Maniac is William Lustig's attempt at making an intelligent slasher movie. Does he succeed? Well, yes & no. Frank Zito (played by the late Joe Spinell)
is a serial killer who's the spitting image of Ron Jeremy. Frank's sanity is in tatters, and he's been killing innocent New Yorkers left right and centre in a variety of ways. Why is he killing them? He seems to enjoy scalping women, and nailing the scalps to the mannequins that fill his apartment. After a while, Frank forms a highly implausable relationship with a gorgeous fashion photographer named Anna (who the hell was Lustig trying to kid with this particular sub-plot? Having Frank abducted by aliens would have been more believeable). Instead of being a calming influence on him, she seems to make him go totally off beam as Maniac rushes towards its conclusion.
Plotwise, this was pretty contrived and bordered on the laughable for a movie that was clearly going for realism. What saves Maniac, and makes it worth the price of admission are the realistic, and often quite suspenseful murder scenes. The best of these is the shotgun blast through the car window scene. This possibly outdoes Scanners for the best exploding head in celluloid history award. The cinematography in this scene is also great, as Frank leaps onto the bonnet of the car and fires.
A subway murder scene is also memorable. Sure, we can tell what's going to happen a mile away, but Lustig's timing is impeccable. He grabs the viewer by the throat and doesn't let go. So basically this is worth a look for the Tom Savini fx (and a cameo by Savini), and a few good suspense sequences. But if you're looking for a thinkpiece like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, then you're in for a disappointing hour and a half. I enjoyed bits and pieces
of Maniac, but somehow I just couldn't get past the ridiculous romance angle. It really ruined what could have been a great angry loner movie. |