Maniac: 4K Remaster – Blue Underground (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1980
Director: William Lustig
Writers: C.A. Rosenberg, Joe Spinell
Cast: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper, Rita Montone, Tom Savini, Hyla Marrow, Sharon Mitchell

Release Date: May 26th, 2020
Approximate Running Time: 87 Minutes 53 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Atmos English, DTS-HD 5.1 English, DTS-HD Mono English, Dolby Digital Mono French, Dolby Digital Mono German, Dolby Digital Mono Italian, Dolby Digital Mono Spanish
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $49.95

"Frank Zito (a career performance by writer/executive producer Joe Spinell of Rocky and The Godfather fame) is a deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of unspeakable childhood abuse. And when these horrific memories begin to scream inside his mind, Frank prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young women. Now Frank has begun a relationship with a beautiful photographer (Caroline Munro of The Spy Who Loved Me), yet his vile compulsions remain. These are the atrocities of a human monster. This is the story of a Maniac." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.75/5 (Blu-ray)

Maniac comes on a 100 GB dual layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 76.1 GB

Feature: 61.1 GB

Everyone who’s seen and been blown away by Blue Underground’s 2018 restoration of Maniac is sure to be even more thrilled with this latest home video presentation from Blue Underground. That said, this new 2160p presentation of Maniac somehow improves upon that aforementioned release. Notable areas of improvement include stronger black levels and shadow detail; colors look flawless; and the amount of detail is astounding. Also, there are no compression-related issues, and the grain looks perfect.

Maniac comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.1 GB

Feature: 22.8 GB

This is the same disc as their 2018 Blu-ray release.

Audio: 5/5 (Dolby Atmos English)

This release comes with seven audio options, a Dolby Atmos mix in English, a DTS-HD 7.1 mix in English, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, and Dolby Digital mono mixes in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. All of the audio mixes except the Dolby Atmos and a DTS-HD 7.1 track have been replaced by a DTS-HD 5.1 track; the rest of the audio mixes are from Blue Underground’s 2018 Blu-ray release. For this review, we listened to the Dolby Atmos track. This new audio track sounds excellent. Range wise, this track does a superb job engaging the surround channels, and the dialog, sound effects, and score are perfectly balanced. as good as the other mixes carried over from Blue Underground’s previous Blu-ray release. The Dolby Atmos track will, for most, be like hearing the film for the first time. Included with this release are the following subtitle options: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai.

Extras:

The extras for this release are spread over two discs.

Extras on disc one (a 4K UHD) includes, four radio spots (60 seconds, 60 seconds, 35 seconds, 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), nine television spots: Stalking (32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Models (31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Subway (32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Helicopter (11 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Car (12 Seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Cemetery (12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Toy (12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Poster (12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and I Warned You (32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), six trailers: U.S. “Hard” theatrical trailer (1 minute 32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), U.S. “Soft” theatrical trailer (1 minute 19 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), International trailer (3 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), French theatrical trailer (1 minute 22 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French, no subtitles), German theatrical trailer (2 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German, no subtitles) and Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian, no subtitles), a German teaser (55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German, no subtitles), an audio commentary with director William Lustig and producer Andrew Garroni, and an audio commentary with William Lustig, Tom Savini, editor Lorenzo Marinelli and Joe Spinell’s assistant Luke Walker.

This disc has an Easter Egg, which is an audio clip with filmmaker William Friedkin, who discusses Maniac.

Extras on disc two (a Blu-ray) are broken down into three sections.

The first section Featurettes, includes the following extras: Maniac Outtakes (18 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Mr. Robbie: Maniac 2 promo reel (7 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a documentary titled The Joe Spinell Story (49 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with songwriters Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky titled Maniac Men (10 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with composer Jay Chattaway titled Dark Notes (12 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with special make-up effects artist Tom Savini titled The Death Dealer (12 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Caroline Munro titled Anna and the Killer (13 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and a locations feature titled Returning to the Scene of the Crime with William Lustig (7 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles).

The second section Publicity, includes the following extras: an extensive image gallery (121 images-stills/home video art/posters/other publicity materials), a television news segment titled Barf Bag Review Policy (2 minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a television interview with Caroline Munro who discusses Maniac (2 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a television interview with Joe Spinell who discusses Maniac and his creative process as an actor on The Joe Franklin Show (13 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Joe Spinell at Cannes (43 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Paul Wunder’s radio interview with William Lustig, Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro (19 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a Q&A with William Lustig, actress Sharon Mitchell and producer Andrew W. Garroni titled Grindhouse Film Festival (22 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and a public access show from 1981 titled William Lustig on Movie Madness (47 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles).

The third section, Controversy, includes the following television news clips, Los Angeles: Channel 7 News 3/6/81 (2 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Channel 11 News 3/6/81 (1 minute 35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and NBC Tomorrow Show 3/10/81 (3 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Chicago: Channel 2 News 2/3/81 (2 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Philadelphia: Channel 10 News 3/2/81 (29 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Channel 3 News clip #1 3/3/81 (51 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Channel 3 News clip #2 3/3/81 (1 minute 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and Channel 6 News 3/3/81 (53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Newsbeat: Violent Movies (12 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and Movie Violence (8 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Midnight Blue: Al Goldstein Rants Against Violent Movies (3 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Midnight Blue: Al Goldstein Mutilates His Love Doll (2 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and Gallery of Outrage, a collection of quotes from film critics who were offended by Maniac.

This disc has an Easter egg, an eight-minute clip titled Joe Spinell at the Dive.

Other extras include a slipcover (limited to first pressing).

Extras not carried over from Blue Underground’s 2018 Blu-ray release include a lenticular slipcover, reversible cover art, a CD that contains the score for the film, and a 20-page booklet.

Summary:

After directing two XXX feature films, The Violation of Claudia and Hot Honey, under the pseudonym Billy Bagg, filmmaker William Lustig would make his first foray into mainstream feature films with his nihilistic tour de force, Maniac.

Maniac’s screenplay was co-written by Joe Spinell (Rocky), who also appears in the film as Frank Zito, a psychopath who goes on a killing spree. The score for Maniac was composed by Jay Chattaway, who would go on to score four other films directed by William Lustig: Vigilante, Maniac Cop, Relentless, and Maniac Cop 2. The cinematographer on Maniac was Robert Lindsay. Another frequent collaborator of William Lustig’s Their other collaborations include The Violation of Claudia and Hot Honey.

Maniac was made during an era when horror films tried to be more shocking than what had come before them. There is no denying that "Maniac" stands out as one of the most grueling urban nightmares to ever grace the silver screen. And at the heart of the film is a deranged lunatic named Frank Zito, who is convincingly brought to life by Joe Spinell.

Unlike most horror films from this era, Maniac has not lost any of its bite over the years, which is due to the way that it portrays its protagonist. Instead of making him the all-too-familiar unstoppable killing machine, Maniac goes for realism. And without a doubt, Maniac’s single most enduring asset is the way Joe Spinell is able to humanize the character.

If anything, the only area where Maniac does not always work is its pacing. There are a few stretches where the story tends to drag. Thankfully, the rest of the film is nearly flawlessly executed. Besides Joe Spinell’s aforementioned performance, another area where this maniac excels are its kill scenes and its gruesome special effects, which were created by Tom Savini. Also, the tension during the killing scenes is superbly realized.

Every time there’s a new home video format that comes along, too often there’s a rush to get products out into a new market, which often leads to inferior products. Fortunately, this is not the case with Blue Underground’s inaugural 4K UHD releases. If this release is any sign of what Blue Underground has in store for their future 4K UHD releases, then fans of cult cinema have a lot to look forward to. Overall, Blue Underground delivers flawless audio and video presentation to Maniac; highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer