Retro Slashers

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Deadline Hollywood is reporting Elijah Wood, Frodo from The Lord of the Rings films, has been cast as the lead in an indie film titled Maniac.  Wood will play a serial killer who works with antique mannequins by day and stalks ladies by night.  The killer is motivated to murder due to abuse he suffered from [...]

William Lustig’s Maniac has been getting a lot of renewed appreciation lately, centered on the seminal 1980 NY slasher’s new theatrical run – if the recent Stephen Romano poster wasn’t cool enough (it was!), here’s another by Ken Taylor for Mondo Tees in support of the Alamo Drafthouse’s recent showing. Not only that, but it [...]

Holy hannah, will you take a look at this? Right now? Maniac (1980) scores a new poster in celebration of its return theatrical run via Grindhouse Releasing and Blue Underground. Sure, there was nothing wrong at all with the original legs-knife-scalp poster – in fact it was everything right about early 80′s grimy slashers. Even that denim [...]

Retro Slasher fans should keep an eye out for Fangoria #297.  The issue features interviews with Madman producer Gary Sales and Maniac director William Lustig.  There’s also an interview with Adam (Hatchet II) Green which gives insight into the hell he went through dealing with the MPAA.  Adding to the slasher nostalgia theme of Fango [...]

I enjoyed ABN’s recent image gallery of Maniac. But the pics were a bit dry. Here are some images that highlight the red stuff.

Even after such realistic films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Last House on the Left made their way through the grindhouse circuit of the 70s, audiences still couldn’t have prepared themselves for one of the most violent films of the 1980s. Yes, Maniac proved to be one of those films that actually lived up [...]