Maniac 1980/Comments
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
- Co-written by star Joe Spinell (Rocky, Taxi Driver), Maniac is an early 80's Grindhouse classic with loads of over the top gore by legendary special effect artist Tom Savini. Joe Spinell plays the psycho, Frank Zito, quite well. No matter how many times I see Maniac, Joe Spinell's character always makes me feel very uneasy. While watching the film, I can't help but feel that the movie was inspired somewhat by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, because the main character definitely has mother issues. The best part of the movie is where you see Tom Savini getting blown away by Frank Zito with a shotgun and you can see why he is the king of special effects in the business. You can also see that William Lustig was going for that gritty look of the street, which I think he did very well. --Me
