Maniac
by William Lustig
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Caroline Munro, Gail Lawrence, Joe Spinell, Kelly Piper, Tom SaviniDirector: William Lustig
Brand: Ryko Distribution
Cinematographer: Robert Lindsay
Composer: Jay Chattaway
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-30
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Blue Underground
Movie Reviews of Maniac
Movie Review: Very disturbing portrait of madness
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Maniac
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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