Maniac

Starring: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Gail Lawrence, Tom Savini, Kelly Piper
Directed By: William Lustig

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Frank Zito (a career performance by co-writer/co-executive producer Joe Spinell of ROCKY and THE GODFATHER fame) is a deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of unspeakable childhood abuse. And when these horrific memories begin to scream inside his mind, Frank prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young women. Now Frank has begun a relationship with a beautiful photographer (Caroline Munro of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME), yet his vile compulsions remain. These are the atrocities of a human monster. This is the story of a MANIAC.

Experience MANIAC like you've never seen or heard it before. Directed by William Lustig (MANIAC COP, VIGILANTE) and featuring landmark gore effects by Tom Savini (DAWN OF THE DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13th), this notorious classic was censored all over the world for its graphic violence and remains banned in England and Germany to this day. But MANIAC is more than just one of the most relentlessly depraved films of our time; it is quite possibly one of the most disturbing horror movies ever made.

Spotlight Customer Reviews

Arrested Development...

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Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) is a MANIAC. How do we know this? Is it because he lives w/ a collection of female mannequins? Or because these plastic "women" wear the bloody scalps of Frank's victims on their heads? Because he hears voices and answers them? Nope, we know Mr. Zito is a MANIAC by looking into his eyes! These bulging peepers are a definite tip-off that this guy has scrambled eggs in his skull! His eyes scream, "Stay away, or I'll murder you!". Spinell is the perfect MANIAC. He's just plain scary / crazy-looking! Tom Savini did a great job on the gore fx, and even gets to "die" in the movie's classic "exploding head" scene! Well worth repeat viewings...

Another Cult Film

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I saw this film back in 1995 when I was 15. As one reviewer states, that Joe Spinel is a Whiner, "THAT" I do recall from the film. It's been quite a while now and I am fixing to give it another shot. I wasn't too fond of the film at the time. But now having looked up the trailer for it on youtube, I rented it from Netflix. To those of you who like this film, you might check out another film called Eyes of a Stranger. Which is one of my personal favorites. It's similar in style to this. It too was also made in 1980. Despite Amazon's 1981 tag by its title, I checked the ending credits and it states 1980. Also another film that is more highly similar to this one of which I own on VHS called Forced Entry . I only watched it once and after rewinding the tape, it was so old the ribbon at the beginning of the tape snapped, lol. I'm possibly gonna wait for it to come out on dvd. Which I think it might be already. Also I am surprised that "MANIAC" has a DTS Surround Soundtrack. Which I prefer DTS over Dolby anyway. Hopefully after I watch it and if its good enough, I'll buy it here on Amazon. The only reason Im giving it one star is because, my memory's a blur other than what I stated I remembered earlier. Hopefully I'll give it a better rating once I watch it again.

UPDATE:

Well I watched the film again for the 1st time in a long time. It has grown on me somewhat. I was going to give it a 3 star rating from first glance. But after a 2nd viewing, I started to realize how creepy those Mannequins are. The ending scene in the apartment is what really creeps me out. Very contorted and morbid. I'd probably watch this more on a cold dark overcast dreary day. While some parts are not at times well put together as far as acting goes, it still made its mark in the cult film genre. If it wasn't for the infamous Graphic 12 Gauge Shot-gun murder scene (Thanks to good ol' Tom Savini) and for the ending it would not have gotten a 4th star from me. So, for those two reasons, it's worth the purchase after all.

Complete waste of two hours

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I had high hopes for this film after a cult film employee reccomended it while browsing through my favourite obscure titles. I was let down as Maniac is nothing more than a cheap exploitation serial killer bio-pic.

This is not your typical slasher as it is told from the first person, in this case it is mamma's boy played by Joe spinnel. He's whiney and obsessivley crazy, probably the most annoying antangoinst ever.

Granted there is the infamous 'point blank shotgun' scene but other than that, there is no entertainment value to this film unless you're a misgonistic lunatic. I was hoping the only saving grace to this film would be gratutious nudity but there is none thus not even making a true exploitation film.

Avoid this title like the plague.

teresa's slasher film

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I loved the classic slasher movie it was funny in some parts strange and disturbing on the others

TERRIFYING!

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This movie scared me to death - and no, not when I kid! I just saw Maniac and was absolutely terrified. I had no idea that I could still be this frightened by a movie. The story was actually pretty good (I was really surprised at that) and the acting from Spinell is amazing. Be warned though, this movie is GRUESOME. Parts of it are downright disgusting - but no more so then some of the things we've seen in recent splatter films. Maniac is sure to keep you on end of your seat until the very end (which by the way, is pretty awesome). Definitely check this out... If you think can handle it!

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Product Details Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Ryko Distribution
EAN: 0827058102490
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Blue Underground
Manufacturer: Blue Underground
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Blue Underground
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2007-01-30
Running Time: 87
Studio: Blue Underground
Theatrical Release Date: 1980

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Maniac

Arrested Development...

Another Cult Film

Complete waste of two hours

teresa's slasher film

TERRIFYING!