Maniac (1980)

Posted By: brian@brianschell.com March 3, 2022

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

There’s no mystery or suspense here, just a crazy guy on a killing spree. Maybe even more horrifying because it’s just a guy, not a literal monster or alien or anything. The gore is over the top practical effects. Joe Spinell gives a great performance. It’s unsettling to watch and overall very good.

Synopsis


A man watches through binoculars at a couple sleeping on the beach. The boyfriend gets up to get firewood, and the stalker goes over to the girl and cuts her throat. When the boyfriend returns, he gets it too. Frank Zito wakes up; it was all a dream. RIght? He’s got a bedroom full of dolls, and he touches his scars in the mirror. Credits roll.  

In downtown New York City, the prostitutes have a discussion about making rent. Frank picks up a hooker ($25 for basic; $50 for French; $75 all the way, or $100 for the Ultimate if you were curious) and goes to a cheap motel. Things are going well until he strangles her. He cries and says that he didn’t want to do that, but then he scalps her. 

We see that at home, Frank has an old mannequin that has a real scalp stuck to its head. Tonight, he brings home a new mannequin and puts the fresh scalp on it. 

Frank loads a shotgun into a violin case and goes out again. He follows a couple out to an isolated spot where they park to make out. They get in the back seat and we see Frank watching through the window. The girl spots Frank and when they start the car to leave, Frank shoots the gun with the shotgun, through the windshield, and we get to see his head explode… everywhere. 

Frank tells the mannequin that he can’t go outside for even a minute or something like that happens. He admires new mannequins in the shop window. That night, he stalks a nurse through the streets and the subway. She hides in the restroom, but Frank eventually tracks her down and gets her just when she thinks she’s escaped. 

Anna, a female photographer in the park, takes a photo of Frank, and he goes over to her house to talk about it. He takes her out on a real date. She explains that her model, Rita, is coming over later for some work, so they agree to meet again tomorrow night. 

Frank follows Rita the model home that night and gets inside her apartment. He kidnaps her and takes her home; he seems to believe that she’s his dead mother who finally came back to him. He plans on keeping her forever and ever, at least until he stabs her in the heart. 

Frank calls Anna, and they go out on a second date. On the way, they stop off at the cemetery and visit Frank’s mother’s grave. He gets upset and starts talking about Rita; Anna gets scared and runs off with Frank pursuing through the cemetery. Frank hears his mother’s voice, an audio-only flashback to when she locked him in the closet. He imagines his dead mother reaching up out of the grave and grabbing him. 

Frank goes home alone. His arm is wounded from his fight with Anna. He looks at all his bloody mannequins and watches them all come to life and pick up weapons. They tear him apart. 

The next morning, the police break down the door and find that Frank has stabbed himself and died. 

Commentary


Kevin pointed out in the scene with the nurse that it’s unlikely that the subways in NYC would ever be that deserted, even in the middle of the night. 

If the violence wasn’t enough, Frank’s inner monologues let us know what he’s thinking at all times. Unlike a lot of serial killers in film, we can see that he’s really got a sick mind, a real mental illness. He’s not exactly evil, he’s literally and obviously insane. Frank’s growling, moaning, and heavy breathing also lend support to being “inside his head.”

The gore effects are way over-the-top with this one. Supposedly, reviewer Gene Siskel walked out of the movie theater when he saw the shotgun scene. 

This was a super-influential film with its excessive violence and “sympathetic point of view” of the maniac. It holds up just fine, but many of these things have been copied or duplicated elsewhere, so it doesn’t seem like much today. A lot of the content of the film was really shocking and innovative back in the day.