Maniac is one of these horror movies with such an indistinguishable title that it's easy to mistake it for others. But it is different, and it is memorable once you get into it.
I've seen this movie given the year of 1980 or of 1981. Hell, maybe both are correct. Right? Maniac was a video nasty, which we've seen some of in this blog, and a slasher, which we've seen, and horror movie, which obviously is the genesis of this blog.
Maniac is directed by cult film director William Lustig, who went on to do the well known Maniac Cop movie series, and it stars Joe Spinell as the titular homicidal maniac, Frank. We meet shleppy, sloppy Frank as he bums around and acts all weird. He's got some sort of mommy issue, and he sleeps with a mannequin in his bed. He goes around murdering people in this pretty much straight line plot.
The plot is nothing, as I said, what is worth talking about is the bizarre hypnotic level to the film, as well as of course the gruesome, boundary pushing violence. The MPAA had not really started censoring movies yet, wouldn't until a few more years, so these late 70's early 80's movies were getting away with some pretty gnarly stuff. This movie features scalpings and a shotgun blast to the head for poor ol' Tom Savini.
Maniac pushed the envelope, and it is good, actually. The acting is good enough for you to care about serial killer Frank, and the kills are good, and the movie even has a decent atmosphere and a few scares along the way. Overall, I'd say it's overlooked. It's one of the more realistic 80's slasher types, and heavily inspired by Gacy, again. I give it 4 stars.
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