The Maniac

Overlong and Overwritten, this is a Plodding and only Occasionally Interesting Psycho-Drama from Hammer Studios. it is Definitely a Lesser Film than the Other Psychological Pictures they made around this Time. After a Lurid and Effective Beginning things become Tedious with some Unnecessary Scenes and the Movie takes the Longest Time Setting-Up the Suspense and the Twist Filled Ending. The Middle Bit with all that Scenery makes for an Atmosphere of Expanse and is there, it seems, to be nothing more than Languishing on Location. The Ending too Suffers from the Ill-Advised and Badly Used Catacombs that do nothing but Distract from the Necessity of Piecing Together the Novel Conclusion. It all is Rendered Rather Routine the way the Climactic Confrontations are Played Out, as is Probably the Case of the Audience by the Time all is Said.

I found this interesting enough at the start particularly with the bold and brave opening but I was soon hearing that good old postman ringing once if not twice and I rather took my eye off the ball as twist followed twist and the leading man switches from daughter to mother and back again and back again. Location shooting effective except the completely wasted finale scenes and the look generally was okay. Certainly it looked better than it sounded. Even on my shiny new Blu-ray the dubbed and undubbed accents were a strain to follow even with the dialogue being somewhat repetitive. The stuff with the blowtorch is fine and perhaps if there had been some more hard hitting sequences instead of all those loving clinches after only a couple of exchanges things might have been more involving, and believable.

portrayed by the lovely Nadia Gray, Roumanian born actress. This suspenseful thriller is a nice surprise, and it has Polansky undertones to it which make it chilling. The idea of a maniac with a blowtorch, and no one knows who or what is his next target. The actor portraying said villain was very good, and menacing as well as believable. Eve has a daughter whose father is languishing in prison. He may be the blowtorch killer. He may have committed crimes. We don't know until the end. Some of the scenes with the outdoor markets reminded me of Montmartre. So real and well photographed. A must see for any suspense film fan. 9/10

Maniac is one of those rare Hammer films, a truly suspenseful horror. Its wonderful to watch, and so much better in widescreen. The unseen story intrigues, where the visual whets the appetite. A truly twisted story of intrigue and unrequited love, with a macabre twist that could only come from the studio that bred Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as the ultimate horror team. Although not as good as some of their other work, nevertheless, I was kept guessing as the plot became more complex, and enthralled by the scenery and style. What is more, it is a contemporary film (well, 1963) and set in modern France, with real French actors!

Michael Carreras directed this complex mystery about an American painter and drifter named Jeff Farrell(played by Kerwin Mathews) who is stranded in a bar owned by a woman named Eve(played by Nadia Gray) who seduces him away from her daughter Annette in order to enlist him in an effort to spring her estranged husband from a mental asylum, where he had been committed for killing Annette's alleged rapist with a blowtorch. It turns out(of course) that there is much more to it than that, as Jeff will discover...Complicated but uninspired film seems to combine "Psycho" with "The Postman Always Rings Twice" with mostly tedious results.

I'm a fan of Jimmy Sangster's work and after reading a few reviews of this movie here I was anxious to see it. Unfortunately I can't give this one a rave review. The best I can say is that it's not a bad movie and it's worth seeing once. After an intriguing opening the movie proceeds at a snail's pace for the longest time. It is excruciatingly slow. Since the actors involved are all as exciting as cardboard you can imagine how much slower that makes an already slow pace feel. Finally business picks up and then we're bombarded with one plot twist after another, not one of which is particularly impressive. The only twist I didn't see coming was one that was out of left field and there were no clues in the movie beforehand so it felt like a cheat. It's like Sangster knew his twists couldn't match Psycho so he decided on quantity instead of quality. If you're a fan of Jimmy Sangster or Hammer, then check it out but keep expectations low.