Review of Maniac (2012) by Hani H — 27 Aug 2014

The newly updated take on the William Lustig cult classic "Maniac" is a darkly disturbing film that actually improves on the original even though it remains fairly shallow.

Elijah Wood shocked everyone when he took on this lead role, but it's as an effective game changer for an actor's career that I've ever seen. It's a creepy, shocking performance made even more effective through the use of mostly point-of-view camera work. After the largely forgettable "P2", director Franc Khalfoun finally makes a name for himself with this, a film that is relentlessly gruesome but nevertheless works because of the dreamy atmosphere it submerges the audience in. A lot of this you won't want to watch, but in the same respect, you'll be helpless to turn away.

Credit must also be given to the French composer by the name of Robin Coudert for this haunting score that accentuates every scene. I only wish the film had given us more insight into Wood's depraved character. It delves in deeper than the Lustig film, but this should have taken the chance to delve into his background even more. The details of his mother's promiscuity and what it does to his fragile child's psyche is sketchy at best.

The brutality is something we haven't seen in a long time outside of the "Saw" franchise, but because of the film's realism and the strength of the lead performance, the violence feels so much more real here. Remake or not, "Maniac" is the first horror film in a long time to make me sit up and take notice. It's disturbing on so many levels.