Director - Franck Khalfoun
Starring - Elijah Wood and Nora Arnezeder
Release Date - 2012
Genre - Horror/Serial Killer
Tagline - "I warned you not to go out tonight."
Format - Movies On Demand
Well I must say going into the Maniac remake I was nothing short of being totally disappointed with the casting in the film. I am no hater of remakes more of a hater of remake haters if that makes sense. My opinion is view every film with an open mind and besides Hollywood has remade ideas and films since the silent era so in my personal opinion it's very cliché to hate on them just for being remakes. I mean I love the original Willard but it's remake was much, much better in every way. But I digress...Maniac (1980) is one of my all time favorite films. Joe Spinell's performance in that film was outstanding to say the least. It was this fact that I could not see Elijah Wood starring in a role that number one was so well done and let's face it Elijah's role as the cannibal boy in Sin City doesn't exactly classify him as being able to pull off crazy. Well I was wrong, and hallelujah for that. Elijah Wood not only pulled it off he nailed it. I've liked everything I've ever seen him in and was so concerned my respect for his acting ability would be slighted. I was very happy to be proved wrong. Every scene which was shot pov style or first person if you will was just magic. His facial expressions, eyes especially, the way he carried himself, all just done in a completely different manner than Maniac (1980) but perfect for a new approach to the same idea. Alexandre Aja did the screenplay for this the director of such films as the Hills Have Eyes Remake, Mirrors, and Haute Tension and the dialogue especially during the moments when the protagonist is talking to himself are very real. The big part I liked about the film were all the shots created by Maxime Alexandre who was the cinematographer for all of the above mentioned Aja films. Franck Khalfoun directed this little gem who did the film P2 which wasn't amazing by any means but not all that bad either. In my opinion at least he definitely learned a thing or two since then.
The film centers around Frank a mild mannered psychopath who by day restores his family's mannequin business specializing in antique mannequins and by night stalks the streets looking for caucasian women from the ages of 20 to 30 to add to his body count. Frank talks to these women in his head after death and himself sometimes to the point of screaming and yelling. Frank scalps his victims and adds them to a very private collection of mannequins. It appears as though young Frank is trying in every way to be normal but there's something or someone in his head that just can't let it happen for him. Then he meets Anna (Nora Arnezeder) the perfect woman, an artist like himself who flirts with Frank and does a little business with Frank using his mannequins as props for her photography career. Well soon enough Anna's agent disappears and from there more insanity is drawn out from Frank until the film's gory ending. Maniac is a thrill ride through the mind of a psycho and it just gets crazier as the film progresses. And now for the bad which is what stopped me from giving this a 5 out of 5 rating. The special effects are terrible. Some of the worst cgi I have ever seen and almost stopped me not even ten minutes in but I kept going out of respect for Aja to be honest. Not all of it is terrible but the grand majority almost every kill looks like a video game to be blunt about it. I am not a hater of cgi however I would rather see bad effects of any other kind than bad cgi. The ending sequence was pretty good with the gore effects but the kills previous to that just didn't do it for me.
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