Maniac [2012] (2 Stars)

This is a remake of a film with the same name made in 1980. I've read that the original is considered to be a cult film, but I haven't seen it, so I was able to watch the remake without any bias.

Elijah Wood plays Frank, a young man who owns a mannequin shop that he's inherited from his mother. Is there a market for mannequins? Obviously not, because his mother had to make money from prostitution. Seeing her with her clients traumatised him, so he eventually killed her. Now he drives round the city at night to pick up girls. He murders them, then scalps them and uses their hair to make his mannequins look more realistic.

I find the film awful. I don't like films in which women are slaughtered. I admit, there are other films that I like in which women are killed, for example "Scream", but "Maniac" is different. The killings are too realistic and too brutal. I felt sick watching them.

"Maniac" is mostly shown through Frank's eyes, in the style of "Hardcore Henry". This could have worked if it had been done consistently. In the first half hour Frank repeatedly looks at himself in mirrors. There are mirrors wherever he goes. It's as if the director wanted to show us that he has an A-List actor on board. These glimpses of Elijah Wood add nothing to story. Later in the film the camera sometimes swings back and shows Frank. That spoils the artistic effect.

What we see through Frank's eyes isn't always what's happening. He sees and hears things that aren't there. He's a schizophrenic in the true meaning of the word. This makes the film more interesting, but it's unsettling. I didn't like it.

I don't think I can ever watch this film again. It's not good for me.

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