Maniac (1980)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1980
	Director: William Lustig (Maniac Cop 1-3)
	Actors: Joe Spinell (Starcrash, Stay Hungry), Caroline Munro (Starcrash, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad), Abigail Clayton, Tom Savini (From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 26.03.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: A deranged serial killer (Spinell) mutilates couples and single women.
Review: Another example of cheap 70's-80's horror movie that became cult, like The Last House on the Left, I Spit on your Grave. As for the other two, a remake has been recently made for this one, so I wanted to see the original before seeing the remake at the BIFFF2013. The Blu-ray edition I bought was the very first release from the american editor Blue Underground, owned by William Lustig, director of this Maniac. So you can imagine he did all he could to restore his baby, and the movie is accompanied with a second disk filled with bonuses, from making-of to heritage featurettes. However, I had to boost the image contrast of my projector to get good dark levels which were by default too bright. Once this done, I could better appreciate the colors of the movie in spite of the quite low definition, probably due to the quality of the film used in 1980. Note that the same editor released the beautiful version of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, hard to find, and Inferno, both from Dario Argento. Unlike in some other serial killer (Summer of Sam) or slasher (Friday 13th) movies, in Maniac we constantly follow the killer, and try to undersand from his actions what goes on in his head. Often he is a deranged cold-blooded killer but sometimes he can converse with women like a perfect gentleman. This is maybe what is scary about him. This and the disturbing face of Joe Spinell, especially when he is enraged and sweating. His appartment (in which we spend a good part of the movie) is also disturbing as it is filled with dolls, masks, candles and torn posters of women. The killing scenes are varied (strangulation, shotgun, knife) and very brutal. It is funny to see the master of special effects Tom Savini in a small role. Another good idea it that we often hear the breathing of the killer when the camera is subjective, which helps increase the tension. But then the movie is clearly cheap, uneven and sometimes too slow, so I would recommend it only for fans of horror and cult movies. During the movie one can hear an unknown and I found very good disco song: Going to a Showdown by Don armando's second Avenue Rumba Band.
Rating: 6 /10