Good Reviews for 'Maniac'

Flirts with cheesy, hints at depth.

However, if 'Maniac' were cheesy it would be slashploitation of the worst kind. So, considering Elijah Wood decided to portray a knife-wielding killer and director Franck Khalfoun saw something worthwhile in William Lustig's 1980 original (Khalfoun could easily have made a cheesy B slasher without referencing a source) it seems within the realm of possibility 'Maniac' has a spine with a protagonist who has layers.

They don't come along often. 'Maniac' may be the rare exception.























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(New?) Trailer for Elijah Wood's 'Maniac'

We got a trailer about a week ago but it's since disappeared. Here's another which seems more intense but I'm not sure I remember -- could be the same one. At any rate, as I thought when I saw the first trailer, this movie could be either an excellent psychological examination or just a cheap gory thriller.

However, while director Franck Khalfoun cut his teeth on 'P2' and 'Wrong Turn at Tahoe', the writing team of Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur, whose 'High Tension' (Haute Tension) I was impressed with, are reason to hope 'Maniac' is more than just another splatter flick.

Of course, the involvement of Elijah Wood is a good sign. The guy has good script sense and has taken risks in his stage work.



Based on the 1980 movie of the same name directed by William Lustig, which was totally B-slasher but had good story elements and, attempted at least, to create a character of some emotional complexity. There's potential here and I can understand why a remake would seem like a good idea.

Really, there's a subtlety and depth to Lustig's work. Using simple methods he created a disturbing bad guy. Why, for instance (in the trailer below), does the killer (pretend to) leave the bathroom when it's clear his quarry is in the next stall? So she'll think she's safe. He likes it that way. Not the kind of thing you see in movies anymore -- very 60s, 70s.

Strangely, as low-budget as Lustig's 'Maniac' was it had a spine and I'm looking forward to the remake. Here's a trailer (epic at 3:50) for the original.

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