Horror

Maniac

Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.

MPO Videotronics

United States of America

English

Joe Spinell

Caroline Munro

Abigail Clayton

Nelia Bacmeister

Denise Spagnuolo

Billy Spagnuolo

Kelly Piper

Sharon Mitchell

Rita Montone

Hyla Marrow

Tom Savini

Linda Lee Walter

James Brewster

Tracie Evans

Carol Henry

Louis Jawitz

Candace Clements

Diane Spagnuolo

Kim Hudson

Terry Gagnon

Joan Baldwin

Jeni Paz

Janelle Winston

Randy Jurgensen

Jimmy Aurichio

Frank Pesce

Andrew W. Garroni

Taso N. Stavrakis

William Lustig

Jay Chattaway

Judd Hamilton

Robert K. Feldmann

Steven Hirsch

Rick Dior

Stephen Andrew

William Adams III

Kevin Jones

George Schowerer

Jim Canatta

Bobbi Leigh Zito

Rob Bottin

Luke Walter

Janine Stover

Edward Perchaluk

Deborah Ledendecker

Jim Harte

Jason Lustig

Arthur Blum

Janie Heath

Cecilia Verardi

Laura Little

Jerry Sykes

Christine Forrest

C.A. Rosenberg

Marla Schweppe

Nick Ward

Thomas Costabile

Sanford Rackow

Irving Rathner

Gary Rich

Erno Sephy

John Packard

Robert Lindsay

Gary Martin

Richard Behrens

Clinton C. Elliot

Larry Marinelli

James Proser

Rod Schumacher

Debi Zimmerman

Gasper Damanti

Dan Sanberg

Michael Zilkha

Andrew Drapkin

Bill Tayman

Andrew Intrater

**_Joe Spinell as a fudged-up murderer in New York City_**

“Psycho” started a subgenre of films about mentally messed up people who go on killing sprees. For instance, the ’70s brought us movies like “Haunts,” “The Toolbox Murders,” “The Driller Killer” and “Don’t Go in the House.” “Maniac” comes in the tradition of these flicks while adding bits from the Dirty Harry franchise, “Dawn of the Dead” and “The Warriors.”

It’s gritty in its depiction of the sometimes repugnant underbelly of the city, but IMHO focuses too much on the killer stalking his victims, particularly, the nurse in the subway and, later, the model in her apartment. These sequences are tedious, and I found my mind wandering. The 2012 remake with Elijah Wood in Spinell’s role transplants the events to Los Angeles and is way more creative with interesting psychological elaboration. It's also more hypnotic and you find yourself developing sympathy for the nutjob, unlike here.

Notables on the feminine front include Rita Montone (hooker), Caroline Munro (Anna) and Gail Lawrence (Rita)

It runs 1 hour, 27 minutes; and was shot in The Big Apple in the last three months of 1979 along with the first couple of weeks of January, 1980.

GRADE: C+/B-

Restored Trailer

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Maniac

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Joe Spinell

Caroline Munro

Abigail Clayton

Nelia Bacmeister

Denise Spagnuolo

Billy Spagnuolo

Kelly Piper

Sharon Mitchell

Rita Montone

Hyla Marrow

Box office

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