[sral]

Maniac

It's only like 2 and a half minutes in and two people have been killed already on a beach. One with a cut throat razor to the neck, the other garrotted from behind. I like this shit. Way better than the remake (which I'd seen previous to this one tbc).

The leads face as he kills looks really menacing, wild-eyed and sweating profusely, it's really believable due to Savinis work. The scalping too in the original looks better than the remake IMHO - despite it's age.

The leads schizo qualities where he's talking to himself and dressing up the mannequins with the scalped wigs is haunting too. Very odd yet it definitely adds to the movie here, as you seem to see inside the killers mind. Another great thing here is the POV shots from the killers eye, him following in the car early on is a nice touch - they obv picked up on that in the female where you see the entire thing from that perspective. It's used to great effect in this one too.

There's a great scene around the half an hour mark where a guy gets his melon split open via a close range shotgun blast through a car windscreen. I can def see why this ultra violence had it on the BBFCs banned list all those years ago - especially given the hype around the video nasties of the era and outcry surrounding certain films. Is it disturbing? I guess the concept of the film portraying the serial killers mind and actions is disturbing, sure, but the movie isn't that bad or graphic compared to what we have now. I quite like the fact it's not as over the top in that sense, the film is more about the Frank Zito character and what makes him tick rather than senseless brutality and non-stop violence. That's what makes it interesting. He plays the character so well he makes him believable. More so than I found with Elijah Wood in the remake.

There's the obligatory cliche chase through a Cemetary which is wack but I looked past it, you get a hint at the killers troubled past through child abuse but then one of the strangest, unforgettable death scenes you'll see as a room full of mannequins come alive, stab the serial killer and cut off his arm before decapitating his head from his body with their bare hands. Only it doesn't end there... (as I'm sure the remake does, and this one quite possibly could have done) it turns out that the mannequin death scene had been in the killers dreams! He is on his bed with a long knife embedded in his stomach, eyes shut, blood soaked sheets etc

Two police officers enter his room, seemingly as if they've solved the recent spate of killings and located the guy responsible. Seeing him lay on the bed pooled in his own blood and knifed in the gut, they presume he's dead, and go to search his apartment for clues/more bodies/accomplices/who knows? Anyway as they exit the room he is lay in, the camera pans into his face and BOOM! his eyes open to indicate this tale isn't finished there... THE END!

I don't know if there is a part two to this one, if there is I don't have it. This was great though for a movie older than even I am. Maybe not top of my disturbing list, but still a damn good movie and it's remake is still pretty good too - and fairly in keep with its predecessor even if they alter in some respects. Personally, I like this one (the first) slightly better. The Frank Zito character is played really well and looks like Ron Jeremy in his younger years LOL