Maniac takes the same psychological character study and the seedy parts of New York that Taxi Driver had and it combines it with the blood and gore effects of Dawn of the Dead. Joe Spinell plays a killer so disturbing because you see the different dimensions of his character. The whiny, repressed version of his character reliving his childhood trauma, the charming social version of him later on, and the version of him that disregards everyone and only thinks about the next scalp he wants. The film shows the loneliness someone can have, being so alone in such a big city like New York. That not only applies to the main character as we join his madness but also the victims who are so alone in such a big place never being able to get any help. The movie shows not only what such a maniac can do to people but how he could be anyone, anywhere and you would never know. Those elements along with Tom Savini's incredible and excessive gore effects make Maniac a disturbing, but fascinating watch.
The film starts out with Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) murdering a couple at a beach. It then follows him as he murders a prostitute, a couple going for sexcapade near the Varrazano Narrows bridge, and a nurse he stalks after she leaves work. These murder sequences are long and drawn out for the most part as we see Frank usually stalking his victims before getting them isolated and alone. These murders are usually intercut with him bringing home body parts in bags and we see his home filled with mannequins wearing the scalps of his previous victims. He usually talks to himself imagining past conversations with his mother who seemingly abused him. The second half of the film switches gears and shows Frank's more social and cunning side. He bonds with a photographer named Anna (Caroline Munro) over their love of art. Frank uses his new friend to find more victims at a fashion shoot she does. As the body count piles up Frank goes to pay his respects to his mother before a date with Anna leading to more reveals about his past trauma and memorable exploitation style stinger ending.
What I liked about the first half of the movie was how long and drawn out the murder sequences were. You are really along for the ride with Frank as he methodically chooses and stalks his victims. While the first kill is just him choking out a prostitute the amount of time that kill takes feels real and it sticks with me. The first couple he kills in the movie is just a preview for coming events where you really see the blood on a throat slit with a razor and a kill with a garrote wire. Sets you up for everything Tom Savini will do throughout. The second couple he kills brings one of Tom Savini's best makeup effects ever where Tom Savini actually doubled Joe Spinell's character holding a shotgun and Savini blows up a mold of his own head. The next murder of the nurse is long and drawn out as first see Frank stalking her down a street, then through a train station and then in a subway bathroom. The scene in the bathroom is really suspenseful as we see him leave. She thinks he has left until he appears and stabs her with a small sword near the sink. That scene inspired Alex Aja for a similar scene in High Tension. It is interesting that in the couple's murders the men get it worse, if not just as bad as the women do. With the couple he kills with the shotgun the women's kill is actually offscreen! Odd for a slasher movie that was protested by feminists.
Many of the women including the prostitute, the nurse, and later Rita are shown alone and in Rita's case in her home when Frank kills them. This shows not only the fear of being alone but a real fear I'm sure many women have of walking home alone or being alone at times in this world. It almost shows that women shouldn't even open the door for people as Frank uses an excuse for her to open the door so he can unlock the latch so he can break in later. Rita's kill is another disturbing one as he ties her up and talks to himself and says he won't kill her and that he will keep her forever.
Frank's motives are a bit mysterious at times throughout this film. His trauma is revealed later as his mother was apparently a prostitute who used to lock him in the closet while she had sex with men. Through his mannequins it seems like he is not only recreating his mother but also blames her for why he feels like he has to kill. Yet at other times it seems like he is control only for him to lose control at random moments. This is best shown during the scene at the graveyard where Frank starts breaking down and then suddenly starts strangling Anna. You never really know if he has a split personality or if he's more schizophrenic. At times he seems perfectly okay but then you hear Spinell's weird breathing that adds to the unsettling feel of the character. The scenes of him in his home are true WTF moments yet it feels like how a killer would really talk to themselves and what their thoughts aloud would be. Jay Chattaway's score also adds a great ambience to many sequences and he has this certain cue that he plays during certain reveals that is memorable. For example when he turns off his lights at the bridge or when he takes Rita's necklace there is a certain high pitched cue that plays. The ending is a true WTF moment you usually see in these exploitation movies that makes no sense logically but adds something else memorable to the film and more of Savini's great makeup and gore effects. The women coming alive as he seemingly can't rein in his trauma is great. It's almost as if suicide feels like a better option to him than getting caught for murder and the revenge of all his victims is what he uses to justify it. I'm not sure but that ending is open to interpretation.
- SLASHER MOVIE ANATOMY:
- Prior Evil: Killer was abused and locked in a closet as a child exposing him to things he should not have seen and creating a feeling of dependence that he uses as a motivation
- Body Count: 7
- Whodunit: No. Literally the opposite as the movie is a character study where we are on the ride with the killer
- Mask or outfit: None
- Locale: New York City
- Best Kill: Shotgun head explosion
- Gimmick: Taking the scalps off of women
INSTRUMENTS OF DEATH
- Garrote Wire
- Straight Razor
- Dagger
- Short Sword
- Shotgun
SLASHER MOVIE TAXONOMY
• Kingdom: Movie
• Phylum: Horror
• Class: Slasher
• Order: Exploitation
• Family: Upper body nudity one one woman
• Genus: Realistic
• Species: Character study psychological thriller
Rating: 10/10
Trivia: Daria Nicolodi was supposed to play Anna. Caroline Munro ended up playing the role because her husband at the time gave money to the production of the film. Film critic Gene Siskel walked out of the movie after the infamous shotgun scene. When Joe Spinell died of hemophilia after a cut the cops that came to his house to investigate found the mold of his severed head at the end of the film on his mantle.
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