MANIAC (1980): 45 YEARS OF SWEAT, SPLATTER, SLASHERS, AND SPINELL!!

MANIAC (1980) d. William Lustig (USA)

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Wildly controversial and undeniably influential, Maniac (1980) is one of the most unsettling slasher films of the early 1980s. Directed by William Lustig and starring Joe Spinell - who also co-wrote the screenplay - Maniac follows Frank Zito, a deeply disturbed and isolated man driven by trauma, navigating the grim streets of New York City.

MANIAC (1980) Blu-ray Review

Maniac (1980) d. William Lustig (USA) (88 min)

Renowned character actor Joe Spinell creates one of the most memorable (and certainly the sweatiest) psychopaths ever to grace the grindhouses. Constantly moaning, mumbling and crying, Spinell’s Frank Zito conducts a reign of terror on the NYC streets, murdering young women and tacking their bloody scalps onto his ever-growing collection of female mannequins. Working from a script by Spinell and C.A. Rosenberg and aided enormously by Tom Savini’s gut-churning and (literally) mind-blowing f/x, William Lustig directs this notorious bit of nastiness with the grime and degradation piled on an inch thick throughout. Gorgeous Caroline Munro also stars as a fashion photographer, although her attraction to and ensuing relationship with Spinell are the weakest elements in the film (not to mention the fact that his “normal” behavior is completely at odds with the remainder of his unhinged performance).

MANIAC (2012) movie review

Maniac (2012) d. Khalfoun, Franck (USA)

Like many, I utterly rejected the notion that a worthy update could be made of William Lustig’s skeevy 1980 slasher, especially since the original – while an undisputed classic – isn’t really that great of a film, surviving primarily on Joe Spinell’s go-for-broke central turn and makeup maestro Tom Savini’s lunch-buckling effects. Minus those time capsule elements set within a pre-Disneyfied Times Square backdrop, a direct remake seemed pointless. But as positive buzz arose from its various festival screenings, I began to grow cautiously optimistic. The truth is that it’s neither the train wreck that it could have been nor the instant classic that had been proclaimed, but rather a competent reworking that lives somewhere in the slightly-better-than-average arena.