Not many horror movies really tend to scare me. Not to sound like a tough guy or anything, but the events taking place in a movie are never horrifying enough to frighten me. Ghosts? Zombies? Vampires or werewolves? No matter how young I was, they never seemed to get under my skin since I knew whatever happened on screen couldn't really occur in real life. But, when you set the protagonist as your every-day bystander and place him in a familiar setting then you have a different story. Now, I wouldn't consider Maniac as just your average 80's slasher movie, even though it follows the formula well. But I also would't call it a splatter movie as many have considered it before. It's not just a slasher movie because it has a layered story and it's not a splatter movie because, well, it has a story.
The story goes as follows: Frank Zito is a middle-aged, overweight loner living in an unspecified borough of New York City, where he works as the landlord of a small apartment complex. Unbeknown to his tenants, Frank is a schizoid serial killer who spends his nights stalking and killing women, scalpingthem and bringing the scalps and their clothing back home to decorate his steadily growing supply of mannequins. Once a mannequin has been decorated to his satisfaction, Frank sleeps with it for several nights, using them to carry on one-sided conversations with his deceased mother, an abusive prostitute who subjected him to years of physical abuse before dying in a car accident and leaving him orphaned. Inexplicably, after several nights, Frank grows tired of each mannequin, posing them around different parts of his apartment before seeking out another victim.
Although it may sound simple at first, Maniac actually packs quite a hefty punch as far as character and story go. Although a deranged serial killer, you actually feel for Frank. Not to say you'll be rooting for him throughout the film, but at least it leads you to believe he has a bit of a reason behind madness. And the difference between the killer in this movie and the killer in any other slasher movie - he's not a supernatural undying monster, he's human. He's real, and he could be the guy who lives down the street from you. Not since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (which came out a half decade later) has there been a more human portrayal of a serial killer. Sure the violence is hardcore and plentiful in these two films, but it's brutal and realistic and that's what makes these films so disturbing.
verdict:
This movie is brutal. The deaths are played out is such a way, it won't only make you cringe out of terror but out of disgust.
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