Susan Granger’s review of “Maniac” (IFC Midnight)
Slasher films have gotten more grisly, grimy and gruesome– but few earn the three R’s: repulsive,
repugnant and rank.
In this remake of a 1980 film by the same name, diminutive Elijah Wood takes the role of psychopathic serial killer, Frank Zito, who systematically stalks his prey: Caucasian women
between the ages of 20 and 30. He scalps them and then affixes their hair to his collection of mannequins. One morning, when he’s opening the mannequin store in downtown Los Angeles that he inherited from his deceased mother, he discovers Anna (French actress Nora Arnezeder), a photographer taking pictures of his window display. She’s staging an exhibit and wants to borrow some of the antique mannequins that he’s meticulously restored. As they work together, virginal Frank falls in love with Anna but discovers she has a boyfriend, Jason. He also meets Anna’s mentor, Rita, an older woman who mocks and teases him, accusing him of being homosexual. Eventually, it becomes obvious that Frank’s twisted childhood memories of his prostitute mother turning tricks has totally unhinged him. Even his ‘migraine headache’ meds cannot control his homicidal urges.
Working from a screenplay by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, it’s directed by Franck
Khalfoun, capitalizing on the twist that almost the entire story is shown from the murderer’s point-of-view. Each slaughter is graphically depicted in all its ghoulish horror. At first, it’s a curious, technical gimmick but the voyeuristic visuals soon grow stale, despite the efforts of stylish cinematographer Maxime Alexandre, the repeated use of unconventional reflections and the synthesizer score.
Based on information from Khalfoun’s filmography, he previously worked as an actor in
co-scriptwriter/producer Alexandre Aja’s 2005 French horror movie “High Tension.” At a screening in Los Angeles, Khalfoun allegedly said that he considered it a compliment when viewers vomited and fainted, stating that his objective was creating nauseating fear.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Maniac” is an atrocious, sadistic, misogynistic 1. Consider it safe to say that Elijah Wood has left Frodo and “Lord of the Rings” far behind.
