Copping Out on Slasher Town: Relentless (1989)

Relentless (1989)
rating: **1/2
starring: Judd Nelson, Robert Loggia, Leo Rossi

A relatively overlooked production directed by Maniac (1980) and Maniac Cop's William Lustig, Relentless is a rather ordinary film about another serial killer in Los Angeles wrecking havoc on its citizens after his application as a cop was turned down. (ironic, eh?) All the while, a pair of cops is on the hunt for this killer, all the while trying to get their differences aside.

Even though the film does have an entertaining side to it, I can't blame for the lack of talk regarding this movie as it's hardly worth remembering with its generic plotting, hardly serviceable budget and a near absence of any real thrills. The only winning factor here were the three main casts; Judd Nelson's portrays Buck, a deranged maniac who grew up traumatized under the abusive upbringing of his ex-cop father. He may not be the best killer to remember around these parts, (let's face it, he looks too clean to be a real hard ass) but whenever he shows up, something worthwhile was bound to happen. The way he taunts and invades his victim's homes certainly had some style to it, making sure it's a grand entrance before making his victims grab the murder weapon and forces it unto themselves. (In a way, to prevent identifying him. Not a bad way for the movie to pull itself up from usual slasher/serial killer fodder!)

The two protagonists leads, played by Robert Loggia and Leo Rossi, also have their shining moments as two cops of opposing generation, Loggia plays a bitter and cynical police veteran who just wanted this case to end immediately, hoping the media will faze away the killer's motive as he sees this killing spree as no more than a desperate cry for attention. All the while, his partner, played by Rossi, is an eager, cocky yet caring rookie who believes in a high moral code, making his interactions with his old partner rather entertaining as it does come out rather realistic, but can get a bit boring with all the talk about cliched movie criminal psychology.

In terms of production, this is awfully different from what Lustig usually works on; often a time, his movies revolve around gritty cities but Relentless had our killer loose in sunny LA, meaning more aerial shots and lot of sunny concrete. It seems Lustig was aiming this to be more of your straight action-thriller, but he can't seem to hide the slasher elements even if its very low-key in this picture. Some of the acting could had used a lot more work, and, of course, the pacing of this movie would have been a little more bearable if they just had something interesting to show other than just two guys talking or a killer being kooky. Still, the overall result is a good rental movie for fans of serial killer thrillers or at least someone looking for a weekend timewaster. I can't really say anymore that!

Bodycount:
1 male gutted with knife
1 female garroted with piano wire
1 male knifed on the back, stabbed on the chest with corkscrew
1 female strangled to death
2 victims mentioned murdered
1 male shot to death
1 male shot
total: 8

Look Back and Play Again: Modus Anomali (2013)

Modus Anomali (AKA Ritual) (Indonesia, 2013)
Ratings: ***1/2
Starring: Rio Dewanto, Hannah Al Rashid, Aridh Tritama

An Indonesian effort, Modus Anomali takes on the backwoods slasher/thriller with a lot of genre influences into its otherwise relatively thin plot.

An amnesiac man emerges from a shallow grave in the woods and stumbles into a cabin, littered with what appears to be its occupants' belongings and a dead woman. A tape was left in the scene, which recorded a masked killer stabbing said woman, and it is here when the man begins to realize that the woman might be his wife and he has two kids out in the woods, hunted down by the same masked man. It isn't long before the assailant does return to kill him off, forcing the man to try outrun and outwit the killer, all the while hoping to save his children from this nightmare.

We follow this run for a good hour or so before the second half of the movie gets thrown at us, revealing some pretty clever twists that actually made the movie a worthwhile viewing. In the meantime, Modus Anomali acts out like an average slasher/thriller in the vein of The Strangers (2008), wherein the killers would rather keep their distance and mess with their victims before actually attacking them up close. After a few good deaths, it all leads to a rather strange curveball that took some cues from movies like Michael Haneke's Funny Games and that time-travel thriller film Timecrimes (2007). (Don't worry though, it's nothing that complicated),

The twist is the film's bigger sell so I'm not gonna dwell too much on that to prevent any slip-ups, so let's move to the other things that made this film an interesting watch; Director Joko Anwar made a good catch by having its lead an amnesiac as it quickly builds up our anticipation to whether he should be trusted or not. True, he did woke up buried underneath loose soil during the first few minutes, but what exactly did he do to end up in such a predicament? We don't know and so does he, so we're hooked to go through the same confusion he's having, trying to put up the pieces together while attempting to survive a mad killer.

Rio Dewanto plays the lead and, though I know very little of Indonesian actors, he did a good job portraying a frightened unsure man who eventually evolves to something more. Sadly, I can't say the same for the rest of the casts as the characters they're playing were either on the run, on the hunt, or was just there for a few minutes before being killed off. Then there's the accent, which I find kinda distracting seeing the entire film is in English, but I rather not let that ruin an otherwise good movie.

All throughout, Modus Anomali's delivers a bit of momentum in terms of mystery and tension thanks to its direction and a lot of beautiful camera work; it does pace itself considerately, but the slow burn does the job right as it brought out quite an effective impact on the twist, making it a surprise necessity for the story. (Although, a few editing might have been good for the first half. Just a little off the top~) Plus the forest setting actually works here given its very looming presence and atmosphere is felt all the way through the night, especially if we have armed masked figures looking right back at your lead so eerily from afar.

Indonesia seems to show an effort when it comes to entertaining genre flicks; A few years back, we have films like the Hitchcockian The Forbidden Door (2009) (Also directed by Anwar, which I really recommend), the slasher film tribute Macabre (2010) (AKA Darah) and, just two years ago, the ridiculously entertaining action thriller The Raid: Redemption (2011) coming out of this country. Guess we have another recommended watch here, though just be warned, you have to be really, really patient with this Modus Anomali.

Bodycount:
1 pregnant female stabbed on the womb with a sword
1 female impaled through sharpened bamboo
1 male had his neck hacked with a machete
1 male found murdered
1 male bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat
1 female stabbed on the neck with a hunting knife
Total: 6

Big, Bad, Bunny Wabbit: Bunnyman (2011)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another episode of

In this entre', we present to you one of the most dreadful "80s slasher throwback" of our decade; a steaming pile of bile that had the audacity to call its killer a "new face of horror". Boils and Ghouls, this is...

Bunnyman (2011) (AKA The Bunnyman Massacre)
rating: *
starring: Cheryl Texiera, Matthew Albrecht, Alaina Gianci

Would you really think a movie about a giant bunny mascot wielding a chainsaw is scary? I mean, yeah, it would be creepy if you're alone at the night with that wanker staring right at you at the other end of the tunnel or through your window. Any window. But have it in the desert/backwoods, riding a worn-out truck in broad daylight? Yeah, it's not scary. Just plain weird. Not that it helps, of course.

Bunnyman tries its luck to wow us with its own brand of uniqueness by featuring a killer wearing a large dirty rabbit suit that was supposed to give even furries the willies. Thing is, however, it's been done; not all the time, but we have our early swings to this gimmick. In fact, let me list down some films in this fair sub-genre that already done this: Girls Nite Out, a movie in the 80s who might be the earliest to sport a furry-suited killer, the low-budget slasher-musical (and guilty pleasure of mine) Splatter Disco (bit of a spoiler for that one), the similarly-themed-yet-still-horrible Serial Rabbit and my favorite rare Ozploitation title The Director's Cut, perhaps the only slasher film for me to pull off the killer mascot motif and make it work.

And they say Koalas are cute...

Bunnyman starts with a gritty, footage of what I believe to be one of the titular killer's victims. Escaping capture, she manages to run off from her captor's house only to be stabbed to death by a guy in sunglasses and an ugly hat. One opening credits later, we have yet another Bunnyman victim on the run, this time in the present and unlike the first, she did have the luck on surviving a little longer but gets killed anyway right after we're introduced to our main cast.

A trio of teenage couples are out on a drive and gets harassed by a guy in an old pick-up truck, supposedly like Jeepers Creepers only you can actually tell this psycho heard of something called a speed limit, leaving us with an unimpressive scene where these kids are supposed to be "chased" ala Steven Spielberg's Duel. Believing they can sooth the savage beast with an apology, (for cutting in front of him because he was too slow?) they decided to stop their car and have one of them go out, confront the truck driver that's obviously out to hurt them, and beg to just leave them alone.

And this went on for what felt like hours...

Trucker's response: give the girl a broken nose against his truck's door. Yeah, who didn't fucking see that coming?

Obviously rattled, the group decided to wait out on the freak, hoping he'll still leave them alone. Some long, dragging, monumentally, suicide-inducing moments later, the trucker did leave but returns later to crash their car.

With their vehicle broken down, one of them opted to be the heroic mechanic and tries to fix it but gets killed when the mad driver comes back, hitting their ride while he's still underneath it and technically running him over. Now with a dead friend and a dead car, what's left of them are forced to walk out and find some help, wherein they continue to act as cardboard morons with the emotional capability of that of a rusty nail, falling prey to a retard in a big fuzzy suit, wielding a chainsaw. (How they can't outrun him is a big mystery...)

Seriously? Had you seen the size of this guy's feet?!
You can't outrun THAT?!

It all leads to familiar territory later on involving some cannibal family living in the woods, Bunnyman is one shitty film with little to no redeeming qualities to satisfy a good slasher fan. The kills are done away with cheap blood splashes just as the killer bunny-freak's about to cut someone, so that's one point down for gore. Now, you still can expect something else to make up for this, right? Nope, the movie failed to do even that! It's devoid of good character build thanks to some really wooden actors and a script that sounds like someone with a 3rd Grade level education had written down. (their friend is dead and they hardly cringed at the matter, even having the audacity to joke around! Plus who goes to a road trip without bringing any food, water or a single phone?! Yeah, none of these morons brought a phone! Who wrote this dreck?!)

Direction is futile with its God-awful pacing and the whole idea of a killer in a bunny suit hardly makes any sense. I mean, this guy's a deformed cannibal, of course I get that, but was there a reason for him to wear the furry costume? Maybe there was and I just missed it during my half-sleep state but you might as well have this guy run around nude cuz it's not doing anything for the story.


What's even more surprising for me is that this Z-grade garbage actually gathered enough fans to support a sequel; How the fuck did that happened? This is practically a Texas Chainsaw Massacre clone done with almost no budget, weird characters played by bad actors, zero gore shots and a ridiculous concept, but I guess even retarded flicks have their audiences, those who consider it the "so-bad-it's-effin'-funny-good" kind of movies. Whatever it is that these people saw in this bung-hole, I rather not get involved as I would like to end this post with my sanity still intact.

I always say that I appreciate a good effort, and Bunnyman certainly tried, but all these flaws are really distracting and I can't help but trash this movie to the extent that I'm thinking of defecating on it. (Which I won't. I maybe pissed, but I'm not high!) I'm just glad I got mine via stream, saving me the worries of it taking up my good tape spaces! See it if you want. I don't care. It's your rent money you're wasting!

Bodycount:
1 female had a knife thrown to her back, stabbed to death
1 female chained to a tree and pulled apart in half with a truck
1 male ran over by car
1 male and 1 female found murdered
1 female sliced to death with chainsaw
1 male found murdered
1 male slaughtered with chainsaw
1 female slaughtered with chainsaw
1 female chainsawed on the chest
Total: 10

One last Birthday: My Super Psycho Sweet 16 Part 3 (2012)

My Super Psycho Sweet 16 Part 3 (2012)
Rating: ****
starring: Lauren McKnight, Kirsten Prout, Ryan Sypek

What first started as a successful horror film tie-in to one of MTV's own show "My Super Sweet 16" (where in spoiled brats in their lowest plan their little Sweet 16 birthdays), My Super Psycho Sweet 16 was released in 2008 as a Halloween TV movie and showcased a murderous masked maniac killing annoying teenagers celebrating in a sweet 16 party. The idea was a hit since it sets itself apart from the rest of your average slasher films thanks to great characterization, fluid pacing, awesome kills,and a very engaging drama concerning all three films' protagonist, Skye Rotter (the talented Lauren McKnight) a social outcast who's just begging to break free from her past.

The success of this movie leads to its first sequel two years later, which was more dramatic, focusing a lot on the characters and their ordeal dealing with the aftermath of the first movie, but it almost felt like a re-hashed plot of the original, losing some of its energy by then. It promised more to come with an open ending, so I guess this is where the third film steps in.

Third times the charm? Might be!

Following two years after the previous installment, Skye is heading out to live in college with her boyfriend and her new bestfriend, hoping to pursue a new life away from her homicidal father's two Sweet 16 Birthdays massacres, and Alex, her estranged sister, whom she hadn't got in touch with since the last time they've met. But halfway out into the road, Alex finally called Skye, asking if they can meet at least one more time before they completely part ways. Discomforted by this sudden approach, Skye nonetheless agrees to visit her and, apparently, celebrate Alex's "Sweet 16". (which is kinda hard to believe as she looked way older than that!)

After being introduced to Alex's own small spoiled posse', Skye tries to mend whatever strayed between them but soon finds out that they are being hunted down by Nathan, Alex's obsessed stalker. Now trapped in a house with a deranged lover, Skye has no choice but to battle another crazed fanatic to survive the night, and too some partially expected surprises awaiting for her...

Finishing the series, this third entry had us looking into a rather predictable revenge plan that those who have seen the previous movie can easily figure out, no matter how much this movie tries to do things a little differently.

With a relatively smaller bodycount than the two movies (the smallest in the series, to be more precise), Psycho Sweet 16 part 3 relied more on building tension and intrigue for its kicks and it works on some level, albeit some might find this a tad overworked seeing the kind of characters present here; while the two main leads are still a good cast, the rest of the characters spent most of their time being a bitch, making a lot of tongue-in-cheek remarks and doing a lot of stupid things which leading them into getting killed. So, with them being practically lambs for slaughters, getting them killed off was rather the only fun thing they did for the movie.

There's a lot of visual styling done for these stalks, which was really impressive despite the TV budget. Much of this leads to a grand finale of a climax, where the perpetrators have their victims set up around a large dinner table ala Happy Birthday to Me while they do a monologue explaining how they do all this. Nothing inspiring, but you got to hand the brutal yet awesome (cat) fight that it all ended up to. It was then and there where we actually get to see Skye's character had grown into a real independent and likable character, with much badass persona perfectly understandable with all the shit she had to go through. Strangely, too, I find the fact that her love interest, Brigg, who have been present in the first two movies was reduced to cameo appearances here to be a smart move since it sortah helped us focus more on Skye. But for those who're a big fan of this pairing, fret not, for he did showed up in the film's most grandest shot!

I'm a BIG fan of yer dad! Can I you help me mantle up his head?

It's an understatement to call this film just another sequel to a slasher film, because even if it is true, it did managed to save a franchise with a heartfelt finale. Though I am gonna miss this franchise, I think it's for the best to leave it as it is; unless, of course, someone's gonna go Friday the 13th: A New Beginning on us and play out a new set of cards for us. Could be years before they pitch this idea but for now, whether you're a fan of this series or just a slasher film fan at heart, don't miss out on this!

Bodycount:
1 female had her head hacked with lamp post, bled to death
1 female shot dead with nailgun
1 male had his throat cut with hunting knife
1 male stabbed to death with hunting knife
1 male eviscerated with scythe
total: 5

A Home Invasion Reborn?: The Purge (2013)

The Purge (2013) (AKA Vigilandia)
rating: **
starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder

Well, glad that I have my hype really low for this one.

Set in future America in 2022, a country "reborn" with an incredibly low crime rate and unemployment thanks to an annual event that had people vent out their negative emotions under the approval of the law. An event known as the Annual Purge. Set in one night for twelve running hours, the Purge had every willing individual set out for the night to do whatever criminal activity they wanted, murder most popularly, without any authoritorial restraint, given that they do not use weapons that are above the agreed classification (no nukes) as well as no high class officials should be harmed. (as in the President and his cohorts)

A top seller of a high-tech security system, James Sandins and his family prepares for the night under the comfort of the same system he had been selling, which locks them in behind heavy metal door and barred windows, preventing any "purgers" from attacking them. While initially safe inside their home, all's not too well in the family; Zoey, their eldest daughter, going through her rebellious stage, is dating a boy believed to be older than her, their tween son Charlie is doubting the need of the Purge, and Mary, mother and wife, had been told there have been gossips circulating around the gated community on how her family had been making money out of their neighbors. Things had gone for the worse when a bloodied stranger rocks the conscience of their youngest, leading him to letting the man in, and unknowingly getting his family involved with a group of masked "freaks" who have targeted the stranger for their purge.

Now pressured to give up the bloody man or be killed along with him, the Sandins had to make the ultimate choice to whether stood down to the purgers' level, or die fighting back.

It would have been a big movie; with a concept of a free-for-all crime spree with no consequential drawbacks, you would actually expect a chaotic movie with a lot of taboo breaking, murder, rape, robbery, etc. But instead, we have here instead a rather dull and basic home invasion thriller with a bunch of over-hyped killers and one family with poor decision making skills. I mean, for all honesty, who would had let a man like that in during that one night where all crime is legal, given the possibility that the bloody stranger might have been a killer himself? As far as I can tell, The Purge is a very clichéd movie that's overusing its hype promising something rather new into the fray, as in the unusual concept which was presumably to provoke some thought.

Problem was, this crisis-in-morality gag's been done loads of time in better home invasion movies prior to this; with films like Funny Games (both Austrian and American versions) and Man Bites Dog already showing us the psychological creepiness of people breaking into homes and how, out of force or sheer willingness, it can get us into involving ourselves in it without noticing it. The Purge never got into this level; with a sorta interesting hunting scene in the middle of the movie, it slowly devolves into a tired and easy shoot-em-up thriller, with the family (most of them) finally deciding to fight back some bad guys who's bark is worse than their bite.

Which leads to another misfire for me; the masked "freaks" that was supposed to be the film's main group of antagonists are probably the worse kind of home invaders I've seen. The concept of a large group of killers hunting down a family in their own home was a recipe for a bloody good time given that we got some good grue and action going on, but all these masked jokers did was look menacing and wield their weapons like badasses, which did very little to help them against the gun-packing Sandins. (Which killed them all in less than fifteen minutes. It's embarrassing) There's a little twist in the near end, but that barely pushed any limits in terms of shock factor, or originality for that matter.

I would had given it a lower rating if I didn't enjoy it at some point. Any positives I can get out from this one would be nothing more than my praise for the idea, how the killers looked, and the climax having some good action on it, but apart from that, this film was forgettable as heck. It somehow pitched a sequel already, so I guess we're gonna see more of this so called "Purge"? I really hope so, cuz this movie really felt like it's holding back on us.

Bodycount:
A number of victims seen being in opening
1 male shot
1 male shot on the head
1 male shot dead
1 male shot on the chest with shotgun
1 female shot on the chest with shotgun
1 male head bashed against pinball machine, shot
1 male axed on the back
1 male and 1 female shot dead
1 female shot on the head
1 male shot dead
2 males shot dead offcamera
1 male shot dead
1 male stabbed on the gut with hunting knife, bled to death
1 male shot dead
total: 16+

Sex to Death. Death by Sex: Someone's Knocking at the Door (2009)

Someone's Knocking At The Door (2009)
rating: ***
starring: Noah Segan, Andrea Rueda, Ezra Buzzington

Slasher films are infamously known to be the key horror sub-genre to mark sex as a big no-no for its "survival rules"; screw someone and you'll be skewered with a big pointy spear or electrocuted alive while copulating, but it's sortah rare for one to use the subject of sex as a mean of murder. Last time we had a slasher film doing this was that of the underrated cheese classic Incubus (1981), so I guess someone decided to try this approach again as this appears to be the main theme of Someone's Knocking At The Door, a film featuring two oversexed supernatural maniacs raping their victims to death.

An original idea, but how well can they play along?

A med student shooting up some drugs finds his session cut short after a fully nude lady greets him at his front door. This gal made it clear that she wants him in her, but after a few humps, said lady reveals what she really is: a horribly diseased-looking, nude gentleman with a monstrous dick. Guy's colons are ripped, he bled to death and his five friends are placed under suspicion due to their history of drug use.

After the group was interrogated, one of them reveals that sometime before their friend's murder, they were researching about two criminally deviant couple who use their groins to murder their victims. An experimental drug came with the reports, something that was used to treat the psycho pair, which the group (save one girl who's obviously gonna survive all this) proceeds to use. Could this have brought the two rapists back from the dead? And if so, who will survive their lustful rampage as they savagely abuse one teen's sexual organ to the next?

A bit of a look back to the trippy, sex-filled horror movies of the 70s, Someone's knocking at the Door, (which is a real mouthful of a title if I may get it out) is a real odd duck among slasher films: it's a good movie with a weird plot point that works as both a pro and a con.

Some of the scripting, editing and scoring made the movie unbalanced in terms of tone; we have scenes that were intense, but then we also have parts that were too obscure and laughable to be anything but intense, so unless it expects its viewers to find scenes like that of a fat undead man chasing, in a pace, a victim to rape with his huge (and I mean huge) latex dick under the score of country music (no less) entertaining, the movie will have a hard time approaching a large mass of following.

Narrative-wise, it doesn't tell a straight story either, but rather it looked more like a series of scenes thinly connected to one another, with a spread of characters for us to follow that aren't likable and redeemable at all. This gave  me a hard time trying to care for them once they're starting to drop down dead covered in blood and semen. (with an obvious exception for the surviving character played by Andrea Rueda)

Then there's the ending; not bad all in all, just been done dozens of times already so it really adds nothing for the story.

Still, if we're going to put the entertainment factor into this movie, it does win for the idea of having two demonic rapists as our main baddie; while rape is still a big taboo even for horror films (unless you're the kind who's all hardcore and shit), the strangeness of this film did help tone it down, more to add to the fact that these two appears to be more interested in raping a victim of their own gender. (Which is sorta okay? No, not really. It's still nasty, but at least it's something we don't usually see everyday in a horror movie!)  Plus, they do have a creepy vibe to them, mostly from the male of the pair, John Hopper, whose creepy monologues brought the serial rapist to life. (the female rapist just...growls and screams a lot...yeah...) The film looks crisp and expertly shot with some good camerawork here and there, bloody good latex work for the gore effects, and it's budgeted enough to snag some cool cameos like that of Joe Pilato from Day of the Dead (1985)!

Nothing outrageously big, Someone's Knocking at The Door's a fastfood version of a horror movie: big on visuals, but little on the nutrients. It's down and dirty, but that's it. So if you're that one kind of person who likes to try out a newly opened food establishment around the corner of your street without a damn clue what they'll be serving, pretty much just put that mentality in watching a horror movie and I'm sure you'll do just fine. Real. Fine.

Bodycount:
1 male raped to death
1 female bitten on the face, killed (flashback)
1 male bitten on the throat (flashback)
1 female suffocated inside the killer's groin
1 male had his jaw fisted open and choked on killer's groin
1 male shot on the neck
1 male raped until killer's groin broke out of his gut
1 male shot
1 male shot to death
1 male shot through the mouth
3 males and 1 female seen dead from drug overdose
Total: 14

Killer's POV. The Artistic Way: Maniac (2012)

Maniac (France, 2012 Remake)
rating: ****1/2
starring: Elijah Wood, America Olivo, Nora Arnezeder

When I heard about Alexandre Aja's involvement in remaking Maniac, the one movie I was really hoping no one would touch, I was excited yet somewhat terrified; I know that under his supervision, a film wouldn't be that bad, (like P2. Yes, I like P2) but with all the remake hype having a 50/50 chance of working or not, I can't help but have second thoughts since they are, again, redoing a genuine horror classic here. One with a large cult following with rabid fans ready to tear someone apart once this film ends a complete mess. So can this new Maniac hold out to the original, or at least have a stable hand to the torch?

Surprisingly, yes. Yes it can.

The film follows Frank, an estranged loner who lives in his late father's mannequin store, doing restoration works and gets repeating episodes of migraine-inducing hot flashes wherein he remembers the neglect and abuse he had with his mother. At night, he vents out these memories as a serial killer hunting women for their scalps, hoping to place them over the mannequins he keeps as he pretends they're alive. But after meeting a beautiful photographer who took interest to his restoration works, Frank finds himself in conflict with his inner demons, hoping to change his life for the better. But can he really do it?Just how long can he last being normal before he wields the knife again?

Frank the Monster

The original Maniac rolls with relentless gore, misogynic view and a very bleak portrayal of a man's deranged psyche. The remake here did very little difference from that as it's still as bleak and misogynic as the original wanted it to be, and though the creativity of the kill has been reduced to brutal hunting knife stabbings (and scalping) the gore is still gleefully present.

Although, what was interesting here in the remake is that we got more close and personal with the killer than what the 1980s version did. In the original, we watch Frank go through his horribly traumatized serial killer life as an audience, but with the POV gimmick of the remake, we get to see, feel and hear what's really going on with his mind. His fantasies and his turmoils are shared to us like an open book, and so does his troubled childhood which the 80s version only implied. It's distressing as an approach, really, since it taps into the audience's understanding of the killer, albeit this idea might be more gender approached due to it looking more into masculine needs and/or wants. It may divide attention and intention, but all in all the film really works in terms of creeping us out psychologically as we experience the minds of a demented individual, who is surprisingly more a sympathetic character than Joe Spinell's portrayal from the original thanks to the younger and once-questionable casted Elijah Wood. (Not bashing Spinell's performance, mind you! That guy made the original Maniac a classic to remember. God rest his soul)

This is quite a trick that I came to like a lot, as it really gave the movie a real art house feel to it, and the only chances we seen Wood's character was either through his reflections and/or, in one surreal moment, when the film slowly shifts to a third person's point of view. And speaking of casts, I love how almost all of the them were well acted; Nora Arnezeder plays the female lead, Anna, which was a real doll in this film as she befriends Frank without bias. She's this one shred of hope for Frank leading an otherwise normal life, but with Frank's haunted pasts coming back and forth, her presence somewhat brought some worthy tension the movie needed.

I'm still wondering how this can kill someone?

What I also like about this remake is that it managed to adjust everything that made the original a successful horror movie to our time without completely messing it up; as I mentioned before, the kills were reduced to simple hunting knife murders with little variations here and there, as oppose to the wide variety of murders done in the 80s version, such as the now infamous head decimation ala shotgun and my personal favorite sword kill, but this proves to be quite necessary as it gave the film a realistic feel to it, and, for all honesty, the gore is still vicious with all the scalping done and the bloody-brutal climax.

Cinematography had us looking as a random city which can be paralleled to our gloomy yet contrastingly vibrant world, and too some cool fantasy symbolism. The scoring for this movie adds up to the nihilistic tone and also gave it a bit of retro-feel through the use of synthesizer music and one soundtrack played that pays a lot of tribute to another movie with a skin-obsessed serial killer. (It's Goodbye Horses by Lazarus Q, which was played in Silence of the Lambs) It's a real ear of a score, so that's one more point up as a remake.

I really don't know what e;se to say; this movie caught me off guard to how well made it is. I try to find a flaw from it, but as far as I can see, Alexandre Aja's Maniac is as near-perfection as the original Maniac! Perhaps they can be twins? If yes, then look out, world, the impossible happened again with great results!

Bodycount:
1 female gets a hunting knife through under her jaw, scalped
1 female strangled to death, scalped
1 female stabbed to death with hunting knife, scalped
1 female scalped with hunting knife
1 male had his mouth split with meat cleaver, beaten through door
1 male killed in car crash
1 female smashes through car windshield, scalped
1 male gets a mannequin's arm stabbed on his gut, later ran over and dies
total: 8