I warned you not to go out tonight…

It’s been a year to the day, and I finally get a chance to sit down and continue with my Video Nasties project. I have to say, despite my recently bitching about watching movies on-demand on my PC, this method actually works quite well for review purposes. Watching a movie like this in a small window while typing alongside it, is in fact rather ideal.

However, it’s actually a common misconception that William Lustig’s Maniac was a Video Nasty at all. While it was banned by the BBFC, it was never in fact on the infamous list itself. This happened to other movies such as The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silent Night Deadly Night – all commonly albeit incorrectly thought to have once been classified as Video Nasties. Nonetheless, due to its banned status (the movie was finally passed in the UK with cuts in 2002), I feel it fits the profile. While not categorically a slasher movie, Maniac contains enough slashy goodness to both entertain and unnerve.

This film reminds me in many ways of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and is almost as unsettling. The plot: our main character kills women around New York, having been traumatised by abuse at the hands of his mother. Joe Spinell, the actor playing the titular maniac, comes across as exhaustedly lecherous and sinister. This is in fact one of the few movies I had to turn off during my first viewing, namely during the hooker strangulation scene. Spinell’s eyes, especially during this early scene, are very frightening.

Unlike most 80s slashers, we meet the killer instantly, mere minutes into the film. Showing us the killer right away really unnerves the audience. While many slashers leave you guessing, the obscurity of the killer’s identity adding to the tension, the mystery of Maniac is simply why he acts the way he does, and what will he do next. I love the juxtaposition of a sad lonely man getting dressed for the day, set against a creepy background of a eerie shrine to his late mother and a blood soaked mannequin in his bed. It almost makes you feel sorry for him until you see the grotesque way in which his bedroom is decorated.

Spinell’s character unceremoniously nails his victims’ scalps to his mannequins. This is a cruel desecration of the corpses, combined with the keeping of a trophy to remember his victims. He also dresses mannequins in his victims’ clothes; perhaps a manifestation of his desire to pretend they are still alive? Few movie murderers come across as literally ‘crazy’ as this guy.

Now, you can’t discuss Maniac without mentioning Tom Savini pulling off one of the greatest death scenes of the decade – exploding his own head! I used to wonder how well this movie would have worked were it not for Savini’s spectacular gore effects – but I do believe the movie has other strengths too, namely the foreboding atmosphere, and the true sense of menace portrayed by the killer. The effects truly give it that extra edge to really frighten you though.

Of course, it’s not all perfect. I do marvel at the stupidity of the nurse who expresses fear at the idea of a murderer stalking the streets of New York city, yet proceeds to turn down a lift home from a friend in favour of taking the underground train alone. The movie is also marred slightly by the synth score, but then what 80s movie isn’t?

Speaking of bad 80s music. Interestingly enough, according to the gospel of Wikipedia, the song “Maniac” from Flashdance was inspired by Lustig’s movie, and originally written about a serial killer. The lyrics were rewritten for the 1983 dance movie, and the song was stripped of its Academy Award nomination when the news emerged that it was not written for the movie (the nomination and subsequent win went to Irene Cara’s “What a Feeling”). The alleged original lyrics include “He’s a maniac, maniac, that’s for sure, he’ll kill your cat and nail him to the door.”

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Be warned, spoilers ahead.

The Burning was one of the many films impounded in the UK in the early 1980s under the Obscene Publications Act, when the uncut version was “accidentally” released on VHS instead of the trimmed down version approved by the BBFC. The plot: kids at a summer camp play a prank on the creepy old caretaker, Cropsy. It goes horribly wrong, and he burns alive, leaving him horrifically scarred. Years later, he returns to seek revenge, stalking and preying upon unsuspecting precocious teens at a new summer camp.

Sound familiar? It should, because 1981′s The Burning began as a Friday 13th knock-off. One of the many films to imitate the famous slasher movie, before the genre began to fizzle out, The Burning was considered little more than a cheap cash-in. And it’s easy to see where the latter movie got most of its inspiration. However, I believe it surpasses its predecessor in every way.

For a start, Tom Savini really steps up the gore in this film. Despite the fact that the kills are limited to stabbings, slashings, and slicings with the same pair of garden shears, there are ample numbers of limbs lopped off and throats penetrated to satisfy. The titular burning scene is brutal to watch, and the climatic axe to the face is nothing short of spectacular. The infamous raft scene is also a sight for sore eyes.

The main thing that, for me, sets this apart from most other slashers, is the characters. At first glance these are cardboard cut outs, but they soon become fleshed out. The asshole jock is actually kind of sweet; the ‘funny’ guy is not only actually funny, but down to earth; the nerd is even brave and resourceful at the film’s end. There is no ‘slutty’ girl character, nor do we meet the traditional ‘final girl’ (and let’s face it, why would they hang out together anyway?)

At a certain point, when it is revealed there is a killer on the loose, the group fall about crying when they realise half of their friends have been killed. They build a raft and make it to safety. They call the police, and the police believe their story and actually show up without being dispatched by the traditionally much more wily killer. These factors added a sense of realism to the story which usually is left out, and hinders other movies. There was no point during The Burning where I shouted at the screen, “Don’t go in there!” or “You wouldn’t DO that!”

My only complaints about this movie would be the jarring score (which is a product of its time) and the Cropsy make up. Early in the movie we see a burnt arm, which looks fantastic, but when we later see his face, it looks rubbery and unrealistic. However it is only visible for a short time, and like the score, can be forgiven.

Like many of the other movies in this project of mine, this is not disturbing or ‘nasty’ in any way. But rather UNlike most of the films on the list, this was a joy to watch, and thoroughly recommend for any genre fans.

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My first exposure to the giallo sub-genre (and indeed to Dario Argento) was a pleasant surprise. Prosecuted and banned in the UK, it was finally released uncut here 20 years after its initial release.

I have to say, I found the first half of this movie somewhat dull. The story plods along rather slowly, the kills are initially few and far between, and not all that gory or interesting. But one thing this movie does deliver from the start is a great sense of intrigue. It is clear early on that this is essentially a murder mystery, and each character we are introduced to is a potential suspect. It really does keep the audience guessing, as each time you think “Oh that MUST be the killer…” they are instantly dispatched. While not much seemed to be going on, this element alone is enough to maintain your interest.

The last 20 minutes of the film is where we see what we really want from a giallo. The gore steps up from mere stabbings and strangulations to axes in heads and bodily dismemberment. The famous arm-cut-off scene with the rainbow of blood spraying across a blank white wall is just as gorgeous as it sounds.

One staple of the giallo is that the unseen killer is a character present from the start of the film, and not a Scooby Doo-esque character we would never have guessed. Tenebrae runs out of characters by the time the killer is revealed, so it does not come as much of a shock, but Argento follows it up with a worthy twist that, although completly nonsensical, is great fun. There is a wonderful moment of foreshadowing involving what I assume is a piece of art, made up of a series of metallic cones.

There are erotic undertones, but the nudity does not feel gratuitous. Rather, it adds to the themes of sexual abberance and deviance, which I can only guess was heavy contributing factor in its being banned upon release. This film builds slowly, and really delivers a satisfying bloody crescendo. But none of this is disturbing or upsetting; in fact quite the opposite. Somehow these scenes of beautiful women being butchered are stunning to look at. I can only speculate at this stage in my Argento-education, but I would say this is certainly the work of an artistic master.

Amateur Porn Star Killer this is not.

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a.k.a. The Beast (UK), and The Grim Reaper (USA)

This was reviewed on an early Splattercast (Episode #2 in fact) so there’s not a great deal left to say, except to reiterate that this film is fucking shit.

Best quote: in the ‘origins’ flashback, the Beast wants to eat his dead son, telling his mother, “He’s meat now!”

Anthropophagus is nothing more than a waste of a good title. I have nothing else to say.

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