Maniacs - Die Horrorbande

The friends of a high school girl (Leilani Sarelle) are ruthlessly slain by monstrous freaks living under the Golden Gate Bridge, but the police don't believe her outlandish story. Thankfully, her potential beau believes her (Clyde Hayes), as does an adolescent girl (Donna Locke), and they team-up to find the truth.

"Neon Maniacs" (1986), aka "Evil Dead Warriors," is similar to the contemporaneous "Trick or Treat" except that, unlike Sammi Curr in that movie, the titular antagonists are too cartoonish to be scary in any way, despite their gory slayings. The tone mixes brutal killings with a fun 'kid flick' spirit and it's bewildering.

The monsters curiously consist of a samurai, a caveman, a doctor, an Indian, a straight-jacket lunatic and so forth, but what they really are, their motivations and where they originated is never explained. While not noted in the movie, they're rumored to be from another dimension, "the worst killers from across time" mumbo jumbo.

Production and budget problems caused expository scenes to either be cut or never shot. Another casualty was the intended final battle between the protagonists and the maniacs, which explains the puzzling abrupt and inconclusive ending. As such, this is basically an unfinished film, but you won't really realize it until the last act.

Still, there's plenty to appreciate for people interested in 80's oddities: The likable protagonists have chemistry, Leilani Sarelle is winsome, and the "Battle of the 80's Bands" is cheesy fun (one a lame Rick Springfield knockoff and the other a kick-axx hair metal group).

The film runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Glendale, California.

GRADE: C.

A group of slow-moving, inter-dimensional maniacs, each with their own unique look and method of killing, emerge from under The Golden Gate Bridge at night to prey on the people of San Francisco. Having witnessed the creatures at work, high school students Natalie (Leilani Sarelle) and Steven (Clyde Hayes), aided by teenage monster movie fan Paula (Donna Locke), find themselves targeted by the maniacs and are forced to fight back with water as their only means of defence (despite the colourful killers living next to a river, plain old H20 proves to be deadly to them!).

When Neon Maniacs was first released on VHS, I thought it was junk, writer Mark Patrick Carducci failing to do his rather intriguing basic premise justice, director Joseph Mangine compounding matters with his uninspired direction, and the cast giving dreadful performances all round. Having recently given the film the benefit of a re-watch, I still think it's junk, but at least it now has the advantage of being nostalgic junk, the horrible clothes, nasty hairstyles, crappy effects, and awful pop/rock music (particularly during a terrible battle-of-the-bands scene) providing a reasonably fun time despite the overall technical shoddiness. Steve's hideous jacket; Natalie's big hair; Paula wearing her Nostromo baseball cap at a silly angle; the nasty neon tubing backdrop to Steve's band: it's delightfully dated elements like these that just about made this one worth watching.

5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for the trip down memory lane (the 80s were worse than I remembered), a couple of gloopy melting maniacs, and Leilani Sarelle in her swimming cossie.

after months of trying,i finally got me a copy of the hard to find horror movie"Neon Maniacs"the movie is really cool and it shows.the special effects are also a treat.i like how the maniacs had different weapons and looked different.except for"the thing"i hated that neon maniac.archer(has a crossbow) was one of my favorite.there was some gore mostly graphic violence(heads are sliced off,arms are sliced,arrows in backs etc.)enjoy if you like monsters with different weapons.

A group of teenagers in San Francisco are attacked by homicidal monsters living under the Golden Gate Bridge and set out to prove they are real.

Despite its faults, logic, editing, pace and such director Joseph Mangine's ambitious Neon Maniacs counter balances its short comings. Larry Odien, Allan A. Apone and Douglas J. White's make up and practical effects are surprisingly good and the period music score is creatively ominous. To Neon's credit Mangines creates some jump moments notably the bus scene.

Paula played by actress Donna Locke (who has disappeared off the planet) has a cute Goonie appeal. Leilani Sarelle's Natalie is a solid lead and not surprisingly went on to do bigger thing. The rest of the cast give typical 80s low budget hammy performances.

In retrospect writers Mark Patrick Carducci's ambiguous origins of the Neon Maniacs adds to the films appeal and although uneven with more style over substance it deserves it cult status if only for the 80's nostalgia, it's monsters 'cool' factor and surreal atmosphere.

See, there are these twelve Neon Maniacs who live under the Golden Gate bridge and come out at night to kill people. No reason really, they just do. Natalie (Leilani Sarelle) sees all of her partying friends offed by this gnarly group but no one will believe her because the only thing left at the scene of the crime is some neon goo. Insert Steven (Alan Hayes), a fellow high school student who has the hots for Natalie, and Paula (Donna Locke), a young horror obsessed tomboy, to form a trio of folks who the cops won't listen to.

This NEON MANIACS madness is really something and plays with the same logic of the home movies I made when I was a 12-year-old. Sad when you realize director Joseph Mangine was in his 50s when he made this. We never get any history on the titular creatures or learn why they are so intent on tracking our leads. But we do know they melt when water gets on them (you listening M. Night?). I guess you could get away with stuff like this in the 80s if you throw some slime around, which this film does plenty of. Probably the only film in the history of cinema to have the heroes discussing ways to off the monsters and one says, "Hey, isn't the battle of the bands tonight? We can do it there!" Insert two dueling bands (new wave vs. heavy metal) duking it out while the Maniacs converge on the school. The film ends with the hope of a NEON MANIACS II and I'm still, like, totally waiting.