Maniac
★★
Dir. Franck Khalfoun
(2013)
William Lustieg's 1980 Argento influenced cult slasher was never a real contender of priority in the slew of remakes currently gracing our screens. Admirably, splat pack member and infant terrible Alexandre Aja delved deep in to the barrel, writing and producing this for P2 director Franck Khalfoun. After all if you're coming to the plate with a remake, make it one that no one has seen. Maniac certainly falls in to that category for many casual cinema goers; A video nasty about a serial killer and mannequin restoration artist ala Norman Bates named Frank, The original Maniac was punctuated with grizzly killings and gallons of gore. It's back with two differences: Frank is played by a turtled necked Frodo Baggins instead of an overweight italian man and the whole film is shot POV putting us right in the mind of a modern day Maniac.
Though Elijah Wood's strange looks and piercing blue eyes would have been far more useful in a horror film if we weren't constantly looking through them, Maniac certainly has its far share of the disturbing. At least on the surface. A loose back story of his abusive mother and her nightly escapades with various "suitors" messily fill in the lines for us in regard to Frank's wayward mental state. His speciality in removing the scalps of his female victims and playing a different kind of role play in his bedroom with his dolls is a creepy yet over done image but it works here for the most part.
The hook comes when a pretty photographer named Anna (played by Nora Arnezeder) with a similar visual obsession with the inanimate women in Franks world takes an interest, the killer's focus is shifted. Khalfoun stroles through the film without breaking into much of sprint but he does break the POV gimmick in some of the films most bloody moments. Though it's af if Frank is experiencing an out-of-body experience it's uncertain what he's trying to say here. In chickening out on making us sympathise with a cold-blooded killer in some gruesomely vital scenes Manic often feels a little below its killer's eye view idea of locking us in Franks head.
For most, the film will be difficult to stomach. The women who Frank stalks aren't given much of chance at all and are usually drunk, high heel teetering, whimpering messes before their bloody end. It certainly isn't Peeping Tom but Wood's killer is surprising effective off camera; His frantic voiceover is often laughable but he has enough hideous quirks to make him more interesting unseen. The lack of a strong woman in this is going to give most the willies more than the terror in Franks brain and though Anna gives Frank a run for his money in the films over-wrought finale Maniac feels like a cold technical exercise in misogyny rather than making any believable stabs at being truly chilling.
