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 bea

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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.

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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!

Great 80s slasher flick

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This is one of the greatest slasher that came out in the 80s

It actually inspired many slasher fans and even directors

One of the best slasher films that came out in the movies during the 80s, and it's a cult classic now for the gore fans

If you love horror, gore, and splatterfest, MANIAC is just for you

An impressive failure

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I'd mainly watched Maniac! because Tom Savini did the special effects. They were grisly, gory and great. In fact he has a cameo that leads into one of the best effects shots of his that I'd ever seen. Easily the high point at what could have been an above average slasher movie.

The movie is better filmed and acted than the bulk of '80's slasher flicks. But it really isn't good. The problem is that the solitary slasher is the main character. Sort of like Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer, but without the companions to provide some sort of narrative. The first half of the movie follows the killer through a string of unrelated murders with no time spent building the character of the only actor on screen for more than ten minutes, the killer.

I was surprised that as an extra on the DVD, they included a collection of bad reviews the movie had garnered on its release. At the time the movie was pretty controversial and I can see why. Some of the negative reviews in the extras called the movie pornography and I think they had a point. It feels sort of like a porn movie, with graphic murder replacing graphic sex. There's some stereotypical setup (a nurse walking to the subway, a couple making out while parked in an empty lot) that leads to a murder. Rinse. Repeat.

Maniac!'s lack of a real storyline is sorely missed. In the second half, they do put a story together, but it should have been carried through the entire film rather than just the second half. As a result, Maniac! was 'interesting', but not 'good'.

Tom Savini's great makeup work enlivens grubby exploitation fare

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This gory serial killer film got some press on original release for Tom Savini's fairly gruesome shotgun-to-the-head scene which occurs fairly early in the film, and Gene Siskel famously claimed to have walked out at that point, saying that the film could never redeem itself. I'm rather divided as to whether he was right or not. On the one hand, the portrait of late 70s New York with the seedy rubbing shoulders with the wealthy and stylish is nicely done - mostly coming from the seedy and resentful point of view, there is the gorgeous Caroline Munro to look at, and Joe Spinell's Frank Zito, while not exactly the most original psycho killer ever seen (he hears voices, imagines that the mannequins he dresses with women's scalps are real women, has a mommy fixation, etc) at least seems very real - he's sweaty, fat, unattractive and ill-dressed, and does a decent job at alternating between thoroughly crazy and just slightly weird. On the other hand it beggars belief even in a low-budget horror film that Munro's supermodel photographer character would just start going out with this guy after he finds his way to her apartment (from the info he's found rooting through her belongings) with merely the excuse that he saw her take his picture in the park.

The music, photography, and acting are all certainly no worse than average for a sleazy cheapie like this, but they aren't good enough to really be noticeable either. Lustig's direction is competent for the most part, with one standout scene as our friendly neighborhood psycho slowly stalks a comely nurse victim through a deserted subway station - an excellent builing of suspense here that is sadly not replicated in the rest of the film. Savini's effects still look decent enough and the violent scenes are in general well-handled, but the film really goes downhill in the last few scenes, with a graveyard scene that wouldn't look out of place in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE leading into one of the weakest endings I've ever seen in a horror film. Oh well. For genre completists and hard-core aficionados, I would think.

Wasn't quite what I expected

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I read some reviews on this film which claimed it was one of the best in it's genre, and decided I would purchase it and hopefully have the enjoyment of owning it to view when I please. The cover of the movie alone was one of the most intriguing things about this film and made me ever so curious as to the nature of the film. It was a descent movie but not quite as good as what I had read. Although I am more of an avid zombie/monster flick fan and thus, this insight comes from someone who likes older horror movie based on gore and cheesy effects that are awesome, I do however come to appreciate at times psychological thriller type movies and even if a movie isn't super gory yet is done well I can appreciate that.

On the gore level, the movie almost seems to boast more than it actually delivers.
- a few choke scenes
- a short scalping scene
- one short stab scene
- a shooting scene (which is actually pretty cool)
- and the last crazy scene (the best one)

I guess the movie kind of made you think about why it is the character was doing the things he does, there wasn't much narrative that really explained it. He was a fat, ugly, sweaty guy so I guess maybe he just hated life cause he was so ugly, haha but not really, he's just your average disturbed serial murderer who likes to take stuff from those he kills and put them on manikins that he props up in his bed and talks to. I didn't really get it and I wasn't really creeped out by this mental but silly looking fat dude whispering to the manikins dressed like his victims. Not as intriguing as you might think I suppose if that sounds remotely cool.

Anyways the movie is around 80 minutes, kind of short, and though semi original with the ideas just didn't have quite as much of an awe that I got from one that is just a tad better being New York Ripper, which had it's own little bit of originality and had a bit more interesting death scenes although slow in some parts. I'm sorry but one of the most entertaining works of the slasher/murderer film genre to ME is some films of the Friday the 13th series. Anyways, I won't go on anymore about this film. I would recommend borrowing it from someone you know who has it or watching scenes on youtube to get what I'm talking about a bit more haha.

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Product Details Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: RYKODISC
EAN: 0827058102490
Feature: 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 bea
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Blue Underground
Manufacturer: Blue Underground
Number Of Items: 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

TERRIFYING!

Great 80s slasher flick

An impressive failure

Tom Savini's great makeup work enlivens grubby exploitation fare

Wasn't quite what I expected