Maniac (1980)

1st View
Format: Blu-ray
Venue: Rivendell (Snow Day)

The Good: This is one of the few William Lustig films I had not seen. I was actually watching this in preparation for an interview with Mr. Lustig which should be posted on Cinematical this week. I'm an enormous fan of his and being familiar with his other works made watching this film all the more interesting. Maniac is far darker, and far more character driven than any of his other work and it really elevates the material to something that can't be readily dismissed as exploitation. Great performance by Joe Spinell, captivating story structure, and phenomenal makeup effects by Tom Savini.

The Bad: It is a gritty, gory film that forces you to empathize with a detestable human being. I can therefore understand how arguing its merits would be a tough sell.

The Weird: There was an attempt to make a sequel to this film and the proof of concept footage is a special feature on the Blu-ray.


Rating: 7/10 Atkins