Maniac (1980)

Director: William Lustig

Starring: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper, Rita Montone, Tom Savini

More info: IMDb

Tagline: I warned you not to go out tonight

Plot: A schizoid serial killer randomly stalks and kills various young women in New York, which he sees as revenge for the mistreatment he got while being raised by his own abusive mother.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

#233 on Drive-In Delirium Volume 1 (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

Yet another serial killer nutjob with mommy issues flick. Not that that's a bad thing but there's not much that sets this one apart from so many others except a fun performance by Spinell (who also wrote and produced this) and the fantastic makeup effects of Tom Savini who also has a cameo as "Disco Boy" who takes an amazing shotgun blast to the head (the scene where Gene Siskel walked out on in disgust). THAT is worth watching this picture for.

That's all you need right there I tells ya. I really dig movies that show the 42nd Street area of NYC around this period. It wasn't too many years after that it changed to the clean cut look it has now but whenever I see the shots of that street back then and see all those theater marquees, it drives me crazy I couldn't have experienced some of that for myself. There's a great site, TEMPLE OF SCHLOCK, that has a column from time to time called THIS WEEK ON 42ND STREET where they list various theaters and the films they were showing at that time. It makes me salivate wondering how awesome it would have been to see movies like MANIAC on a double bill with DEATH WISH II (1982) or ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981).