Maniac (1980 film)
| Maniac | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | William Lustig |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Jay Chattaway |
| Cinematography | Robert Lindsay |
| Edited by | Lorenzo Marinelli |
|
Production
company |
Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.
|
| Distributed by | Analysis Film Releasing Corporation |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $350,000 |
| Box office | $10 million |
Maniac is a 1980 American psychological slasher film directed by William Lustig and written by Joe Spinell and C. A. Rosenberg. The plot focuses on a disturbed and traumatized serial killer who scalps his victims. Spinell also developed the story and stars as the lead character.
With a minuscule budget, many scenes in the film were shot guerrilla style. Originally considered an exploitation film, Maniac has since attained a cult following despite receiving mixed reviews and released in limited theaters by Analysis Film Releasing Corp. The film was remade in 2012 by director Franck Khalfoun and produced by Alexandre Aja, starring Elijah Wood in the lead role.
Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) is a deranged man that due to his suffering from his abusive mother when he was a child, he becomes a serial killer that murders young women and scalps them to add towards his mannequin collection. After he awakens in his bed and screams and cries from having a nightmare about killing a couple on a beach, he dresses himself and leaves his resided one-room apartment - consisted of paintings, a framed picture of his mother, and a collection of mannequins - towards downtown Manhattan. When Frank is randomly invited inside a hotel by a prostitute (Rita Montone), she kisses with him before he abruptly strangles the woman, then scalps her with a utility razor while on a range of disturbance. He then returns home and adds the hooker to his mannequin collection by placing her clothing and nailing the scalp onto the mannequin; he tells himself in his mind that beauty is a crime punishable by death.
Sometime later, he dresses again and takes a collection of weaponry with him, including a double-barreled shotgun, before leaving. He drives around Brooklyn and the Queens area, where he finds a couple exiting a local disco and parking near the side of the Verrazano Bridge. When the boyfriend (Tom Savini) starts up the vehicle after his date sees Frank spying on them, Frank kills the couple with his shotgun and then adds the murdered woman to his mannequin collection back at his apartment. After seeing his recent crime committed on television, he begins to talk to himself and the mannequins and sobs himself to sleep.
...
Wikipedia