Maniac re-make Scalps the Original

As a jaded horror junkie I consider myself relatively difficult to impress. Don't get me wrong, if it's creepy, dark, twisted, or terrifying, I will most likely have a good time. I am, after all, a devoted fan of the genre. To genuinely impress me, though, is a pretty difficult thing to do and the 2012 remake of Maniac -- directed by Franck Khalfoun, written/produced by Alexandre Aja -- did just that.

Alexandre Aja is a name that I affiliate with the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes and the 2003 French horror film High Tension, and honestly speaking, I am not a huge fan of either. High Tension was a carbon copy of Dean Koontz's novel Intensity that gives no credit to the author and whose plot has more holes in it than all of its victims combined. The Hills Have Eyes, while definitely having more redeeming qualities than High Tension, was still a somewhat juvenile romp through gratuitous rape and cheap, shock value thrills. So when I saw his name attached to this project I stifled my expectations.

I knew Franck Khalfoun from his acting credits in Pirhanna 3D and the aforementioned High Tension, but was unsure of what to expect from him in the director’s chair. I looked up his director credits and found a tight little horror movie of his from 2007 called P2. It had its faults but overall it did what it set out to do. Then I heard that Elijah Wood was involved and I started to feel a tinge of hope. I knew Elijah was a fan of the genre from his work in the fantastic 1998 film The Faculty (Robert Rodriguez) and the fact that he is one third of the up and coming horror production company SpectreVision. Needless to say, I was thoroughly intrigued by the thoughts of what he would do with the Frank Zito character.

A quick aside: if any of my wonderful readers have not seen the 1980 slasher classic Maniac from director William Lustig, I highly recommend giving it a watch. It is gritty. It is ugly. It is also a slasher that stands out from the pack. The tortured mind of our leading lunatic, Frank Zito, is dragged kicking and screaming into center stage by an outlandish performance from writer/producer Joe Spinell. The film is also riddled with brutal violence and mesmerizing gore from the makeup effects master himself, Tom Savini. You definitely don't need to see it before enjoying the 2012 remake, as it stands on its own as a unique, exemplary horror flick...but you kind of should.

Okay, then. Moving on...

Let's touch on the things that put this film one scalped, bloody head above the rest.

1. The Cinematography -- While I have to give the credit to Aja and director Franck Khalfoun for the brilliant idea of shooting the film almost entirely in the POV of the killer, it is the deft artistry and seasoned ingenuity of cinematographer Maxime Alexandre that turned an outlandish vision into a gorgeous and utterly effective reality.

During shooting Elijah Wood worked VERY closely with Alexandre. Sometimes Elijah would wear the camera (I mean this literally...Maxime set up a rig that hung directly in front of Elijah's face at eye level to achieve the POV effect) and sometimes Alexadre would don the camera harness with Wood at his side, giving him directions based on what he thinks his natural movements and direction of gaze would be. In addition to these painstaking efforts, Elijah had a hand double that he worked with. Since Elijah could not get both of his hands around the camera and into frame he had a double who would play the part of his left or right hand. You can imagine how difficult it must have been to coordinate complex actions like grabbing a woman by the hair and scalping her with a Bowie knife between two people, and it is so well executed that I would never have guessed that this was how they got the shot.

What all of this fancy camera work adds up to is a totally immersive experience in which the viewer is forced to see things through the eyes of a deranged killer as he commits horrible atrocities up and down the streets of Los Angeles. I can't emphasize enough how effective this is. Personally, I felt so uncomfortable at times that I physically cringed; something that very few horror movies can elicit from me nowadays. Maybe the most disturbing effect of shooting the film this way is that it makes the whole movie feel decidedly intimate; a sensation that I am not exactly accustomed to in the genre of hyper-violent slasher flicks. I get the creepy crawlies just thinking about it...and I want to watch it again.

2. The Music -- We have composer Robin Coudert to thank for the hypnotic, retro, and yet totally fresh music that is the beating heart behind the blood flow in Maniac. The score is almost entirely electronic, transfixing us with the tremulous bleats and colon-clearing bass vibrations of an 80's synth while still managing to create a few themes that you may find yourself humming under your breath for days to come. What this score does so brilliantly, though, is to create an effective juxtaposition between the almost sweet melodies coming from your speakers and the heinous acts of violence being depicted on screen. This is a tactic that I almost always appreciate and I cannot think of a better application of it than in Maniac. What this essentially achieves is a new level of sympathy for the crazed killer (and let's not forget, we are also already seeing the world through his eyes.) It seems to suggest that this is the music in his head; the soundtrack of his disturbed pathology as he validates his own crimes with the memories of his tortured past. Simply put, the score is f**king brilliant.

3. The Acting -- I was torn about whether this section should have been titled "acting" or "casting" because the real genius here is in having the artistic confidence and foresight to envision little Elijah Wood in a role that was originally played by an ursine Joe Spinell. It was a brave decision that ends up working in the film’s favor.

With his small, unassuming frame and big blue eyes, Elijah Wood brings a wounded and sympathetic vibe to the Frank character. This works in conjunction with the POV shooting style and flashbacks to his tortured childhood to evoke genuine pity. I found myself almost rooting for Frank; hoping that he could overcome his demons and find real love. Then Frank would whip out his trusty Bowie knife and I would again be forced into a moment of "what was I thinking? Run, lady! Frank is f**king crazy!" I'm not sure anyone but Elijah Wood could have forced me into such a schizophrenic head space.

Our leading lady, Anna (Nora Arnezeder) is so effortlessly radiant, so smart and lovable that I found myself falling for her right alongside Frank. There are many moments in Maniac that evoked the rom-com feelsies and it really worked to redirect my focus onto the love story, making the crescendos of brutal violence all the more effective.

There are no idiot victims who blindly bumble into obviously dangerous situations in this film. In fact, that is part of the terror. When looking through Frank's eyes as he stalks his next set of luscious locks we see women who are all too familiar with having creeps leer at them on the train or tail them on the sidewalk. These are real situations that real women are forced to navigate on a daily basis and the characters in Maniac respond in very real ways: They look for well-lit places with lots of people, they call out for help, they run as fast as they can. If you happened to have any doubts about how dangerous the world is for women, watch Maniac. And the next time your misogynistic friend thinks it's okay to catcall a woman, put a hand on his chest and say "Shut the hell up, Frank."

If there is one thing that shines in everything Aja has touched it is his respect for great gore effects and Maniac definitely continues that legacy. While the violence in Maniac doesn't go so far as to become gratuitous, it is so well-executed, and supported with such believable performances that it remains some of the most shocking violence I've seen in a slasher.

Maniac is a lot of things: slasher, love story, psychological thriller... but overall it is just a fantastic horror flick and I can't really find anything not to like about it.

4.8/5