Maniac
IFC Midnight | Release Date: June 21, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
9
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The PlaylistDrew TaylorMar 13, 2013
It'll get your blood pumping, before it starts spilling down your forehead. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 18, 2013
It still works its way under your skin and, by the time the highly disturbed Frank’s casualties come back to haunt him en masse, cuts sanguinely to the heart. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJun 15, 2013
Its audio-visual overload testifies to a group of filmmakers' belief that some films are made to be remade. Read full review
66
Film.comWilliam GossJun 24, 2013
Maniac is a bit like watching an amputee play hopscotch: there’s no way that it’s polite to stare for this long, but you just have to see if this guy’s gonna make it to the end. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJul 25, 2013
The movie shouldn’t be dismissed outright, either. It’s a creepy experiment that stays with you. Read full review
60
Village VoiceChris PackhamJun 18, 2013
Khalfoun makes the audience privy to Frank's memories, migraines, and jarring hallucinations of his mother's recalled abuses. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterMegan LehmannMar 13, 2013
Slasher-movie fans, however, need not be put off by the stylized camera work and arty patina: this is down and dirty genre filmmaking, and the various slaughters, excruciatingly detailed scalpings and other atrocities are no less gruesome because of the highfalutin approach. Read full review
60
VarietyRob NelsonMar 13, 2013
This merciless work of anti-entertainment is arguably admirable for being as disturbingly disgusting as it wants to be. Read full review
60
Total FilmJamie GrahamMar 13, 2013
The scuzz-chic visuals, sleaze-synth score and deep-cutting gore are effective, and shooting from the killer’s POV proves a valid USP. But Wood, despite giving his all, cannot match Joe Spinell’s unhinged turn in the original: nightmares in a damaged brain indeed. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 19, 2013
If it’s possible to be both impressed and appalled by a movie’s pull-no-punches savagery, Maniac earns that dubious distinction. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 27, 2013
This remake, like Frank’s horrible hobby, remains an exercise in empty repetition. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithJun 20, 2013
The movie, told from the killer’s point of view, is genuinely unsettling and propelled by a terrific, buzzing synth soundtrack straight out of the early ’80s. But the only suspense is in which woman will be the next victim. Read full review
50
NPRIan BuckwalterJun 20, 2013
That makes the latter portion of the film much more successful than what precedes it, an improvement aided by the fact that the POV device eventually feels less like the director trying to show off and more like an integral part of the story. But it's still not enough to save a remake that, rather than trying to fix the deep flaws of its source, just covers them in a shinier coat of paint. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldJun 20, 2013
By not centering on the victims, Mr. Khalfoun nearly makes the film about pitying the panic-prone killer; the camerawork lacks the ominous, confident glide of much Steadicam horror. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJun 18, 2013
Unfortunately, with only the bare outline of a script, no acting is required. The structure of the film is 89 minutes of brutality with a college degree. This is a warning, not a recommendation. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 29, 2013
The chief problem with such gimmick films -- including Maniac -- is that storytelling so often takes a back seat to the gimmick du jour, resulting movie that can be interesting from a technical perspective but not nearly as compelling as one would want. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 27, 2013
The self-serious POV visual style has none of Brian DePalma's cheeky, unnerving and self-implicating virtuosity — it just reinforces how sick and dumb this whole feel-bad exercise in misogyny and dimestore pathology is. Read full review
0
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 20, 2013
This poor man’s Norman Bates, though, doesn’t make us wonder what makes him tick; he makes us want to shut our eyes. Read full review
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