Maniac (1980)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Maniac |
| Original title | Maniac |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1980 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Lustig |
| script |
Joe Spinell C. A. Rosenberg |
| production |
Andrew Garroni William Funny |
| music | Jay Chattaway |
| camera | Robert Lindsay |
| cut | Lorenzo Marinelli |
| occupation | |
| |
Maniac is an American horror film from 1980 . The film by director William Lustig belongs to the sub-genre of the slasher film .
action
The schizophrenic serial killer Frank Zito lives unrecognized in a New York apartment building. Zito kills young women whom he scalps and undresses after the murder. He then brings the clothes and scalps of his victims to his apartment, where he decorates mannequins with them. Zito uses the dolls as a substitute for his late mother, a violent prostitute with whom he appears to be obsessed and with whom he still has dialogues after her death.
After Frank has killed several people in the course of the film, including a young couple on the beach, a prostitute and a couple in a parking lot, he notices a woman in the park taking a photo of him. He finds her address and visits the woman named Anna the next day. Zito poses as an artist to her. Instead of killing her, however, Frank seems to fall in love with her and meets with her. During one of Anna's photo shoots that Frank attends, he steals the jewelry of one of her models, Rita. Zito uses the jewelry as an excuse to visit Rita. When returning the jewelry, he manipulates the door lock. After taking a bath, he enters her apartment, ties the young woman and addresses her as his mother. Eventually he kills her. He then attends Rita's funeral with Anna.
A few days later, Frank takes Anna to his mother's grave. There he loses his nerve and tries to kill Anna. On the run, Anna injures her pursuer with a shovel. Frank staggered seriously injured and disoriented across the cemetery and had hallucinations in which his mother climbed out of her grave. Frank manages to drag himself home. In a nightmare, the mannequins come to life in his apartment and tear his body apart.
The next morning two police officers, alerted by Anna, storm Frank's apartment. They find him supposedly dead in his bed with a dagger in his stomach. After the two policemen have left the apartment, Frank opens his eyes.
Reviews
"A product of horror and violence of a primitive style that primarily relies on disgust."
The American film critic Gene Siskel stated in his television program Sneak Previews that he was so horrified and disgusted by the film that he left it prematurely.
Other reviewers rate the film more positively. Author Peter Osteried calls the film an unavoidable "classic, which has often been misunderstood due to the harsh effects [...] which takes a look into the depths of human existence."
Awards
The film was nominated in 1981 for a Saturn Award in the category “Best Low-Budget Film”.
production
With a budget of 350,000 US dollars , the film generated in the US alone a box office of about six million US dollars. The film was shot in New York from October 21, 1979 to January 18, 1980 on 16 mm film . Lead actor Joe Spinell was instrumental in the production of the script and character development.
William Lustig was inspired for the murder scenes by Dario Argentos and Mario Bava's Italian Giallos . Argento's friend Daria Nicolodi was originally intended for the female lead , who was then replaced by Caroline Munro.
The make-up effects of the film come from Tom Savini , who also played a small role in the film.
publication
Maniac premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival . In Germany the film opened in cinemas on November 14, 1980, in the USA on December 26, 1980. In Germany, the film was confiscated shortly after its release. The seizure was lifted in September 2019. De-indexing followed in December 2019, and the FSK is still pending a re-examination.
Pop Culture
The famous song Maniac by Michael Sembello was inspired by the film. The song was later rewritten and used in the 1983 soundtrack for the film Flashdance . The song received an Oscar nomination, but was disqualified for not being written specifically for Flashdance .
Remake
The French producer Franck Khalfoun shot a remake with Elijah Wood in the role of the maniac Frank Zito , which was released in German cinemas on December 27, 2012 under the title Alexandre Ajas Maniac . Like many remakes of seized horror films, this one also passed the FSK exam unscathed and was not approved for young people . As part of the stricter picture carrier test (DVDs and Blu-ray), the film did not receive an FSK seal. The Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young People (BPjM) finally announced in July 2014 that the film was indexed on List B. The unabridged version had been officially confiscated since March 2, 2015. This was lifted in February 2020.
Web links
- Maniac in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Maniac at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Comparison of the cut versions German theatrical version & arcade video - CMV-DVD , FSK 16 - Unchecked , US Director's Cut - Uncut , BBFC 18 - Unchecked by Maniac at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maniac. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Reviews of Maniac in Haiko's film lexicon ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Adam Rockoff: Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986 . Mcfarland & Co Inc 2002, ISBN 0-7864-1227-5
- ↑ Report on schnittberichte.com, accessed on September 10, 2019
- ↑ BAnz AT 09/27/2019 B6
- ↑ https://www.schnittberichte.com/news.php?ID=15477
- ↑ Interesting facts about the song Maniac
- ↑ First, bloody pics from Elijah Wood “MANIAC” remake ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Schnittberichte.com: Maniac remake uncut in German cinemas
- ↑ schnittberichte.com, accessed on February 24, 2016
- ↑ schnittberichte.com, accessed on February 20, 2020
