Post by Heineken Skywalker on May 21, 2006 12:00:25 GMT -5
A few months ago, I took some lumps on this site for not recognizing the name, William Lustig. He's a cult idol, he directed and/or produced some cult classics, he started a video company, etc., etc.
Bam, bam, bam, the hits kept coming.
So, when I found out that IFC would be showing the "cult classic" horror/slasher MANIAC, directed by Lustig, there was no way I was gonna miss it. Gotta see what all the hoopla is about, right?
All I can say is, "Wow, was that craptacular!". So, this is what it's like for a movie to be essentially plot-free, huh?
Joe Spinell (THE GODFATHER, ROCKY) plays a loser with "mommy issues" (Think an overweight Norman Bates with bad skin) who kills girls, and nails their scalps to mannequins. Over and over and over again. After about 35 minutes or so of this, I'm wondering, "So, when's the actual "plot" of this movie gonna kick in? It can't be just this, can it?". But, that's all there really is. At one point he meets the "way too attractive to be interested in this ugly weirdo", Caroline Munro, and I started thinking, okay, maybe this is going to become like a slasher version of TAXI DRIVER.
But no, he tries to kill her too, she escapes, and we never see her character again.
Besides the movie having no plot, there is just some lazy moviemaking, goofy shit going on. Near the end of the movie, he invites Munro to dinner, but wants to first visit his mother's grave and she agrees. Dinner is usually at about what time, folks? 6pm or so, right? We see them driving through the city and it's still daylight. Cut to the next scene, they're now at the cemetary and it's pitch-black out and there's fog everywhere. Did they go to a cemetary in London? At midnight?? Did this guy have really super-late dinner reservations?
Another scene finds a nurse being stalked by him in the subway. And though they're supposed to be completely alone, so that she is truly helpless, in one scene you can clearly see other people milling around. Couldn't she have just yelled, "Hey, there's some MANIAC stalking me, so even if none of you will physically confront him, can you at least stand around and watch so you can describe him to the cops later??". No, this genius runs to the most secluded area, the bathroom, so she can get herself all murdered. I'm guessing that we, the audience, weren't supposed to see those other people, but I don't know how we could miss them. Like I said, lazy filmmaking.
The movie thinks it's being deep by featuring several inner monologues within the main character's head, but they don't really add anything to the story and just end up being ramblings.
The ending even features the old horror movie cliche and reliable stand-by of, just when you think the killer is dead, he opens his eyes one-more-time!
It's not neccesarily my thing, I like some semblance of plot with my slashers which is probably why I don't watch too many of them, but gorehounds will love all the splatter effects in this flick. Even make-up genius Tom Savini shows up for one scene and gets his head gloriously blown-off.
Even though my first experience with Lustig's films, was a less-than-thrilling one, that's not to say I won't ever watch another one of his films. If MANIAC COP, for instance, ever airs on IFC, I'll check it out, but I'm probably not going to go out of my way to rent it or anything like that.
As for MANIAC itself, once was way more than enough.
1/10
Bam, bam, bam, the hits kept coming.
So, when I found out that IFC would be showing the "cult classic" horror/slasher MANIAC, directed by Lustig, there was no way I was gonna miss it. Gotta see what all the hoopla is about, right?
All I can say is, "Wow, was that craptacular!". So, this is what it's like for a movie to be essentially plot-free, huh?
Joe Spinell (THE GODFATHER, ROCKY) plays a loser with "mommy issues" (Think an overweight Norman Bates with bad skin) who kills girls, and nails their scalps to mannequins. Over and over and over again. After about 35 minutes or so of this, I'm wondering, "So, when's the actual "plot" of this movie gonna kick in? It can't be just this, can it?". But, that's all there really is. At one point he meets the "way too attractive to be interested in this ugly weirdo", Caroline Munro, and I started thinking, okay, maybe this is going to become like a slasher version of TAXI DRIVER.
But no, he tries to kill her too, she escapes, and we never see her character again.
Besides the movie having no plot, there is just some lazy moviemaking, goofy shit going on. Near the end of the movie, he invites Munro to dinner, but wants to first visit his mother's grave and she agrees. Dinner is usually at about what time, folks? 6pm or so, right? We see them driving through the city and it's still daylight. Cut to the next scene, they're now at the cemetary and it's pitch-black out and there's fog everywhere. Did they go to a cemetary in London? At midnight?? Did this guy have really super-late dinner reservations?
Another scene finds a nurse being stalked by him in the subway. And though they're supposed to be completely alone, so that she is truly helpless, in one scene you can clearly see other people milling around. Couldn't she have just yelled, "Hey, there's some MANIAC stalking me, so even if none of you will physically confront him, can you at least stand around and watch so you can describe him to the cops later??". No, this genius runs to the most secluded area, the bathroom, so she can get herself all murdered. I'm guessing that we, the audience, weren't supposed to see those other people, but I don't know how we could miss them. Like I said, lazy filmmaking.
The movie thinks it's being deep by featuring several inner monologues within the main character's head, but they don't really add anything to the story and just end up being ramblings.
The ending even features the old horror movie cliche and reliable stand-by of, just when you think the killer is dead, he opens his eyes one-more-time!
It's not neccesarily my thing, I like some semblance of plot with my slashers which is probably why I don't watch too many of them, but gorehounds will love all the splatter effects in this flick. Even make-up genius Tom Savini shows up for one scene and gets his head gloriously blown-off.
Even though my first experience with Lustig's films, was a less-than-thrilling one, that's not to say I won't ever watch another one of his films. If MANIAC COP, for instance, ever airs on IFC, I'll check it out, but I'm probably not going to go out of my way to rent it or anything like that.
As for MANIAC itself, once was way more than enough.
1/10
