Maniac

Maniac (1980)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: William Lustig

Starring: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper

From: Magnum Motion Pictures

For awhile now I’ve heard of this controversial movie, which was release unrated and even now in some countries is still banned. Yet I haven’t felt like seeing it. Well, because it’s coming out on Blu-Ray soon, Grindhouse Releasing and Blue Underground decided to release this to any sort of art-house and indy joint that wanted to show it. Well, the hipster hangout known as the Enzian decided to do just that, so just this past Saturday I watched it for the very first time, and in front of a small but appreciative audience.

The plot… I’ll yank it right from the IMDb. “A schizoid serial killer randomly stalks and kills various young women in New York, which he sees as revenge for the mistreatment he got while being raised by his own abusive mother.” That sums things up pretty well. That man, Frank Zito (Spinell; he also came up with this story; I’m not sure what that says about him) otherwise is a normal person. But in private you see that he’s a crazy person who is still haunted by the memories of his late mother so he randomly kills people, and when they’re women he scalps them and uses their hair to dress up the various mannequins he has in his apartment.

Between that, the grainy and naturalistic look the movie has, and how tense things are, that makes the movie rather uncomfortable to watch at times. Oh, and all the violence you see contributes to that too. Tom Savini (who also plays a disco guy who almost has sex with a woman in the backseat of his car) does a great job with the special effects and the best one is where you get to see Tom’s head explode in graphic detail via shotgun blast to the head.

What I thought of this… I was skeeved out more than anything else. It isn’t a bad movie by any means, but it does leave you feeling creeped out due to how it’s presented. I’ll say that as a compliment, as I presume that was their goal. It’s not all gore and kills. There are some really suspenseful scenes which work very well, and there’s also some things which made me laugh and helped liven up the mood.

First off, there’s the idea that an average schlub like Frank Zito could successfully get more than one date with a fine-looking British babe like Caroline Munro. But even better was this upbeat disco song you heard during one scene. It definitely is the opposite of the rest of the movie, which usually has a groovy synth score.

So, if you’re brave enough you should give this a go. Just be warned this isn’t the easiest movie in the world to watch. I’ll be back Thursday afternoon with two reviews in one.