Maniac (2012)

If you've never seen the original Maniac, you really should.  It inspired Michael Sembello to write the song "Maniac" which Flashdance made famous (obviously the lyrics have little to do with the horror movie).  The plot of the original and remake are essentially the same.  The difference is in the execution.  The original is gritty.  It feels dirty and greasy and wrong.  The remake is arty and even kinda pretty.  The same could be said of the leads: Joe Spinell in the original and Elijah Wood in the remake.

On the left, dirty and greasy and wrong.  On the right, arty and even kinda pretty.

The plot(s) are about a serial killer named Frank who scalps young women and uses the hair to top a growing collection of mannequins.  The mannequins serve as temporary surrogates for the man's prostitute mother.  After meeting a young woman named Anna (who Frank begins to fall for), Frank's schizophrenia begins to get worse.  Each version ends in a slightly different but similarly bizarre finale.

Enough about the original Maniac though.  It's an incredible example of crazy/sleezy New York exploitation cinema.  The remake, however, tries to be something else entirely.  That something else hinges on a gimmick: the entire movie is from Frank's point of view.  The camera is literally Frank's eyes and the audience only sees Frank in occasional reflections.  This is not the first movie to try this.  Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void (which is streaming on Netflix!) did it back in 2009.  It should be said that while Enter the Void is an amazing film, it is also not for the feint of heart or weak of stomach.  Maniac is fairly tame by modern horror standards.  This is weird being that the movie was never submitted to the MPAA.  This movie would easily score an R-rating.  The movie has plenty of bloody scalpings and a couple nude scenes but don't be fooled by its "unrated" status.  It's not a very hardcore movie.

My biggest complaints is the sound design.  Every knife cut sounds intensely wet.  It's as if the foley artists (the guys who create sounds effects for movies) only had a tub of pudding and a guy who eats with his mouth open at their disposal.  The result is a movie wherein I see killings and mutilations but all I hear are slurps and splats.

The thing that didn't offend my ears was the score.  It's gloomy and electronic and perfect.  It reminded me of a new score that was composed for Tod Browning's silent horror classic The Unknown (which is also streaming online here).  I loved the music.  It creates a flawless, creepy ambience for the story to play against.

The remake of Maniac isn't going to supplant the original as a classic of horror.  It is worth a watch, and it's especially nice to have good new horror movies out in time for Halloween.  But please, please, please watch the original.  Depending on your level of squeamishness, you'll thank me or hate me later for it.

7 out of 10