'Maniac' Poster

We got a new trailer yesterday but I completely missed this new poster, which I like a lot.

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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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First 6 Minutes Elijah Wood's of 'Maniac'

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Not The Usual Wood

Elijah Wood continues to reshape his image with 'Maniac'. When the first trailer came out I thought this was hit or miss. Looked as if it could have depth or might just be high-class exploitation. That's probably because it was a green band trailer. This new edit is most definitely red band and it benefits from not trying to pretty up or tap dance around gory content. We get a clear and fairly direct eyeful -- a good thing for movies like this.

If Wood's portrayal lives up to the potential inherent in this kind of plot 'Maniac' could be an excellent character study. People will be talking about this one, however, whether it's brilliant, shocksploitation, or just lousy.

'Maniac' is one of those movies.



Here's a German cut with a bit of different footage which is very much worth a look. Have to say, this looks great dubbed in German. It feels like a Euro flick.



Here's a clip/trailer for the 1980 original by Bill Lustig. There's a savvy depth of character rendition here if you analyze how the killer operates.


























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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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Pointed Trailer for Elijah Wood's 'Maniac'

Lots of potential. If it works will be very good. If not, it'll just be trashy.



















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