Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- disturbing
- oppressive
- visceral
- midnight horror marathon
- halloween viewing
What critics said
Critics generally found the film visually daring and more psychologically ambitious than a routine slasher, but felt its excessive gore sometimes overwhelmed its formal and thematic intelligence.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film is shot almost entirely from Frank's perspective, with his body mainly appearing in reflections and photographs.
Opera music, ballet imagery, art galleries, and avant-garde camera work frame the detailed scalping sequences.
Frank's first-person viewpoint implicates the audience in observing his stalking and murders while exposing voyeurism and misogyny.
Frank's obsession intensifies after his mother's death and is repeatedly connected to his fixation on women and scalping.
Films like Maniac, and why
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
shares brutal slasher conventions, graphic violence, and a psychologically disturbed killer viewed through an unsettling subjective style
Peeping Tom
combines serial killer horror, voyeuristic subjectivity, urban dread, and grimy exploitation aesthetics
Angst
pairs art-house formal experimentation with sadistic violence, alienation, and morally disturbing identification with a killer
Movie Details
- Director
- Franck Khalfoun
- Release Date
- 2012-12-26
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Rating
- 6.0 / 10 (1061)
Cast
- Elijah Wood
- Nora Arnezeder
- America Olivo
- Zoe Aggeliki
- Jan Broberg Felt
- Joshua De La Garza
- Dan Hunter
- Genevieve Alexandra
- Liane Balaban
- Megan Duffy
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Apple TV Store
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Maniac about?
- A withdrawn mannequin maker becomes an intimate and horrifying window into compulsive murder, voyeurism, and escalating psychosexual violence.
- What is Maniac like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Maniac as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Maniac violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Maniac as graphic.
- What did critics think of Maniac?
- Critics generally found the film visually daring and more psychologically ambitious than a routine slasher, but felt its excessive gore sometimes overwhelmed its formal and thematic intelligence.
- Which films are like Maniac?
- Films with a similar feel include Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Peeping Tom, and Angst.
- How long is Maniac?
- Maniac runs 89 minutes.
- Where can I watch Maniac?
- In United States, Maniac streams on fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now.
