Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Maniac

Play trailer Poster for Maniac R 1980 1h 27m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
40% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Childhood abuse triggers a man (Joe Spinell) to kill women and use their scalps to dress his mannequins.

Where to Watch

Maniac

Critics Reviews

View All (20)
Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness An unapologetically twisted study in pathological murderousness. Rated: B+ Jul 8, 2005 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times Good sense, if not heaven, should protect anyone who thinks he likes horror films from wasting a price of admission on Maniac. Aug 30, 2004 Full Review D.M. Palmer Vague Visages ...it also offers a more troubling variant of male rage; this time, the rage is empowered by the symbolism of the state, it wears the vestments of respectability... Nov 8, 2023 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com Spinell's performance and uncomfortable screen presence is what really makes Maniac memorable, not to mention some excellent make-up effects from Tom Savini. Rated: 3/5 Jul 30, 2020 Full Review Larry Vitacco Philadelphia Gay News Maniac doesn't deserve the paper and ink it takes to print this review. Rated: 1.5/4 May 27, 2020 Full Review TV Guide Staff TV Guide The sleazy embodiment of everything that was wrong with the ultraviolent slasher movies of the early 1980s. Rated: 1/5 Dec 28, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (504)
Teddy B An interesting character study that is criminally underdeveloped. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/25/24 Full Review Audience Member An interesting premise wasted on a terrible script, terrible acting and terrible direction. It reached a point of being so bad it became laughable. Even for 80s slasher standards, this movie was bad. The kind of movie that almost makes me wish that the killer would hop out of my screen and put me out of my misery. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 10/10/24 Full Review Sam G This movie made me feel dirty. It was like rolling my brain around in a pigsty. The images defiled my mind in the most grotesque of ways! Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review Jay H Garbage in every sense of the word. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 04/07/24 Full Review Justin T There is plenty of violence in this serial killer flick. There are also two very good shock sequences. The ending is a bit odd but very good for it. The only problem is that you don't feel much empathy for the victims as the film focuses on the serial killer too much. Still this is a highly entertaining scary film and has aged surprisingly well. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/22/24 Full Review Ian damn what a good ass movie. such a realistic take on serial killers, they don't try to fictionalize anything by giving a stupid motive or explaining too much. the killer is a maniac and that's that. what really makes this movie succeed in the long the long run is how it takes it's sweet time and there are very few cuts during intense scenes. it is very very slow when ever it needs to be and it does a fantastic job at that and makes the movie feel even more realistic. this movie does such a good job at making you, the viewer, feel like you're killing with him. such an eerie and fantastic experience that i can't recommend more. and don't even get me started on Joe Spinell's performance as Frank Zito. HE KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE FUCKING PARK!!! three thumbs up from me 👍👍👍 Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Maniac

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

William Lustig

Director

Joe Spinell

Frank Zito

Caroline Munro

Anna D'Antoni

Abigail Clayton

Rita

Kelly Piper

Nurse

Rita Montone

Hooker

More Like This

View All
Don't Go in the House 33% 34% Don't Go in the House Watchlist Blue Sunshine 86% 44% Blue Sunshine Watchlist The Brood 81% 68% The Brood Watchlist Graduation Day 57% 18% Graduation Day Watchlist The Boogey Man 33% 35% The Boogey Man Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Maniac

Maniac (1980) Maniac (1980) Maniac (1980) Maniac (1980) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Childhood abuse triggers a man (Joe Spinell) to kill women and use their scalps to dress his mannequins.
Director
William Lustig
Producer
Andrew W. Garroni, William Lustig
Screenwriter
Joe Spinell, C.A. Rosenberg, Joe Spinell
Production Co
Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Runtime
1h 27m
Sound Mix
Surround
Most Popular at Home Now