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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - June 21st

"MANIAC" limited release in 2013

Who would have thought that the creepy (and mentally disturbed) young man - played very effectively by Elijah Wood - who owns an antique mannequin sales business, would turn out to be a serial killer? Well, perhaps everyone. But that doesn't make the modern remake of Maniac any less menacing... or enjoyable!

Watch the Maniac trailer!

Check out the video supplemental at the bottom of today's blog

for more clips and behind the scenes videos!

Frank Zito (Wood) is a mentally disturbed young man, and has been ever since his childhood experiences of seeing his Mother (America Olivo), who moonlighted as a prostitute, bringing home clients or being taken out with her to turn tricks has left Frank unable to enter into meaningful relationships with women, and his sexual impulses tend to manifest themselves as violent urges that Frank externalizes as his mother's will. Working in his family's mannequin sales business by day, by night Frank stalks, murders, and scalps his first victim, attaching her hair to a mannequin that he then keeps in his bedroom (spurred by memories of his mother brushing her hair before going out at night). Frank soon claims more victims, feeling overwhelmed by his homicidal impulses. After meeting an aspiring artist Anne (Nora Arnezeder), Frank becomes more aggressive about trying to control his urges as he develops true feelings for her. But how long can Frank hide what he truly is from Anne? And how long until she is Frank's next victim?

Directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2) and produced by Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension and Piranha 3-D), this remake of the 1980 film Maniac is unique in its approach, with nearly the entire film being shot from the murderer's point of view, with his face being shown only in reflections and occasionally in the third person. Because of this point of view technique, Elijah Wood had to be present nearly every day of filming, which he later stated, "It's the most intriguing element of the film. It meant I could create this character in a completely different way. It became about hearing him and feeling him rather than seeing him... I've never played someone so dark before." Director Khalfoun said in another interview, "POV (Point of View) has been in movies since Peeping Tom, but no horror film had ever been entirely shot that way... I wanted the audience to feel trapped in his body. You are therefore at the same time complicit and repulsed." Therefore, blocking the scene proved problematic for cinematographer Maxime Alexandre with Wood's constantly at his side providing an eye-line for his co-stars. Alexandre also had to employ angles and mirrors to conceal the cameras while filming reflections.

Maniac screened at the Cannes Film Festival's Midnight Screening in May, 2012, before scattered releases throughout Europe and the festival circuit over the next year. Finally the film was released at the IFC Center in New York City in 2013 to generally mixed reviews. The consensus says the film "is smarter than your average psychological slasher, but it's often undermined by its excessive gore." Daniel Krupa reviewed the film for the IGN website, calling it "violent, gruesome, shocking, and extremely cruel" but "also entertaining, darkly amusing, smart, and impeccably well-made." The first-person point of view filming, he said, is not "an idle stylistic flourish, though, since it has a serious impact on how the audience experiences the movie..." Khalfoun himself said that audience members have vomited and fainted during Maniac, taking the reactions "as a compliment," explaining, "We had a screening here in Los Angeles and somebody passed out, which I pat myself on the back for!"