Review of Maniac (2012) by Justin A — 09 Oct 2014

Surprisingly good. I haven't seen the original Maniac in a long time, so I may have missed some of the connections (I did notice the nod to the original poster though), but even so it seems like this remake has a bit more "plot" than the original had. It did seem to capture the depraved feeling that the original had. So those who were wary of this remake may be surprised that it's not really that bad.

The POV style got kind of old, but fortunately there were enough times when the camera would pull out. It worked for a while, but it was basically the same thing happening over and over.

Elijah Wood wasn't bad in the lead. He's pretty convincing as mentally unstable. The "love" story is a bit forced, but it probably felt necessary or the entire movie would have just been Elijah Wood stalking women.

It's also pretty gory, so I'm sure some gorehounds will enjoy it for that aspect. It's worth checking out, even those who hated the idea of this remake and love the original. It's really not that bad and actually pretty good.