MANIAC (2012)

Studio:       IFC Midnight
Director:    Franck Khalfoun
Writer:       Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur
Producer:  Alexandre Aja, Thomas Langmann, William Lustig
Stars:     Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, Genevieve Alexandra, Jan Broberg, Megan Duffy, Liane Balaban, Joshua De La Garza, America Olivo, Sammi Rotibi

Review Score: 

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Summary:

A serial killer known for scalping his victims befriends an art photographer who is unaware of his true identity. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Outside a club in Los Angeles, mannequin storeowner Frank stalks a woman named Judy while she walks home. After cutting the power to her building, Frank stabs Judy through the jaw and scalps her in front of the door to her apartment.

Frank chats with a woman using the handle redlucie86 on the website Cupid’s Rejects. Frank meets Lucie for dinner and has a panic attack when he imagines the entire restaurant staring at him. At Lucie’s place afterwards, Frank strangles Lucie as they are about to have sex. He then removes her scalp with a razorblade.

At his shop, Frank creates a Lucie mannequin using her scalp. He introduces the mannequin made from Judy’s scalp as his girlfriend. Frank has a flashback of brushing his mother’s hair.

In the morning, Frank meets an art photographer named Anna as she takes pictures of the mannequins in his store window. After inviting her inside, Anna asks if she can use Frank’s mannequins in an upcoming gallery exhibition. Once she is gone, Frank sprays Raid to rid the flies around his mannequins. Frank scrubs his scabbed hands with a steel scouring pad.

Frank goes on another hunt. Frank stalks a woman on the streets and through the Metro train before scalping her in a parking lot.

Anna visits Frank’s restoration studio and shows him the pictures that she took at his shop. They spend the afternoon together until Frank has another anxiety attack and is forced to leave in a panic. Later, Frank has a flashback to his mother’s life as a prostitute. He envisions himself as having a mannequin’s pelvic region.

Frank watches Anna at her gallery while he talks to her on a cell phone. They later go to see “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” together. Uncomfortable at the proposition, Frank refuses Anna’s offer to meet her boyfriend and to have a drink with them. Frank has another memory of his mother working a john while he watches as a boy.

Frank attends Anna’s gallery show. In the men’s room, Frank is insulted by Anna’s boyfriend Jason. Frank has an awkward conversation with Anna’s business agent Rita. Frank follows Rita home to her nearby luxury apartment and chokes her in the bathtub. He then scalps her while she is still alive.

Frank calls Anna, who is upset after hearing about Rita’s murder. Frank visits Anna to comfort her and meets her neighbor Martin before Martin leaves. In conversation, Anna realizes that Frank is a murderer when he accidentally reveals the distance between Rita’s home and the art gallery. Anna and Frank struggle and fight throughout the apartment. Anna locks herself in the bathroom. Martin returns to investigate the commotion and Frank kills him. Frank captures Anna.

When Frank opens his van to retrieve Anna, she stabs him with the bolt from a mannequin hand and escapes. Frank chases Anna until a passing motorist rescues her. The car runs over Frank, but Anna is ejected through the windshield when the car then crashes into a concrete barrier. Frank scalps Anna.

Frank has a mock marriage ceremony with his Anna mannequin while the other mannequins taunt him. Frank then envisions the scalped women tearing off the flesh from his face and revealing him as a mannequin. Police tactical officers enter Frank’s home and discover Frank lying dead and bloody in a corner.

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Review:

Remakes are often a dicey proposition.  Some become such slavish reproductions of the initial incarnation that they lack any discernible identity of their own.  Others begin with source material so universally revered that they stand little chance of being accepted in the same world where the original exists.  Only in very rare cases, there are films like director Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 version of “Maniac” that skillfully avoid such traps.  His is a remake that ably walks a tightrope between successfully channeling the spirit of the 1980 cult classic and creating an interpretation of the original screenplay that stands as a completely separate entity.

The newer version of “Maniac” supplants the coastline by trading New York City for Los Angeles.  Aside from a montage sequence or two depicting the downtown skyline, the location could really be anywhere.  There are some cameos from notable theaters like the Orpheum, but “Maniac” generally avoids shots of Hollywood landmarks or any other identifiable tethers that would make it uniquely chained to its California setting.

In that vein of depicting a nondescript version of the City of Angeles, “Maniac” similarly employs ambiguity in its timeline.  If not for the singular use of a cellular phone, the story could theoretically take place in just about any era.

This is a story told in a daring way.  Nearly the entire movie is captured from a first person perspective.  Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the technique does not fully translate into a pure behind the killer’s eye view of events.  The sensation is somewhere in between participant and voyeur, but it certainly works as a novel way to invest the viewer and to give the onscreen action a perspective seldom seen in cinema.

In a mostly disembodied role, Elijah Wood plays Frank, a creepy loner who restores antique mannequins by day and scalps women by night.  Unaware of his true nature as a serial killer, a young photographer named Anna becomes friends with the Oedipus wrecked man and they start up a relationship that obsessively saps Frank’s remaining shreds of sanity.

Since his performance is primarily achieved through voiceover, there are moments that leave a noticeable vacancy in the emotion.  Wood was likely acting alone in a sound booth at times, which stunts a few scenes where lines are delivered too flatly.  Yet casting babyfaced Elijah Wood so far against type is already a brilliant move.  The choice for him as an actor is even bolder because he rarely appears onscreen.  And the familiarity of his voice from so many appearances as a child star and as Frodo from “Lord of the Rings” lends his bizarre character an even stranger quality by playing off a placid association in the viewer’s brain.

The other marquee headliner of “Maniac” is the cinematography.  Camera angles and movements are carefully crafted and thoughtfully planned to keep the first person illusion alive.  Long tracking shots and single takes capture the unease of women trapped in Frank’s crosshairs.  And the disorienting point of view ingeniously amplifies moments like an unexpected blade jammed through a victim’s jaw.

From the imagery to the audio, the throwback slasher feeling is unmistakable.  A synth music score by Rob delivers a retro vibe that also feels modern and heightens the unsettling visuals.  It is as if the entire experience has a gorgeous layer of uncomfortable grime over everything.  Yet that feeling is entirely necessary to achieve the desired effect of being immersed in a diseased mind’s nightmarish reality.

“Maniac” trips briefly on indulgent moments.  A murder sequence set to an operatic rendition of “Ave Maria” is more than a little on the nose.  And the final scene depicting the close of Frank’s story in reality is superfluous given the far superior fantasy event that transpires immediately beforehand.  Still, no one should deny that “Maniac” is a stylish serial killer film that is beautifully presented and brutally depicted.  The movie is delightfully skin crawling in the way that it sets up its horror.  Even from a vantage point behind the killer’s eyes, there is never a feeling of being safe or in control.  After all, any time the opening notes of “Goodbye Horses” start playing, you just know there is about to be inescapable terror.

Review Score:  85

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