Maniac

If an incredibly creepy guy scalping women to dress his mannequin's is your sort of bag... then Maniac is the movie for you!

I saw a trailer for this movie a while back and was really excited about a horror movie starring Frodo Baggins.  Elijah Wood is a great actor and I knew he would be perfect for a "creepy" role with his unique voice, pale skin, thin physique and evil blue eyes!

Pretty much the entire movie is filmed through his character's (Frank) eyes which I've seen in bits and pieces in other movies but never the entire thing.  Although you would imagine it to be quite a restrictive technique, Maniac pulls it off really well to create the "Inside the Killers Head" vibe with little frustration.  In fact there are some fantastic scenes when Frank is stalking his victims where the technique really adds a whole extra level of tension - for me these are the highlight of the movie.

Another highlight is the sound and score.  It has a very 80's feel to it with great use of dark synth creating a constant feeling of despair and familiarity with the older style horrors.  The sound has been cleverly muffled and altered to further pull the viewer into Franks migraine plagued head.  Speaking of migraine's - use of some great high pitched wails felt like I was suffering the migraine with him.

I didn't realise until now that this is a re-make of an 80's slasher film of the same name.  I have not seen the original so cannot draw any comparisons there.  I would like to see the original "Frank" though to compare with Woods' performance.  I doubt he came close though as Elijah Wood is really, really good.  You can't fault him at all.   It almost acts as a negative for the 'through his own eyes' technique as you want to see more of his face and emotions. Luckily there's enough mirror shots and pan arounds which provide a view of his horrifically scary expressions.  *Shudder* creepy... Maniac really is the perfect title.

Be warned though the movie is very violent and there are a few stomach churning moments along the way.  It's not a constant feature though and a lot of the time we are just enjoying the secret life of Creepy McManiac and the super awkward social interactions both with him and his imaginary friends.  Again....*shudder*.

To be honest I still don't know what to feel about it all.  I think as a portrayal of a maniac I would give the movie 10/10 but I rate more on enjoyment and was left a bit weirded out by the end.  Don't think I'll be watching it again but horror lovers definitely give it a go at least once.  Full credit to them, just not my mannequin.

6/10

IMDB Info