Left severely messed in the head by his mother's questionable parenting, antique mannequin restorer Frank Zito (Elijah Wood) longs to form a loving relationship with a woman but finds his urge to brutally kill and scalp the dirty whores something of a hindrance.
Even though this remake didn't impress me to quite the degree I had hoped it would (my expectations were running EXTREMELY high; I wanted it to be flawless), I cannot help but admire all involved for taking such a gutsy approach with such an unlikely project: not only does the film turn Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) into a mentally deranged killer, but it does so with plenty of style and an eagerness to offend. Director Franck Khalfoun (P2) certainly goes all out to shock, using a POV technique that allows the viewer to 'become' the maniac (a risky move that positively invites criticism from the pro-censorship lobby) while having his star perform some unspeakably vile acts that, although unlikely to do lasting damage to Wood's career, probably won't impress the majority of his female admirers very much.
Rather unsurprisingly, my main issues with the film do not stem from the excessively brutal violence and misogyny—I actually would have liked it to have been even more mean-spirited (they should definitely have squeezed in a shotgun blast to the head to keep fans of the original happy). Where I found myself struggling the most was with Nora Arnezeder as Anna, the girl who befriends Frank, who I found to be rather irritating (she's no Caroline Munro, that's for sure!), and the clumsy handling of the scene in which Anna realises that her new friend is the killer, the girl coming to her shocking conclusion far too easily thereby robbing a pivotal moment of much of its tension.
That said, I still consider Maniac to be one of the more impressive horror remakes of the past few years, a beautifully shot, impeccably scored, and undeniably unsettling study of a deeply disturbed individual that should be welcomed by anyone who enjoys their cinema to take a few risks.
Even though this remake didn't impress me to quite the degree I had hoped it would (my expectations were running EXTREMELY high; I wanted it to be flawless), I cannot help but admire all involved for taking such a gutsy approach with such an unlikely project: not only does the film turn Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) into a mentally deranged killer, but it does so with plenty of style and an eagerness to offend. Director Franck Khalfoun (P2) certainly goes all out to shock, using a POV technique that allows the viewer to 'become' the maniac (a risky move that positively invites criticism from the pro-censorship lobby) while having his star perform some unspeakably vile acts that, although unlikely to do lasting damage to Wood's career, probably won't impress the majority of his female admirers very much.
Rather unsurprisingly, my main issues with the film do not stem from the excessively brutal violence and misogyny—I actually would have liked it to have been even more mean-spirited (they should definitely have squeezed in a shotgun blast to the head to keep fans of the original happy). Where I found myself struggling the most was with Nora Arnezeder as Anna, the girl who befriends Frank, who I found to be rather irritating (she's no Caroline Munro, that's for sure!), and the clumsy handling of the scene in which Anna realises that her new friend is the killer, the girl coming to her shocking conclusion far too easily thereby robbing a pivotal moment of much of its tension.
That said, I still consider Maniac to be one of the more impressive horror remakes of the past few years, a beautifully shot, impeccably scored, and undeniably unsettling study of a deeply disturbed individual that should be welcomed by anyone who enjoys their cinema to take a few risks.