Elijah Wood stars in the brutal slasher film Maniac, a daring and imaginative remake of the 1980 cult classic. The story follows a serial killer who stalks young women and scalps them. Taking a unique approach, the film is shot almost entirely through first person perspective, forcing the audience to see through the killer’s eyes. And, this is quite effective at creating a visceral experience. Yet something is lost by limiting the focus to first person, and at times it becomes a bit distracting. Also, the characters are thinly drawn and exist only to be killed. Maniac is problematic, but there’s something to be said about the bold and provocative filmmaking style.

Having seen and intensely disliked the original film, I decided to give this one a chance in hopes that Elijah Wood could make it better. Wrong. WRONG. It’s somehow even worse because it’s set in modern day and all of the women we see behave in wildly irrational ways just to set up the next kill. This movie feels like an excuse to harm women for entertainment.

I’ve not seen the original so I can’t compare but it wasn’t a bad film, very different for Elijah wood, not gonna look at him the same after this so thank you for that maniac... It’s definitely very disturbing at times and I liked the first person style to it.

Maniac (2012) - ❤x4 Bad. Bad. Bad. Just horribly bad! Do not waste your time. This is a huge departure from Wood's usual work. Also - I hate movies or shows shot from a first person perspective. How I rate: 1-3 ❤ = seriously! don't waste your time 4-6 ❤ = you may or may not enjoy this 7-8 ❤ = I expect you will like this too 9-10 ❤ = movies and TV shows I really love!