Maniac
This film is no doubt destined for long life as a cult-classic viewing experience, but whether or not you need to rush to the theaters to see it depends entirely on your tastes.
InManiac(2013)we are transported into the world of Frank ( Elijah Wood ) , a very sick young man who works in his late female parent ’s store , restore older mannequins to pristine shape . Frank happen to lodge in his nights stalk and kill young women , scalping them , and using their haircloth to transform his lifeless mannequin companions into avatars of his slain dupe , who will love him flatly and eternally - just like mommy used to .
Frank ’s hellish world is turn correct - side - up with serendipitous arriver of Anna ( Nora Arnezeder ) , a fairly young lensman whose main theme song is create portraits of human race using posed mannikin as field . What start as a mutual interest in a very foreign niche Earth ( mannikin ) flush into a friendship , as Anna recruits Frank to help her stage a major gallery gap . However , Frank ’s growing attraction to Anna quickly begins to conflict with his quenchless urge to kill , and he revere that it ’s only a topic of time before dish at long last acknowledge the beast inside of him .
As a remaking of the 1980 William Lustig religious cult - classic , Maniac2013 is a sheer attempt to differentiate a slasher - horror narration from a new perspective : that of the grampus himself . Director Franck Khalfoun ( along with co - writer / manufacturer Alexandre Aja ofHigh Tensionfame ) opt for a first - person linear perspective , forcing viewers behind Frank ’s center as he stalks and viciously bump off his victim . That choice in format will be the make - or - break component when it get along to many viewers ' assessment ofManiac : for some , the impel perspective will be disorienting and sickening ; for others , it will be a pleasurably twisted experience that set this film apart from so many other similar works in the genre .
For the most part , Khalfoun does a unspoiled chore of make the world through the eyes of killer . There are enough impertinent break in the first - person POV ( like , say , when Frank is in front of a mirror ) to give the viewer sporadic substitute from the technique ; similarly , the ocular representations of Frank ’s psychosis ( strange hallucination or flashbacks , blurring core whenever one of his schizo sick headache collision ) add a prissy bit of surrealism that allows for some deeper character exploration and cinephile indulgences .
At the same prison term , the first - someone POV is a clear gimmick mean to distinguish the celluloid , and even at a lean 89 minutes , Maniacdoes begin to wear out its style . By the time Frank is on to dupe number five ( or above ) , the initial ( creepiness ? repulsion ? Disgust ? ) of being in a front - row seat of carnage and barbarism has eroded into a formulaic bit of occasional putting to death - but a fantastical surrealist ending does brings some of the machination back to the proceedings .
Visually , Khalfoun creates a impudent dual - sided man of light and dark and comes up with some cunning camera tricks that make originative use of the first - person data formatting . Other times ( like a underground " chase succession " ) the spatial distance of the camera and its discipline feel totally at odds with the logic of where Frank is remain firm or how he is moving . Jump - cuts and other redaction techniques provide more than few " deceiver . "
The script by Aja and Grégory Leasseur is moderately slender , just a series of " stamp out episodes " boast unlike distaff victim , strung loosely together by the predictable ' beauty and the wildcat ' secret plan at the center . away from a gruesome possibility successiveness , there is very little surprisal or innovation inManiac ’s story ; like watch a train shipwreck slow unfold , you eff exactly what ’s going to happen as things slip easy down the slope into chaos . All that aside , the screenwriter do carry off ( through some fundamental flashback moments ) to make Frank into a fairly likable character - only to juxtapose that sympathetic side with Frank ’s brutish and merciless nature in some cleverly - constructed ( and squirm - inducing ) kill sequences - which tend to fall in quality as the film rolls on .
The principal electric discharge between Frank and Anna is well - developed and believable , thanks primarily to Nora Arnezeder , who works well selling chemistry and charm with a photographic camera pointed straight in her face . Wood is an unnervingly perfect choice to spiel Frank , exuding that mixture of boylike sinlessness and obsess weirdness which makes him so very creepy yet not completely repulsive . If you liked him inLord of the Rings , Sin Cityor even onWilfred , you ’ll be getting that same hallmark Elijah Wood , here .
However , one definite drawback to the first - somebody position is that at times Wood ’s manic carrying out seems out of synch with the perspective of the camera , which can make the whole experience find like an episode ofMystery Science Theater . Though these metre are far and few between , they are still noticeable . The relief of the plaster cast - mostly a parade of nude or half - au naturel bit actresses - get suitable metre to ham it up it up before they ’re heart for the slaughter .
Elijah Wood as Frank in ‘Maniac’
In the end , Maniacis a sick of experiment that has the bloody fingermark of Alexandre Aja ( Mirrors , Hills Have Eyes , Piranha 3D ) all over it . It ’s best left to the hard-core repulsion elite who will apprise the unique data format of the flick , the homage to other horror ( cult-)classics ( theSilence of the LambsEaster egg is stark genius ) - and yes , the perverse and uncalled-for turns of sex and vehemence that the slasher genre is make out for .
This film is no doubt doom for long living as a fad - classic wake experience , but whether or not you need to rush to the theaters to see it depends entirely on your tastes . IfWorld War Zisn’t enough parentage to sate your horror needs , Frank ’s blade may be just the thing to rub your itching .
[ poll id=“633 " ]
Maniacis now run in theaters . It is 89 moment long , and is Unrated ( though it contains super graphical wildness as well as representative of nudeness , profanity and brief drug use ) .
Maniac is a 2013 remaking of the 1980 repugnance film of the same name star Joe Spinell . Elijah Wood replaces Spinell as Frank Zito , a sequential killer who scalp new cleaning lady and attaches the hide to form . Unlike the original celluloid , which is go under in New York , this Franck Khalfoun - directed remaking is do in Los Angeles .
Elijah Wood as Frank in ‘Maniac’
Norah Arnezeder in ‘Maniac’
