Maniac (2012)

Title: Maniac

Director: Franck Khalfoun

Released: 2012

Starring: Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, Jan Broberg, Liane Balaban, America Olivo, Joshua De La Garza, Morgane Slemp, Sal Landi, Genevieve Alexandra, Sammi Rotibi, Megan M. Duffy

Plot: Frank (Wood) by day works restoring and selling mannequins, while at night he trawls the streets looking for victims to help him quell his violent urges as he is constantly tormented by the voices in his head.

Review: Usually the news of yet another iconic horror film being given the remake treatment is enough to bring cries of despair from the horror community (let alone myself), mainly because they have tendency to be just plain awful! Frequently these rushed out efforts try to play off the legacy of their namesakes in hopes of guaranteed box office return and more than often minus any of the scares. The exception to this rule though has been with Alexandre Aja, who despite exploding onto the scene with “Switchblade Romance” (aka Haute Tension / High Tension depending were in the world you are)  has since then been responsible for some of the best films to come out of the current horror remake trend, as he has helmed remakes of The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors and Piranha and here he turns his attention to William Lustig’s cult slasher. Despite teaming up once more with his long term writing partner Gregory Levasseur, this time he hands over the directorial reigns to Franck Khalfoun for his most high profile film to date after his ho-hum debut “P2” and the direct to DVD “Wrong Turn at Tahoe” which he clearly has learned from as this film is very much a different beast entirely.

First off I should highlight that I won’t in this review try and draw comparisions between this film and the 1980 original which like so many of Lustig’s films has a very dedicated fan base many of whom dismissed the film on its release which is kind of a shame as both films have their own merits yet at the same time they are very different beasts.

Shot almost entirely from the Frank’s POV the film is heavily reminiscent of “Peeping Tom” with Frank only being seen occasionally via reflections or out of body hallucinations. It is from the opening were we see Frank in his van stalking his next victim that we are immediately given an insight into his fractured and tortured psyche as he mutters to himself and provides his own commentary as he watches his victim, before we ultimately follow Frank as he slowly moves in for the kill. Frank though is not content to just stalk and kill young women though, as he also enjoys scalping his victims and later transferring their hair onto one of his numerous mannequins which in Frank’s mind gives them the personality of his victims.

Here Khalfoun is not content to give us yet another run of the mill slasher as the focus is kept completely with Frank throughout the film and in doing so ensures that he is fully able to explore the complex psyche of Frank, whose issues are certainly deep rooted to say the least as we get frequent flashbacks to Frank’s childhood in particular his mother moonlighting as a prostitute, scenes hauntingly shot with the young Frank being forced to watch grotesque sexual scenes happening infront of him, while clearly not being able to configure in his young mind what is actually. Combined with the frequently nervous tone which Frank speaks with it is a strange sense of sympathy that Frank invokes in the audience even though we are watching him commit some truly hideous acts and its this conflict of emotions we feel for this character that Khalfoun frequently plays with over the course of the film as he shows us Frank’s tortured psyche before showing him committing some hideous act ensuring that we are never sure how to feel about him.

Speaking of these acts, unsurprising for any film which Alexandre Aja is involved with it is unquestionably violent in places with scalping being the main order of the day and while certainly toned down than some of Aja's previous films, he it is unquestionably effective when it is used and never seemingly for the sake of easy shocks as Khalfoun is careful to not loose the mood of the film for the sake of adding more gore, instead preferring to use intense bursts rather than prolonged violence and only allowing himself to truly go overboard for the finale as Frank suffers a full mental breakdown escalating in a suitably gory climax.

The real strength of this film though lies in the casting of Elijah Wood who gives us his second turn as a psycho after previously playing the mute cannibal Kevin in “Sin City” and here he continues his surprising talent for playing serial killers as he continues to prove himself more than a one trick pony considering how many people still see him as Frodo. Here though that role seems like a distant memory as he tackles possibly one of his most complex roles to date and while he might seem like the last person who could play a convincing psycho he soon blows any doubts out of the water within minutes of the film starting, as he is effortless flows between Frank’s many frames of mind.

The other standout aspect here is the synth heavy soundtrack by French composer Rob and which instantly brought to mind Cliff Martinez score for “Drive” with undertones of “A  Clockwork Orange” and it really suits the film which after all is a (loose) remake of an 80’s film.  Like so many of John Carpenter’s films here as well the film is framed by its soundtrack, moving from softly haunting during the stalking sequence, while fully coming to the front during the climax as Frank truly looses all control he may have had over his murderous urges

 

Yet another film to add to the argument for remakes, this is unquestionably exciting film making and even without the link to the original film, this film more than stands on its own merits, especially with Wood providing one of his most memorable performances to date. No matter what your stance on the unrelenting stream of remakes might be, this is certainly one of the better films to come out of this trend.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Title: The Hills Have Eyes

Director: Alexandre Aja

Released: 2006

Staring: Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Emilie de Ravin, Dan Byrd, Tom Bower, Billy Drago, Robert Joy, Ted Levine

Plot: After breaking down in the desert a family find themselves being hunted by a group of Cannibalistic mutants

Review: Out of the new breed of Horror directors of recent years few have managed to reach the same levels of the masters of horror who came before them, while even more frustrating the ones who showed true potential such as Eli Roth, now seem to have lost their way with Roth seemingly these days more interested in producing and giving questionable performances as an actor. Still since I saw Director Aja's debut film “Haute Tension” released in the UK under the grindhouse esq title “Switchblade Romance” and the more straightforward title interpretation of “High Tension” for it’s US release, he has been for myself a Horror director worth watching and this film only further cemented for me that reputation, for it is one thing to remake a classic horror film, but to be personally hand picked by the films original director and Horror legend Wes Craven after he was shown Aja’s debut by his long time producing partner Marianne Maddalena, to helm the remake of a film which was once branded the scariest movie ever made, leading to a fun rivalry between Craven and Sami Rami, who would also reference the original in a film I'd also give that title to “The Evil Dead”.

Teaming up once again with his creative partner Grégory Levasseur to devastating effect once more, as right from the start Aja lets the audience know that he’s not going to be pulling any punches, from the opening pick axe attack on a group of scientists, to his opening title montage which combines nuclear testing footage with intercuts of birth defects caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam, yet still hauntingly manage to double as convincing effects of nuclear fallout. Needless to say it’s a gruesome and shocking foundation that he only builds on, from this moment onwards, though showing a maturity to lure the audience into a false sense of security teasing out the next attack which again proves to be as equally effective as like the family the audience is bombarded with chaos and confusion, with the second of these attack seeing things taken perhaps alittle to far, especially as it descends into a rape and murder party which does have the feeling of Aja pushing things perhaps alittle too far, while at the same providing the catalyst for the change in seemingly eternal pacifist Doug (Standford), who is shown as an academic and thinker unlike his more openly aggressive and testosterone driven father in law Big Bob (Levine). It’s only after the mutants attack that Doug snaps and pretty much goes postal, much like David in “Straw Dogs” (1971) were an equally horrific (but unconvincingly acted by Susan George) attack on his wife leads him to abandon his academic persona for more primal urges and it’s a key reference used by Aja and further highlighted by Doug’s broken glasses.

When it comes to the gore, once again Aja isn’t pulling punches as to be expected and if revenge is a dish best served cold, then the revenge Doug hands out is Icy cold with his change startling to say the least, as he changes from someone who actively avoids confrontation, to a man running on pure survival mode as he turns the tables on the mutants by actively hunting them down with the family dog Beast whom also seems to undergo a similar change for some unknown reason) . The gore quota is giddily high here, as limbs are lopped off and violence is kept primal especially at the hands of the mutants, who at the same time they still maintain a high level of intelligence and able to pull off planned attacks on the family and seen communicating via Walkie-Talkie, yet frustratingly there is little depth given to the mutants beyond their surface abnormalities, so any theories on the chain of leadership is left with the audience to figure out for themselves. Still I loved the fact that the mutants live in a town made for nuclear testing and that they are creations as a result of those weapons of death and destruction, characteristics they now choose to embody.

The mutant appearances are all very much grounded in reality with Aja and Levasseur looking at the effects of nuclear fallout in places such as Chernobyl and Hiroshima, aswell as more bizarrely a Pogues concert which the pair attended while in Chicago, while the effects used are a highly impressive mixture of flawless CGI and old school effects, allowing them to create some hideous looking creations, with each of the mutants having their own individual look, making them easy to distinguish between and allowing what little characterisation there is to come across alot clearer.

While it might have the disadvantage of being a remake, Aja has managed to rise above the comparisons to the original and is very much it’s own creation and more than capable of holding it’s own against the original, making it one of the few remakes to match up to the original, while Aja manages to bring enough original ideas to prevent the feeling of over familiarity which often comes with remakes and it only makes it more of a shame that he opted not to come back for the sequel, which although more original, lack any of the edge that this film has even if the tastefulness of some of the scenes can certainly be questioned, while at the same time only furthering my opinion that Aja is a modern horror director worth keeping an eye on.