Standing in bold exception to all that is 1980s Maniac. Directed by William Lustig, starring character actor Joe Spinell (who co-wrote the script with C. A. Rosenberg), and featuring FX by Tom Savini, its everything that the slasher movies most vehement critics claimed the entire trend was. This tale of a greasy, psychotic loner (Spinell) who spends his spare time killing women, scalping them, and nailing the bloody scalps to his collection of mannequins, was repellant and ugly in 1980 and it remains so today. Time has not softened Maniac at all, which is a testimony to the efforts of Lustig, Spinell, Savini, and co. This was a film meant to appeal to the hardest of the hardcore 42nd Street crowd and it did so without flinching. Even the poster, an illustration depicting a man from the waist down standing in a pool of blood, holding a knife in one hand and a womans severed scalp in the other, went further than anything else out there. They even went so far as to give the dude a prominent freaking bulge in his pants dead center stage between the bloody knife and the scalp, so its hard to fault womens groups for picketing the movie.
Given that Maniac is still everything that it was back in 80; the idea of attempting a remake seemed ill-conceived especially with Elijah Wood stepping into the shoes of Joe Spinell. I mean, Wood was creepy as shit in Sin City but that didnt mean he could outdo Spinell when it comes to Maniac. Then there were the rumors that the movie would be entirely shot from Woods characters POV a move that could easily come off as self-conscious and gimmicky.
It also didnt inspire confidence that director Franck Ange Khalfouns one and only previous stab at the genre was the not-so-impressive tale of a stalker in a parking garage, P2. Even the input of Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension, 2006s The Hills Have Eyes) as producer and writer wasnt too reassuring as his identical behind the scenes roles in P2 hadnt made much difference there.
Somehow, though, their Maniac remake did come together right. Its an artier affair than the original but while its got a glossier sheen, its no less grisly. Right from the opening minutes as Woods Frank Zito claims his first victim before the title comes on screen, its obvious that this movie is ready to live up to its predecessor. This maniac is prowling the streets of Los Angeles rather than that of New York (NYC is too squeaky clean these days to be a fitting stalking ground) but the M.O. is the same. Many scalps are removed and FX supervisor Matt Kutcher and his crew render Franks deeds in nigh unwatchable detail. I know that some of what we see in Maniac must be CGI assisted but at least to my eyes, its almost impossible to detect where the practical FX ends and where the CGI begins.
Khalfoun and Aja show their affinity for both the original Maniac and the serial killer genre in general through touches like having their Frank be a cab driver, in a nod to the Taxi Driver-esque vibe of the original (Spinell also had a role in the Scorsese film) and having the song that one of Franks ill-fated dates puts on in her apartment be Goodbye Horses, by Q Lazzarus, the same song that Buffalo Bill dances to in The Silence of the Lambs.
As in the original, a photographer named Anna catches Franks eye. In the original, Anna was played by B-movie goddess Caroline Munro, in the remake its Nora Arnezeder (seen recently in Safe House). This time around, Annas favorite photographic subject is not models but mannequins (kudos to Khalfoun, by the way, for getting as much mileage as possible out of Franks creepy mannequin obsession) and with the more delicate Wood as Frank, the idea that Anna would give this sketchy character the time of day isnt nearly as outlandish as it seemed in the original.
Ultimately, my only gripe with the new Maniac is that the final chase goes on just a few beats too long and starts to cut into a sense of engagement with the film as it gets into the home stretch but not so much so that it poses a major detriment.
Overall, this new Maniac comes highly recommended, with the caveat that, like the original, it isnt a movie for everyone. Personally, the original isnt the kind of movie Id watch for fun or ever jump to revisit and I think this remake is a one-time deal for me but in both cases I have to acknowledge the skill with which theyre made. If youre looking for a hardcore horror film, Maniac lives up to the notorious legacy of the original.
Stay up to date with the latest horror news by “liking” Shock Till You Drop’s Facebook page and following us on Twitter!
