150 Words About . . . MANIAC (2012)

by James Newman

Unlike most horror fanatics, I didn’t roll my eyes when I heard Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension, Piranha 3D) was producing a remake of William Lustig’s sleaze-classic Maniac.  While I enjoyed the original, I was never a huge fan, and Aja blew me away with his 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes.  This update proved to be one hell of a gruesome yet strangely beautiful film.  It stars Elijah Wood, who I knew could be scary — his performance in Sin City was nightmare fuel — but in 2012’s Maniac he’s somehow sympathetic as well (sure, his character scalps women, but with mommy issues like this it would have been a miracle if the dude turned out any other way!).  The first-person-POV was a unique, unsettling touch that puts the viewer in the killer’s mind/body without ever feeling “gimmicky”.  And that soundtrack?  One of the most unsettling I’ve ever heard.