Watch the trailer HERE
“45 years later, this gnarly, infamous $350K budget slasher cuts deeper than ever”
– Edward Douglas / Collider 10.7.2025
“Unrelenting excercise in nihilistic gore – Claustrophobic, sickening film”
– Leonard Maltin / Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide 2002
“Will send even those with strong stomachs rushing out for airsick bags”
– Mick Martin & Marsha Porter / Video Movie Guide 1990
“Managed to offend even many gore fans.”
– Michael Weldon / The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film (1983)
“A legendarily grim excercise in violence and sleaze — In the early 1980s it was treated as symbolic of all that was ‘sick’ and ‘irresponsible’ about the modern horror genre.
Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) lives alone in a dingy basement flat, in the apartment block where he’s a caretaker. Abused by his mother as a child, he deals with his with his resentment by stalking, murdering and scalping women. — He meets Anna (Caroline Munro), a beautiful photographer ho genuinely likes him, and tries to control his urges, but even with her he’s unable to conceal his sickness…
Maniac is going to haunt you; not just later when you’re going to sleep, but straight away, as you leave the theatre, or cross town at night.”
– Stephen Thrower / Nightmare USA – The Untold Story of of the Exploitation Independents (2007)