Maniac (1980) by William Lustig

Director: William Lustig
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher; Exploitation

Plot:
Still affected by his mother's death, a psychotic serial killer begins stalking the streets of New York for potential targets only to find a potential romance that might quell his vicious streak and struggles to control his murderous urges before they return to affect his quest.

Review:

This here was one of the more overrated slasher efforts of the time. The main problem is the fact that the movie focuses on the killer more than the victims he goes after, being a character study rather than a truly enjoyable body count hacking. This is the real crime of the movie since he isn't one of the more fascinating serial killers in cinema history, so it can become boring if you're not in the right mind-frame. There are long stretches between kill scenes where you are just begging for something to happen, and all we get is watching him wander around looking for nothing or simply focusing on some old guy who keeps a part of his victims around and talks to them. That really loses the dread in Frank, since it either looks ridiculous and we laugh at him now or it's a trait that isn't very accurately represented throughout the whole movie. Here, it doesn't really invoke terror when a man scalps women to use their hair to dress up mannequins, then he begins talking to then while he's administering the hair to the mannequin. That looks silly instead of terrifying and when it comes into play as often as it does here, with the utterly clichéd and wholly overused motive of childhood abuse from his parents as the catalyst for the rampage, just making the whole thing even more problematic.

There's also the utterly ridiculous romance angle that comes into play here that's incredibly difficult to rationalize why that occurs as it does here since there's very little about it that's believable why someone in her position would fall for an overweight, grimy person like him in the condition she does and it simply reeks of being there for envious purposes only. Despite the rather obvious notion of his physical appearance, with the disheveled clothing, ratty accessories and clearly unkempt hygiene, there's the obvious physical differences between the two that make it nearly impossible to fathom how a high-ranking fashion model would ever give him the time of day at that period of history. He never seems to be genuinely appealing or attractive as for why that comes about here, as Frank is never remotely considered attractive or normal and his behavior around her should give this plenty of red flags that anyone should be able to spot and avoid. It really makes us question Anna's judgement for the most part to ignore these marks about him and carry on the relationship inspite of these areas. These here are really damaging and hold this back so much that the few positives here aren't that worthwhile.

For the most part, nearly everything enjoyable with this one involves the gory killings which makes out nearly every single wound is like cutting through an important artery in the body. We get a slew of graphic kills here, mutilating the body with a series of intense work full of incredible effects work that gets featured from the throat slilt, a strangulation with a razor wire, a knife impaled in the back that comes out the chest and the infamous exploding head with a shotgun that still retains plenty of gruesome and graphic splatter-filled fun. From the early random attacks, including the rather chilling stalking scene in the subway station to the attack in the friends' apartment to the gruesomeness of the utterly savage finale that ends this on a strikingly vicious moment, these here are quite good. As well, in addition to the multitude of graphic killings throughout here is the finale, which is one of the more impressive and brutal sequences in the genre as well as carrying on from the utterly bizarre dream sequence that proceeds it. That is just as impressive with the series of attacks in the graveyard and the appearance of the skeleton chasing after him that adds in some great nightmarish imagery to the scene.

Regardless of how one feels about the characters and their relationships, the acting here is definitely worthwhile. Joe Spinell turns in an utterly powerhouse performance as Frank Zito, making the pitiable loser somewhat endearing the more around him we are. Obviously a deranged, isolated individual suffering from severe emotional issues with his mother, they manifest in some utterly bizarre and psychotic behavior in how he not only treats women but also how he goes about his everyday life. Able to switch from coy and somewhat shy around women to exploding with murderous fury at the flip of a switch, it's a great turn from his cold, sweaty persona which gives him the ability to pull off the change. He looks foolish when he's simply whining and moaning about everybody else, but that doesn't detract from the rest of his performance. As well, Caroline Munro is absolutely sweet and charming as photographer Anna D'Antoni. It's not her fault she falls in love with him, but it's still a stellar performance with the little time she has on-screen as she genuinely looks like the type that he would fall for if not for his emotional problems which is about the same as the rest of the acting here. Still, there's way too many flaws here to really mean anything here.

Overview: ** 1/2/5
Despite the few flaws to be had here that hold this one down severely, this one really does work nicely as a grindhouse offering which is really where the vast majority of this one works. Those that appreciate those efforts as well as being able to overlook the few minor problems should look into this one, while those that can't get over the flaws or enjoy the exploitation style of the genre should heed caution.