Very disturbing portrait of madness
Customer Rating: 
I actually saw this film in a theater when it came out in 1980.
The local "word of mouth" spread like wild-fire.
Only one theater was showing it, one showing, at night!
You had to be at least 18 to get in, and in those days, they werent
kidding.
All I knew about it at the time was, nothing like it had ever been done
before, it was over the top violent and graphic.
Well, that was an understatment!
When the "maniac" title character jumped on the hood of the car and
aimed a shotgun at the driver (played by Tom Savini), I fully expected
the camera to cut! It didnt!!! Not only did the camera not cut away, we
see all the action in slow motion!! Even then, after the shotgun blast,
the camera dwells on the carnage for several seconds as we see blood and flesh drip from the car's front seat.
I knew I was in for a ride.
I think this film is shocking enough today on DVD, but back in 1980, it
was totally unpresidented. It had gotten such a negative reputation, I
had to be careful who I told I had seen it, and worse, loved it!
I was sure this one was destined for the garbage incinerator!!
Ya know, as a film buff, and having studied film in college, I can sit
and debate Antonioni, or Bresson, or whoever with the best film snob,
but this movie is one of my personal favorites.
For it's own, it works for me as cineama. It shocks and disturbs like
nothing I have seen. It possitivly suspends the viewer in utter dispare,
loathing, and fear.
By the end, I feel drained and dirty.
There is no actual story here, just a few days spent inside the head of
a very sick person. It's all from his point of view.
Unlike some of it's contemporaries like Friday the 13th, there is absolutly no snickering and giggling when a abnoxious horny teenage is
dispatched. The killings here have a gritty, dirty reality that is very
disturbing. The entire film is humorless and unrelenting to the graphic
end.
This is one of those movies, like In a Glass Cage or Salo, or Cannibal
that pushes the envelope, and puts you in a world where even your darkest
dreams never go.
Quite good
Customer Rating: 
Maniac is a stange slasher movie as it is all from the view-point of the killer. I found this a bit dissapointing at first as the killer isnt exactly likeable and we just seem to see scenes of him killing women (mostly women) and nothing else. But part way through, he befriends a women who becoms another protagonist and I found the movie more interesting from here.
There is quite a decent body-count in Maniac and the deaths that there are are quite bloody and a couple were very suspecful (especially the girl in the subway). The excellent gore effects were done by Tom Savini who also did the gore effects for the origional Dawn of the Dead and another slasher movie called Rosemary's Killer (AKA The Prowler).
The DVD claims to be "uncut" but is infact cut by 54 seconds, so I would reccommend buying the American Region 1 DVD if you want the movie fully uncut. As far as I know, the majority of this cut is made up in the infamous "scalping scene" near the start of the movie.
Above average slasher which is generally creepy in parts and has a genuinly disturbing ending.
ugly. joyless. classic.
Customer Rating: maniac is revered by many horror fan boys as one of the greatest genre movies of all time. if you've ever wondered how a serial killer spends his days, this movie's for you. it's no secret who the killer is and you spend much of the movie in his sick, tormented head.
unlike murder set pieces and it's ridiculous, exaggerated, frequently palumbo-created hype, this movie actually was the subject of much controversy upon it's release in 1980. it was banned from many theaters across the states and across the majority of europe and australia for it's graphic violence and a perceived violent objectification of women.
joe spinell (the godfather) does a fantastic job as the mentally and sexually disturbed frank zito. i truly think this movie would have failed without him.
with that being said, i must state that, basically, this is a joyless and very difficult watch. after my first viewing, i remember just kinda staring at the dvd menu for awhile unable to really comprehend what i had just watched. there was no felling of elation. i wasn't pumped and excited after another kick butt horror flick. i felt dirty and was actually kind of depressed.
i only just recently watched maniac again and, immediately following it's completion, wondered why i had subjected myself to it for a second time. with that being said... you're not a true horror fan without having this in your collection... if for no other reason than for the scene with tom savini.
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