Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-25 00:54:18

Basic summary of the film

Maniac is one of those rare Hammer films, a truly suspensefulhorror.Its wonderful to watch, and so much better in widescreen. The unseen storyintrigues, where the visual whets the appetite.A truly twisted story of intrigue and unrequited love, with a macabre twistthat could only come from the studio that bred Christopher Lee and PeterCushing as the ultimate horror team.Although not as good as some of their other work, nevertheless, I was keptguessing as the plot became more complex, and enthralled by the scenery andstyle.What is more, it is a contemporary film (well, 1963) and set in modernFrance, with real French actors!

Wayne Malin 2012-05-24 19:13:09

Middling Hammer thriller

American artist Paul Farrell (Kerwin Mathews) is visiting France. Hefalls in love with hotel owner Eve Beynat (Nadia Gray). He helps her toget her husband George (Donald Houston) out of an asylum...and theneverything falls apart.Well-directed with some beautiful b&w cinematography--but that's allthis movie has going for it. The plot is old hat and the twists andturns that come fast and furious during the last half hour are nowfamiliar and obvious. To make matters worse the acting is prettyterrible. Mathews is tall, handsome, hunky--and totally blank as Paul.His face NEVER changes expression. I actually smirked when he gives noreaction at all to finding a dead body. Even worse is Liliane Brousseas Annette and her thick French accent doesn't help. Gray and Houstonare OK in their roles. This is OK to watch if you have nothing betterto do but don't expect much. I give it a 6.

MarieGabrielle 2012-05-24 12:19:03

The lady Eve....

portrayed by the lovely Nadia Gray, Roumanian born actress. Thissuspenseful thriller is a nice surprise, and it has Polansky undertonesto it which make it chilling.The idea of a maniac with a blowtorch, and no one knows who or what ishis next target. The actor portraying said villain was very good, andmenacing as well as believable.Eve has a daughter whose father is languishing in prison. He may be theblowtorch killer. He may have committed crimes. We don't know until theend.Some of the scenes with the outdoor markets reminded me of Montmartre.So real and well photographed. A must see for any suspense film fan.9/10

ferbs54 2012-05-23 20:40:57

Carrying A (Blow)Torch For His Lady Love

Up until recently, I had been aware of only two films with the title"Maniac": the 1934 camp classic directed by Dwain Esper and therepugnant 1980 picture with Joe Spinell as a deranged mannequin lover.The existence of the British "Maniac," a 1963 product from the greatHammer Studios, thus came as a nice surprise for me. Part of the Hammer"Icons of Suspense" six-film box set, the picture shares a DVD with thestudio's 1958 film "The Snorkel," with which it shares manysimilarities. Both are finely crafted exercises in suspense, shot inbeautiful B&W, written by Jimmy Sangster and taking place on theMediterranean coast. In "Maniac," we meet a hunky-dude American artist,Geoff Farrell (appealingly played by Kerwin Matthews, who many viewerswill recall from the Ray Harryhausen films "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad"and "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver"), who finds himself marooned in the wildsouthern region of France known as the Camargue after breaking up withhis wealthy girlfriend (Justine Lord, known to this viewer best asSonia, from my favorite episode of "The Prisoner," "The Girl Who WasDeath"). Staying at a small "pension," he gets lustily involved withthe attractive proprietress, Eve (Romanian actress Nadia Gray, who I'donly previously encountered in another "Prisoner" episode, "The Chimesof Big Ben"), AND her beautiful young stepdaughter, Annette (LilianeBrousse, who reminds this viewer a lot of the young Marianna Hill). Toobad, though, that the gals' husband/father--a homicidal nutjob who had,four years earlier, grotesquely murdered a man with an acetyleneblowtorch(!)--has escaped from his asylum and is now seeking newvictims...."Maniac" is surely a film that will keep the viewer guessing, and hasbeen cleverly plotted--perhaps overly plotted--by Sangster. Indeed,there are at least three plot twists in the film, one too many for thisviewer, although the story does manage to cohere together. Personally,I preferred the simpler story line and greater suspense of "TheSnorkel," but that's just me. To his credit, director Michael Carrerasdoes a fine, imaginative job here, exhibiting a shrewd sense of cameraplacement; he would go on to helm such Hammer entertainments as "TheCurse of the Mummy's Tomb," the shlocky camp dud "Prehistoric Women"and "The Lost Continent." Like "The Snorkel" again, "Maniac" featuressome beautiful nighttime photography, and its evocation of place isvery well brought off, whether the film was shot in France or not (Idon't believe it was). Matthews, as usual, makes for an enormouslylikable leading man, here playing a basically decent person whosuddenly finds himself in way deep over his head. Viewers, by the way,might enjoy making a drinking game out of "Maniac," taking a shot everytime Farrell does (I counted at least 10 such instances!). The filmfeatures an unfortunately weak ending, taking place in what appears tobe a deserted quarry of sorts, and, at the risk of belaboring a point,this denouement pales greatly in contrast to the supremely satisfyingdouble ending to be found in "The Snorkel." Still, the 1963 pictureremains a perfectly acceptable and riveting entertainment, and easilythe best exemplar of the filmmaking craft as compared to those othertwo "Maniac"s mentioned above!