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Maniac: 3-disc limited edition - blu-ray

Director William Lustig (Maniac Cop), the current CEO of Blue Underground, has FINALLY gotten around to giving his own cult classic the deluxe treatment.  It’s about damn time, too.  This film, grisly and grim, is quite the achievement when it comes to low budget horror films.  Banned in almost every country for almost every reason, Maniac is now presented on blu-ray with a brand new 4K restoration from a recently discovered original 16mm negative of the film.

With this release, you too can get physically sick thanks to the crystal clear 1080p presentation of gore, gore, and more gore.  Simply put, if all you have seen of this movie are inferior DVD and VHS copies, prepare to have your mind . . . BLOWN. 

"Maniac, no matter the cut, is just not a film you can ignore . . . especially in its final moments"


Maniac, the infamously depraved slasher film starring Joe Spinell (of Rocky and The Godfather fame) and featuring performances from special effects artist Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) and former Bond girl Caroline Munro (The Spy Who Loved Me) is a truly disturbing film.  It is also one hell of a psychological journey into the mind of a serial killer.

Shot with an off the cuff style, this guerilla styled flick digs at your brain, searing itself straight into brain cells.  It is that unforgettable.  The kills are shockingly real and in your face and so incredibly graphic that you yourself might bleed, too.  

From Spinell’s performance as Frank Zito, the abused child who grows to become a serial killer who scalps young women and then staples their hair to the mannequins in his own nightmarish residence, to the coldness that engulfs this low budget film, if you are ANY fan of horror or of slasher films in general then you know that there is no escaping this film. {googleads}

The film zips along with an energy that seems to bubble up from the streets of NYC itself.  And the other members of the cast, including Kelly Piper and Abigail Clayton, are stellar in their reactions to the walking freak that is Zito.  His world is one that does not believe in supporting beauty and, in a freakish move, he winds up taking those that he loves to his mother’s grave. . .

. . . where the ghosts of her prostituting and her abuse still haunt him. 

Maniac: 3-disc limited edition - blu-ray

The three discs included with this new 4K restoration include hours of supplemental material, the original soundtrack by Jay Chattaway, and NEWLY discovered outtakes, a NEW return to the original locations with Lustig, and two audio commentaries.  With hours of archival footage, too, this release is a monster to dig through. 

Maniac, no matter the cut, is just not a film you can ignore . . . especially in its final moments.

5 beers

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Maniac: 3-disc limited edition - blu-ray

MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexual content.
Runtime:
87 mins
Director
: William Lustig
Writer:
C.A. Rosenberg, Joe Spinell
Cast:
KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King
Genre
: Horror
Tagline:
Trust love all the way.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Fancy girls in their fancy dresses and their lipstick."
Theatrical Distributor:
Annapurna Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date:
March 6, 1981
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
December 11, 2018
Synopsis: Frank Zito is a deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of unspeakable childhood abuse. And when these horrific memories begin to scream inside his mind, Frank prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young women. Now Frank has begun a relationship with a beautiful photographer, yet his vile compulsions remain. These are the atrocities of a human monster. This is the story of a MANIAC.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Maniac: 3-disc limited edition - blu-ray

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Blue Underground
Available on Blu-ray
- December 11, 2018
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Russian, Swedish, Thai
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1; French: Dolby Digital 2.0; Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0; German: Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; three-disc set
Region Encoding: Region-free playback

Blue Underground presents the 4K restoration of Maniac on blu-ray with stunning results.  With an upgrade in sound and in vision, this low budget shocker, originally filmed on 16mm, looks almost new again.  It sure beats the previous releases of the movie as clarity has been pushed forward, shadows deepened, and lines/edges much more defined.  Colors, too, are more pronounced – especially the effects of Savini – and the locations get a bit more polish to the some of the gritty details.  The blu-ray discs include 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital Surround EX and Dolby Surround 2.0 audio options.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • See Special Features for Individual Disc Breakdowns.

Special Features:

The three discs included with this new 4K restoration include hours of supplemental material, the original soundtrack by Jay Chattaway, and NEWLY discovered outtakes, a NEW return to the original locations with Lustig, and two audio commentaries.  With hours of archival footage, too, this release is a monster to dig through.  Three discs, including the soundtrack.  There’s also a 20-page booklet, a reversible cover, and lots of extra information included with this release.

Disc One:

  • Theatrical Trailers
  • TV Spots
  • Radio Spots
  • Audio Commentary with director Bill Lustig and producer Andrew W. Garroni.
  • Audio Commentary with director Bill Lustig, special make-up effects artist Tom Savini, editor Lorenzo Martinelli, and Joe Spinell's assistant, Luke Walter.

Disco Two:

  • Maniac Outtakes
  • Returning to the Scene of the Crime
  • Anna and the Killer
  • The Death Dealer
  • Dark Notes
  • Maniac Men
  • The Joe Spinell Story
  • Mr. Robbie
  • Paul Wunder Radio Interview
  • Bill Lustig on Movie Madness
  • Joe Spinell at Cannes
  • Joe Spinell on The Joe Franklin Show
  • Caroline Munro TV Interview
  • Barf Bag Review Policy
  • Grindhouse Film Festival Q&A
  • Still Gallery
  • Los Angeles News Reports
  • Chicago News Reports
  • Philadelphia News Reports
  • Newsbeat Two Segments
  • Midnight Blue
  • Gallery of Outrage

Disc Three:

  • CD Soundtrack

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Maniac: 3-disc limited edition - blu-ray

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