Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
Maniac (2012) is a remake of the 1980 slasher that distinguishes itself almost entirely through its radical first-person POV cinematography, which creates an immersive, deeply uncomfortable intimacy with the killer's perspective. Elijah Wood delivers a quietly unsettling performance that subverts expectations through casting against type. The plot itself is thin and functional—serial killer stalks and scalps women while developing an obsession with a photographer—offering little narrative sophistication. The first-person gimmick is genuinely impressive and consistently executed, lending the film a distinct visual identity, but the story beats remain largely formulaic for the subgenre. The ending leans into hallucinatory body horror that is effective if not wholly surprising given the setup.