I wasn't aware this was a remake until after I had finished watching it, so I apologise for having not checked out the orginal version prior to this one. Anyway, today's review is of the 2012 re-make of
Maniac
The plot follow the eponymous maniac, Frank (Elijah Wood), as he stalks young women in order to murder and subsequently scalp them to nail their locks onto mannequins that he obsesses over. His life, however, begins to change when he meets a young French artist, Anna D'Antoni (Nora Arnezeder).
Positives
The direction was much better than I expected it to be, I initially expected this film to be of mediocre direction as soon as I looked at the title, which is hardly brimming with imagination and creativity. But I was wrong, Franck Khalfoun, did a terrific job. Firstly, the vast majority of this film is viewed through Point of View shots from the killer's perspective, the only time this doesn't happen is when Frank looks into mirrors, which doesn't happen too often, it was an interesting touch, and although many films have included point of view shots from the antagonist's perspective, I think this might be the first to fully expand and elaborate and do this for the duration of the film, and I really liked it. Also, this film was quite beautiful in parts, in relation to the setting. This was filmed in Los Angeles, and although I've never been, I think it did marvellously well in capturing the luminosity and vibrancy of the city at night. Sadly, the only photo that I could find that remotely reflects this is the one below, but honestly, it was an enticing but unusual element of the film, again, that I totally did not expect.
Finally, the director manages to portray Frank's debilitating mental illness in an all too real way. For example, when Frank is on a date,the woman accompanying him begins talking about something and blood begins to trickle down her face, falling from her scalp, whilst she doesn't notice it at all, it's unsettling to say the least, and rather chilling.
Elijah Wood was terrific, when I noticed he was in the cast, I was rather apprehensive because he does seem rather more equipped to playing more innocent characters, but I was totally proved wrong here. He was amazing, and his performance is all the more impressive because a lot of the time, we only hear his character, we barely ever see him. Therefore, he has to convey mania, psychotic qualities, coyness, persuasion and so much more, and he does it brilliantly. The supporting cast was mixed, although the women tended to outperform the men, but that's most likely because they had more to do here. Out of the female victims, Megan M.Duffy and Genevieve Alexandra were the best, because they created truly believable people with realistic qualities, and they were far from stupid, especially the latter one, also pictured above.
I liked the retro soundtrack here too. It actually reminded me somewhat of Goblin, the band who worked for Dario Argento for a considerable length of time, I'm probably making this up though
nevertheless, whether they replicate them or not, the soundtrack was good, and did enhance what was occuring on screen, it wasn't an amazing soundtrack, but it was far from bad, and is definitely above average.
Negatives
I didn't like the plot. It felt very very forced, and it all ended rather quickly. I did understand the whole dynamic/metaphor with the mannequins as well, with them being faceless and inanimate beings that Frank can sometimes not distinguish between real women etc. but I just didn't care for it at all, because it was quite a big element of the film, and I never understood why he was so invested in them, in fact, his whole dynamic with women is difficult to understand, because it looks as though he hates all of them, but he also appreciates their beauty and wants a relationship? I didn't understand it really, and it's never revealed in great explicit depth either. Going back to the mannequins, Frank was obsessed with his mother (America Olivo) also, why is it every time I see her in something, she is
always having sex? Anyway, there was never any implication that his mother cared for the shop or the mannequins, and considering all of Frank's problems and obsessions stem from the way his mother treated him during his childhood, this was one element I just didn't get... at all. Messy, is probably the word I'd use to describe the writing here sadly.
I didn't care for Nora Arnezeder, who plays Anna, I thought she was Polish or something when she first spoke, but apparently she's a dead ringer for the French accent. Now I haven't heard too many French accents, so excuse me if I'm wrong, but none of them sounded anything like the way she spoke, but that was a only a slight annoyance. She was okay in parts, actually she was very good when she realises Frank is killing everyone, but for the other 90 minutes she's on screen, she's so boring and monotone.
She wasn't the only let down in terms of acting. Jan Broberg, who plays an ageing agent called Rita, was a bit embarrassing when she was acting drunk, and all of the males except for Elijah Wood were awful, as in Tommy Wiseau bad, for example Anna's boyfriend, who is obviously meant to be straight... well, put it this way, I bat for the other team and I know ther people who do as well, but literally none of them are as camp or flamboyant as he was, maybe he was going through an identity crisis, but it was never told to us, so I was so perplexed when Anna introduced him as her boyfriend, it was probably the most shocking part of the film, and when you watch women getting scalped all over the place, it was a pretty big shock. Overall, it's a small detail, but for a film that tries so hard to be serious and believable, I can't understand why they'd allow the authenticity to fade away via small details like over the top acting.
The ending was mixed for me. Despite my criticisms of Anna, I didn't want her to die, so when she did, I was quite shocked, because she endured quite an ordeal, although I felt as though they went for a depressing ending to be seen as brave, but this may also be because every plot point of this film felt so forced that it was inevitable this aspect would too.
Conclusion
I feel as though this is an above average horror film, with Elijah Wood delivering a terrific performance. But there was quite a bit of weak acting, some of which was really dire, and the plot felt so so forced. It's difficult to rate this one, I'm not quite sure how I feel, I did really enjoy some elements, but I still have mixed feelings overall because of the things I've explained above. Also, for a remake, this is actually pretty good. But, I'll give this
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I really liked it. Haven't seen original too. Soundtrack was great (Especially "Juno"). Visually cool. Didn't have any problems with POV.
