A milestone in exploitation filmmaking, "Maniac" is also one of the most shocking and fascinating movies made in the thirties, pushing the boundaries of acceptable film production to its limits. Created by the husband and wife team resposible for such films as "Marihuana, Weed With Roots In Hell" and "How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband", "Maniac" was originally shown at burlesque houses and roadhouses rather than at regular movie theaters. A burlesque house was an appropriate venue for "Maniac" as the movie includes shots of topless women - a true shocker for 1934! Based partly on Edgar Allan Poes "The Black Cat", "Maniac" also cleverly superimposes clips from a 1922 movie called "Haxan" to suggest the insanity of characters. The wild plot concerns a mad doctor (Horace B. Carpenter) who blackmails a former vaudeville impersonator (Bill Woods) into helping him obtain the corpses he needs to perform Frankenstein-like experiments. When the doctor is accidentally killed, the impersonator "becomes" the doctor and even attempts to bring him back from the dead. "Maniac" revels in its gleeful exhibition of "bad taste".

Upplagd i sortimentet: vecka 13, 2006