Maniac
Short description
Frank Zito is a deeply disturbed man living in New York City, where he stalks and kills young women. He keeps their scalps as trophies, nailing them to the mannequins that fill his rundown apartment, and the abuse he suffered at his mother's hands during childhood drives the violence. His life of isolation changes when he meets Anna D'Antoni, a photographer who forms a tentative friendship with him, though the killings continue and his grip on reality keeps slipping.
The film is a horror picture directed by William Lustig, the first feature in a directing career that later included Vigilante, Maniac Cop and its two sequels, Relentless and Uncle Sam. Joe Spinell, who co-wrote the screenplay with C.A. Rosenberg, plays Frank; Caroline Munro plays Anna, with Abigail Clayton, Denise Spagnuolo, Billy Spagnuolo and Kelly Piper among the credited cast. Lustig and Andrew W. Garroni produced.
Maniac was released in November 1980 and took about 6 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for a low-budget horror film. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from roughly 22,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.4 out of 10 from around 511 votes, indicating a modest but persistent following. A critics' rating of 5.2 out of 10 from 22 reviews places it below the audience scores, suggesting reviewers were less receptive than genre viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- A week after filming the murder of a prostitute in a hotel, a real murder occurred in the same room, with a prostitute as the victim.
- According to director William Lustig and the screenwriter, who also played the lead role of Joe Spinell, the film's creators did not always have permission to film locations in New York. Some scenes had to be shot quickly and the crew had to flee the scene before the police arrived.
- Porn actresses were used in the roles of victims and in some minor roles, such as Abigail Clayton. They were chosen specifically to reduce the film's production costs.
- Special effects artist Tom Savini used the same mannequin in the exploding head scene that had been repeatedly used in George A. Romero's horror film *Dawn of the Dead* (1978). Savini called this mannequin Boris. After filming, Boris was so saturated with fake blood and smeared with fake innards that it was decided to "retire" him – that is, lock him in the trunk of a car (which was a car from the shotgun scene) and sink the car in a river.
- The film ends with a shot of a headless corpse. This is the body of Jason’s mother (played by Betsy Palmer) from Sean S. Cunningham's 1980 horror film *Friday the 13th*. Some footage was borrowed from Dario Argento’s horror film *Inferno* (1979).
- The film's original budget was $48,000, with $6,000 provided by Joe Spinell (he had received $10,000 for recent work in William Friedkin's thriller *Cruising* in 1980), $12,000 borrowed from producer Andrew W. Garroni, and the remainder ($30,000) from director William Lustig (money earned from adult films). All three invested this money in shares, and during filming, their combined contribution increased in value to $135,000. The rest (about $200,000, bringing the total enough to complete filming) was provided by British producer Judd Hamilton, who in return demanded that his then-wife, Caroline Munro, be cast in the film (she subsequently played Anna D’Antoni).
- While filming *Maniac*, Joe Spinell was simultaneously filming, among other projects, the action film *Nighthawks* (1981) by Bruce Malmuth and Gary Nelson, work on which had begun even before filming with William Lustig was finished. For *Nighthawks*, Spinell played a high-ranking New York City police officer, for which he got a short haircut and shaved off his mustache. Therefore, for filming some scenes of *Maniac*, the actor had to wear a wig and fake mustache.
- Joe Spinell was serious about making a sequel to this film with director Buddy Giovinazzo. They even shot a 10-minute reel called "Mr. Robbie." Several years later, funding issues were resolved, and the project was close to entering pre-production, but in 1989, Spinell unexpectedly passed away, and the sequel was never made.
- The scene where Tom Savini's character is killed had to be filmed in one take, so Savini decided he would pull the trigger himself. The actor later admitted that shooting a mannequin with his own face was rather strange.
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