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Originally Posted by SilverGunnar Hansen  I watched it for a second time (having seen it at Frightfest), and it still left me really conflicted. It's brilliantly made, but the acting and dialogue are pretty iffy, and some of the situations are just dumb. I wish it could have been more psychologically convincing rather than succumbing to the usual slasher cliches. It leaves me cold but it's still a pretty powerful, provocative experience that I'd recommend - my (female) friend that I was with felt pretty much the same, although I was worried at points that she wasn't 'appreciating' the violence. Still can't believe House By The Edge Of The Park is cut and this wasn't . . . |
I see it slightly differently. It's a remake of a 80's slasher film, so cliché is going to be somewhat inherent; but instead of making a bland, by numbers slasher, Khalfoun injected it with 80's chic and made for an absolutely intense,
visceral viewing experience - a successful modern day exploitation film, rather than just a by numbers horror film. And I felt it handled the reasoning behind the killer's psychosis well - again, baring in mind it's an exploitation film not an in-depth character study. When I described the aesthetic to a friend the other day, I said it oddly reminded me of a grubbier, serial killer version of Nicolas Winding Refn's
Drive regards what Khalfoun has done with it, which is high praise indeed, but deserved IMO. As for the acting, I saw no flaws there either. In fact I thought the cast were very good - human, charismatic - not the usual wafer thin fodder that peppers slasher films. It made the kills more extreme. Even the victims we don't get to know have a certain naturalism to them.
I attended a few films at the Frightfest (I pick and choose these days, rather than watch all the dreck), and skipped
Maniac as I didn't expect much from it. I'm actually glad I did, as I despise the way the FF audience feel the need to cheer and applaud at kill scenes - it's inappropriate for a film like this (something like
Hatchet, or
Wrong Turn I get).
Maniac is a harder film that needs to be seen in a quieter, more contemplative environment.
I agree about certain classics still being on the banned/cut list, and was surprised and impressed at the intensity of the violence. But although it's at the harder end of onscreen violence, it's actually not all that graphic - a few, clever CGI scalp removals and other bits (that ending!) aside. But again, it's the unflinching intensity to the scenes that works so.
That was a longer response than I intended it to be, but this film really resonated with me. And I'm usually quite cynical and hard to please when it comes to modern horror - usually looking to the French or British these days to inject the genre with some much needed lifeblood. So it's no surprise it took some French talent to not only successfully reboot an old American exploitation flick I have a soft spot for, but turn it into among one of the best horror films I've personally seen in years.