Barnes & Noble

Serial killers come in all shapes and sizes. Those who like 'em paunchy and whiney need look no further than director William Lustig's low-budget cult classic Maniac, with Joe Spinell in the lead role as Frank Zito. The film is straightforward, serial-killer-on-the-loose fare, following the creepy Zito from victim to victim in extended, suspense-filled sequences that reek of Hitchcock. There's plenty of mania in Maniac, too, as Frank hears voices and has extended arguments with himself (and, in another nod to Hitckcock, his dead mother). There is also a bit of violence, of course, which is quite graphic and gory thanks to slasher-makeup king Tom Savini, who also makes a cameo. Ultimately, though, Maniac is an oddball character study, and Spinell, who also wrote the script, is truly spectacular in the lead. With a bulging midriff, pockmarked face, and bad fashion sense, Spinell's Zito looks every bit the early-'80s lunatic, making the film's odd romantic subplot particularly precious. And Maniac saves its best for last, building to a superbly surreal denouement. The Anchor Bay DVD includes audio commentary from director Lustig and several production team members, a radio interview with Lustig, Spinell, and costar Caroline Munro, a Joe Spinell documentary, and theatrical trailers. Gregory Baird

All Movie Guide

Joe Spinell, who appeared in Taxi Driver, stars in this unsavory horror film as Frank Zito, a character reminiscent of an even more disturbed Travis Bickle. Frank is an embittered loser who talks to himself and his dead mother, stalks a pretty model (Caroline Munro), and spends his spare time brutally murdering women. He then scalps his victims and puts the trophies on mannequins which he takes to bed with him at night. An unpleasant film with a relentlessly downbeat tone, Maniac! features graphic, bloody special-effects makeup by cult favorite Tom Savini, who meets a gruesome end in a cameo as "Disco Boy." Highlights include a realistic scalping by Exacto knife and an exploding head. The ending takes an interesting twist as Spinell hallucinates his victims returning to life and tearing him limb from limb. Spinell and Munro reteamed in 1982 for The Last Horror Film. Adult film star Sharon Mitchell (whom director William Lustig discovered in The Violation of Claudia) appears briefly as a nurse. Robert Firsching

Product Details

• UPC: 827058102490
• Source: BLUE UNDERGROUND
• Region Code: 0
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled
• Time: 1:28:00
• Sales Rank: 17,972

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