How MANIAC (1980) Continues to Terrify 45 Years Later

[@stevehill3373]

Any movie with Tom Savini in front of or behind the camera is a winner for me.

[@thepcarchives]

Agreed!

[@beeemm2578]

Absolutely.

[@anabltc]

btw his bday is today 🍾

[@rooster8442]

Love or hate this kind of movie, it was great to see a fascinating performer like Joe Spinnel lead in a film. He had always stood out in smaller rolls, too much presence to just fade into the background. I found the blue underground documentary on him to be of even more interest than this movie. Although every time has it's greats I don't really feel that we currently have performers of this fascinating caliber who could take a part large or small, big budget or Z grade and give the same quality. RIP Mr Spinnel,much respect.

[@snidelywhiplash]

NB: It's been nearly 45 years since Maniac came out, not 35.

[@thepcarchives]

Shoot, you’re right. Bad math on my part

[@AreJayCee]

Scared the sh*t out of 10 years old me.

[@filmjunkiezach]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@davidwahlman8119]

Dude, nice goddamn work with this video. Well fucking done.

[@thepcarchives]

Damn, thank you! That means a lot!

[@ministerofdarkness]

Now I got Maniac from Flashdance stuck in my head.😈

[@charleswinokoor6023]

Hey, I think I remember that contraption. I was living in Manhattan in 1976 and I remember stopping outside a Broadway movie theater not far from Times Square one afternoon. But I think the movie they were showing was “The Hills Have Eyes.” Needless to say I didn’t go in, but I distinctly remember the circumstances.

[@williamblasko1031]

Maniac holds no 3 in my top 5 movies of all time. Funny thing is, I'm an older guy, grew up in VHS stores, but never saw Maniac until around 2003 or so. Holy s**t. Was blown away. The score is 50% of the viewing experience for me. Great video.🎃

[@brianmeen2158]

Maniac has that 80s tone that can’t be recaptured. Horror movies these days are way too polished and glossy looking.

[@MFBURNS7909]

Spinell died in his apartment located off Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside, Queens, New York on January 13, 1989, at the age 52. Sometime during that morning, he cut himself badly on his glass shower stall door after apparently slipping in the bathtub while showering. Soon afterward he fell asleep on his living room couch instead of calling for help, and his hemophilia caused him to bleed to death.Spinell was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens near his home.

[@bukowski20]

Damn, this is great stuff. I got a lot of insight from this piece.

[@thepcarchives]

Thank you, that means a lot!

[@peytonhibdon7659]

Very well done review. Hey if you de-age the movie and me 10 years it's all good. The Tom Savini shrimp cocktail head scene is still what modern horror makers still can't master today. Tom is the man,and I fortunately grew up watching his craft in person.

[@blackamerican40]

44 years 😅 RIP Joe, Roger and Gene 😢 🙏🙏🙏

[@soda989]

*subscribed*

[@sconni666]

Saw it when I was a kid. Still not right.

[@thepcarchives]

Couldn’t even imagine seeing this as a kid

[@TheTrashStash]

Maniac is my favorite horror film. It’s a shame Siskel and ebert didn’t like it, but they were not really great horror critics. I do think though in the 90s they brought a lot of attention to a lot of great films that may have gone unnoticed if they weren’t around, so I have a lot of respect t for them for that. Like bad lieutenant for example they gave high praise to, and that’s an nc-17 film

[@TheTrashStash]

Also it’s funny that they went so rough of maniac and neither one of them even saw it. Siskel walked out of it after 20 minutes and ebert says “sounds bad”, so he clearly didn’t watch it either. Unjustified review 😂

[@thepcarchives]

That's for sure, they did a lot of good but sometimes they were just so wrong! Like Siskel famously not liking Silence of the Lambs

[@TheTrashStash]

@ yeah, and Siskel especially was harder on a lot of these movies. So something cool about ebert, my uncle ran into him and was telling him that I love his show but that I love a lot of horror films and always disagree with his reviews, so he wrote an autograph to me that says “Dan, disagreeing is great! Shows you know your mind.” And signed his name. I keep it next to my copy of maniac and exterminator lol

[@thepcarchives]

@@TheTrashStashthat’s awesome! Always been a bigger Ebert guy than Siskel, so I wish I had gotten the chance to meet him

[@TheTrashStash]

@ me too. What’s even cooler about him is I wasn’t even there, so he took time to write to me without me even being there and knowing I disagreed with a lot of his reviews. That’s a class act right there

[@nickgodfrey1148]

Siskel and Ebert were hard on a lot of horror movies, even the more tame ones like Friday the 13th, calling them “misogynistic”. I never understood that. The men in those films definitely have the worst deaths and there is always a ‘final girl’ to take on Jason.

[@Phonesavanh-dd7oh]

I never like those 2 movie review . You can tell the more conservative at their review . Anything that has horror and slasher they trash it but praise a movie of couple talking in restaurants all the run time . I thought movie reviews suppose to be bias .

[@kellymendez]

Its 45 years filmed in new York City

[@HubCityMan]

Better times

[@afroahmed3989]

They remade this in 2012 you know .

[@brooke8567]

It sucked!!

[@afroahmed3989]

@brooke8567 No it didn't.

[@brianmeen2158]

Yeah and I couldn’t even make it halfway through the remake - way too glossy looking. I like the original because it’s hardcore and very raw ..grimy and creepy

[@chrisoakley5830]

Movies filmed with the old analog methods have so much more grit and character to them. The newer versions are to slick and too clean and seriously lack the suspense of the older original movies.

[@kevinkelley3906]

OK. But yet Roger Ebert gave Calligula rave reviews. SMH

[@leonardspivey7590]

Gene, you old stick in the mud

[@chrisoakley5830]

He was so wrong about these types of movies, many of the slasher films from the 80s are classics today.

[@joeblogs-vx4ep]

No offense to our American cousins but how is it horror movies are popular stateside when you've had hundreds of serial killers thrill killers Mafia killers ect Anybody would think having a country with a lot of murderer's roaming about it'd put people off being entertained by slasher movies ???

[@YSEternal_]

We Americans are blood thirsty savages who thrive on death and mutilation. We idolize killers, gangsters, hit men, and psychopaths. All Hail the American Empire!

[@plasticweapon]

what?

[@ministerofdarkness]

We just love death over here👻