scary, but the way the movie is crafted is genuinely grisly and really made me feel uncomfortable. Rather than going from the victim's point of view as they are slashed to pieces (like most horror movies tend to do), this movie rather focuses on the actual killer himself. We learn about the abuse that he suffered as a small child at the hands of his domineering mother, which is presumably the reason he's become a murderer, taking out his own personal revenge on other people. The one thing about this movie that was so interesting was how the audience got to enter the mind of the killer, so to speak. Joe Spinell gave an excellent performance as the maniac in this movie, he portrayed a tormented human very well. There are some very grisly murders throughout the movie, all of which are fairly gruesome. But the most disturbing aspect to the film was the sense of psychosis that the killer is experiencing.

"Maniac" is surely similar to "Psycho", which makes me wonder whether or not the writers of this film were basing the plot on the real life serial killer Ed Gein, who also grew up with an abusive mother and suffered psychological problems later on as an adult, which ultimately drove him to grave-robbing and murder. There are some striking similarities between the story of this film and Ed Gein's life.

Overall, "Maniac" is one grisly, nasty movie. It displays the psychological torment that many real-life serial killers suffer from and does a good job at it, leaving it's audience uncomfortable in their seats. And from what I have seen, not many movies do that. 7/10.