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-   -   Is 'Maniac' any good? (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/489481-maniac-any-good.html)

ShaunoftheDead 01-13-07 11:15 AM

Is 'Maniac' any good?
 
I know this is coming out soon with a revamped audio and picture I believe. Tom Savini who did the Romero classics did the effects, but is it brutal and gory and all that good stuff?

ShaunoftheDead 01-15-07 12:39 PM

Has noone seen this?

rw2516 01-15-07 03:19 PM

I've seen but but can't remember how gory it is. Story wise it's an average slasher flick. The thing I remember most about it is throughout the movie I kept wondering where I'd seen this one gal whose in it before. It's the blonde from Dawn of the Dead.

mjduda 01-15-07 03:22 PM


Originally Posted by ShaunoftheDead
I know this is coming out soon with a revamped audio and picture I believe. Tom Savini who did the Romero classics did the effects, but is it brutal and gory and all that good stuff?


It's gory, and awesome. I love this movie

brainee 01-15-07 04:42 PM

Yes, it's a nasty piece of work with some really impressive Savini gore. One of the nastiest of the post-Halloween American slashers ... was a focal point of controversy for groups wanting to ban (or severely neuter) these kinds of movies. Not a typical slasher of the time though ... the killer was actually the main character, and the story followed him around (rather than whatever teens he was stalking). Has a 70's grimy "Taxi Driver" feel to it (though not in that film's league, of course). Definitely worth a watch from fans of that type of movie. The Anchor Bay DVD was pretty good ... I'm not sure what could be added to make me even think about double-dipping. Though if its out of print, a re-release is always in order for people who missed the old version. Hopefully the nice doc on star Joe Spinell still is on the new disc.

Hu Phan 01-16-07 05:55 PM

Perhaps the most notable thing about Maniac is the performance of Joe Spinell as the killer (not a spolier, you know this from the opening.)

It is one of the best portraits of a genuinely disturbed individual I have seen on film and his strange relationships with shop window dummies and his dead mother make the film more interesting than it appears on the surface.

Be warned, this is a very dark and grimy film - shot on 16mm (and it looks it) and filled with grain and a dank atmosphere that seems more at home in the grim efforts of Andy Milligan and Co.

I did like it and have watched it several times. Just not one for every audience - perhaps don't invite grandma around the night you watch this.

dadaluholla 01-16-07 06:14 PM

There was some nice gore, but overall it's a very dull and uninteresting film. I wouldn't recommend anything more than a rent for it.

Giles 01-16-07 08:57 PM

I think the movie has a lot going for it, gritty, explicitly violent (courtesy top makeup fx guru Tom Savini), a great performance by Joe Spinell and

Spoiler:
a pseudo surrealistic way out there ending, that left many gorehounds faint in the knees

d2cheer 01-17-07 12:17 PM

Well, remember this is now 20 + years old. Its rep is better than the film actually is...

Rent it. The gore is not all that great either IMHO...

dadaluholla 01-17-07 02:38 PM

The only reason the gore stood out for me on this was the one scene where
Spoiler:
Tom Savini gets his head destroyed with a shotgun
. I thought that was very cool, but definitely not enough to redeem everything else about the movie.

JMcCraw 01-17-07 02:39 PM

Well, for me personally this film has one of my favorite gore scenes:

Spoiler:
The shotgun blast through the car windshield and subsequent exploding head.


I had really fond memories of this one because I rented it with some friends in college and we watched it while enjoying some libations, so it definitely has nostalgic value for me BUT I think it is a good film as well. Bill Lustig did a good job with this and with "Maniac Cop" as well IMHO.

JMcCraw 01-17-07 02:42 PM

Dammit! dadaluholla, are you following me around thinking my thoughts? First the "bad suggestions" thread and now this? Knock it off! :)

Groucho 01-17-07 02:43 PM

The effects are good, but the storyline gets bogged down when a ludicrous amount of time is spent on an unbelievable romantic subplot. :hscratch:


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