Maniac
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Movie Reviews of Maniac
Movie Review: MURDER 5 Stars
A great sick, and twisted flick. Joe Spinell is a crazed killer, who slice off women scalps after killing them. Caroline Munro is at her best. Maniac works good with Spinell being a ornery guy. Unlike like other slasher flicks, psychos coming back from the dead. Maniac is more convincing. This movie is disturbing, but to disturbing. The real prize is Tom Savini's fx. Don't believe the lame critic's reviews on this film. Maniac is a horror fan dream come true.Movie Review: MASTERPIECE!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Joe Spinell was brilliant in this brilliant film. The plot is amazing and the entire time youre hooked on your seat.The mannequin idea is so perfectly creepy and the gore effects by Tom Savini are brutally delisciuos and what you expect from the master of splatter.The famous shotgun scene is probably still one of the best goriest scenes ever! "Maniac" is definitely a MUST for every horror movie fan..A MUST!!Movie Review: Great 80s slasher flick
Summary: 5 Stars
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
Movie Review: Cult classic for a reason
Summary: 4 Stars
Despite being a cult classic Maniac is a movie that is far too overlooked in the horror genre as nothing more than a sleazy exploitation flick with no merits at all except the gore, which was done by Tom Savini. But I have to heavily disagree; Maniac has a lot more going for it than one might think. Upon its release in 1980 Maniac was attacked for its graphic violence, which most of the victims were women. Many deemed this nothing more than vile trash and looked upon as nothing more than 1 step above porn (but barley at that). Maniac was heavily censored and even banned in many places as well.
The funny thing is at the time of the release there were other movies just as shocking if not more so than Maniac, but yet this is the one that people attacked and probably helped gain the movie more attention over the years. As I stated before there is a lot more going for Maniac than simply gore and sleaze.
The screenplay by C.A. Rosenberg & Joe Spinell was fairly solid nothing here really stands out, but overall it's well written for the genre that it is in. Frank Zito played by Joe Spinell is the typical serial killer with mother problems. If you look at most serial killers many of them had some kind of psychical and or mental abuse from their mothers at a young age. Rosenberg and Spinell never really stray from that and offer anything different, but what they have works well and is an interesting character study of a man trying to at times fight his urges.
Maniac marked the feature film debut for William Lustig (unless you wanna count the porn flicks he made prior under the name Billy Bagg). Lustig is an often overlooked filmmaker who did some solid work, but never really got the attention he deserved. He got his start at the time when filmmakers like John Carpenter, Dario Argento and George Romero were at the peak of their career. Lustig though has built up a following, but he never really reached the success like other filmmakers from his era.
William Lustig is a big fan of 70s exploitation and it clearly shows with Maniac; Lustig manages to create a really gritty and uneasy feel through out the picture and always keeps the pace moving along even when there is no action. The murder scenes are quite graphic and bloody, but while the gore is great the highlight is the murders are very mean spirited. Starting around the mid 80s and you can even make a case for the early 80s as well, too many movies would have kill scenes that were sort of fun, which is cool, but I prefer movies like this where the deaths give you an uneasy feel.
Like I said Maniac has a lot more going for it than people might realize. The shotgun blast to the head easily rates as one of the greatest murders this genre has ever seen. I'd even go as far to say possibly the best death scene in the genre, but there is far more here than just shocking murder scenes. The scene in which, Frank stalks a young nurse (Kelly Piper) leaving the hospital all the way to the subway and than in the subway is a classic example of suspense and tension; the whole set up is excellent and downright chilling.
And the scene when Frank attacks Rita played by Abigail Clayton (under the name Gail Lawrence) was another prime example of a scene filled with suspense and tension. William Lustig again is able to make more than just sleazy exploitation flick and delivers a movie that is quite disturbing and even chilling in many areas. William Lustig in his day was an excellent filmmaker who never really hit the big time despite being very deserving of it.
The acting was mostly good and Joe Spinell probably best known as Gazzo from Rocky and Rocky II gives the best performance of his career. Frank Zito is a classic character and far scarier than most horror movie villains since people like Frank are out there. He isn't the boogeyman who can survive multiple gunshots, stabbings and being set on fire. He's as human as his victims and Spinell is downright chilling in the role, which is a lot more complex than some might realize.
Maniac is a nice piece of 80s exploitation cinema with plenty of sleaze and violence, but again has a lot more to offer than just that. The only problem with Maniac is the final act, while isn't bad or anything, but does fall a bit flat. But besides that Maniac was excellent and a must see for horror fans.
Movie Review: Another Cult Film
Summary: 4 Stars
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.