I love this movie so much

Memorable, crazy movie

Great Film overall

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Joe Spinell plays the great part of Frank Zito. In this movie we witness his blatant delusions and hallucinations and inner conflict with severe mental illness. He had a very traumatizing childhood and now enacts his revenge against any random person it seems. He prawls the gritty steets of 1970's New York and finds his victim for the night and his rush is getting the kill. Quite a timeless movie and concept, done exceptionally well by Lustig and Spinell.

This sick quickie earned its notoriety thanks to its high gore content, taking bloody special effects to a new sickening level of realism thanks to the work of master craftsman Tom Savini. Other than the gore, it's a grim, on-the-street style film, brought to gritty life by director William Lustig (a major film fan himself). It often recalls other films like TAXI DRIVER (a film in which Spinell had a bit part) in its depiction of a New York filled with litter, sleaze and low-lives and it has to be said that this is a depressing, non-entertaining ride through some of the lowest quarters imaginable.The plot is routine, a series of murders as in a slasher film, interspersed with disturbing moments inside Frank Zito's flat, where he talks to his dead mother and imagines that the mannequins around him are real people. It certainly is a sick film, one for those with strong stomachs only; Savini outdoes himself with the gore here, from graphic impalings to throat slashings, garrottings and stabbings. The film is also notorious for a head explosion by shotgun blast (Savini contrived to pull the trigger and shoot himself, in a small role as Disco Boy) which is more graphic than the one in SCANNERS! Yet the worst bits are the scalpings, played out in excruciating slow motion, as we get to see every detail as Zito slices the hair off his victims with a straight razor. Spinell sweats and grimaces as the disturbed psychopath, haunted by memories of childhood torture at the hands of his mother. Yet he also provokes pathos thanks to his plight, and you end up feeling sorry for this monster despite the horrendous acts he commits. Although Spinell starred in many productions this will forever be remembered as his most defining moment. The only other star name is glamour queen Caroline Munro (who re-teams with Spinell after Italian sci-fi epic STARCRASH). Munro isn't much of an actress but she is pretty, so her relationship with Spinell is the result of a bit of artistic license, I think. The film is full of tension and suspense, with the highlight being the lengthy stalking of a nurse, which literally had me on the edge of my seat throughout; fingernail-biting stuff. Things are definitely weird at the finale, where there's a scare copied from CARRIE and a final mutilation which looks to have been copied in DAY OF THE DEAD.

This low budget romp through the American nightmare is not really a slasher film, though it does see a maniac running around murdering people for no apparent, or perhaps that should be no rational, motive. This guy is eclectic if nothing else: he murders men as well as women, and he uses both weapons and his hands. "Maniac" is set in New York, and as crime buffs may know, a few years earlier a bloke name Berkowitz was running around doing essentially the same thing, though the Son of Sam was positively normal compared with this guy. So what is his problem?It appears to be something to do with his late mother, that and the fact that eventually he attacks the wrong damsel, who gives as good as she gets and then some. It is likely this film was intended as a quasi-serious exploration of madness, but with gore for the sake of it and absent a proper plot, it is nothing more nor less than yet more outpourings of a sick mind, most probably that of its New York born director William Lustig.

Maniac, for me, is an illustration of why it's probably a bad idea to make decisions about movie purchases near the end of an all-nighter. Using part of a modest inheritance, I've bought more than a 100 Blu-rays from Amazon in the last 3 months.These films fall into all categories, from historical epics to sci-fi and horror. Recently retired, it's nice to be able to take the time to really enjoy being a movie addict. But the putrid, mostly plot less Maniac is easily the lowest bottom feeder that I've wasted my time on, over those last 3 months. The writer of the 1st user review on this site mentioned not having seen Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer, but hearing that it and Maniac had much in common. Let's clear up that nonsense right now. The only thing that the 2 films have in common is that they both feature characters who commit multiple murders. Martin Scorsese praised the skill with which "Henry" was made, calling it the best first film by a director that he had seen in 10 years. Rest assured that Mr Scorsese would have the opposite sort of opinion regarding Maniac, but fortunately he is not likely to waste his time on such pathetic, poorly made, garbage. BTW, gore does not phase me, but what is even more gross than the bloodletting in Maniac, is the film's gross stupidity. On the other hand, because it's made with such skill, the equally low budget "Henry" is far more chilling and unnerving than anything that transpires in Maniac. Maniac is basically for those who get their jollies watching a knife slowly cutting across a victim's forehead as the film's killer scalps a woman. I would not be at all surprised to learn that those who truly enjoy Maniac have some homicidal tendencies of their own. It's also not surprising to learn that Maniac's star, Joe Spinell, is known to have done a lot of drinking & drugging prior to acting in the film. That may provide some explanation (if no good excuse) for how someone can go from the heights of the first 2 Godfather films to the bottom level of putrid crap that is exemplified by Maniac. On one of the extra features that accompanies Maniac, on Blu-ray, it's mentioned that director William Lustig was trying to create something in the vein of the original "Halloween". Well, sorry Bill, unfortunately, your effort only ended up yielding one of the ultimate examples of "Crapping on the bed".