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Oddball 80s horror film about San Francisco teens getting slaughtered by a Village People-like group zombies. There's a biker zombie, an archer zombie, a samurai zombie, a soldier zombie, and a few others. The film is poorly made to say the least, but it does have plenty of nicely gory old school practical special effects, which I do love. Another fun part of the film is when the teens go to a concert at one point, so you get some nice cheesy 80s music and dancing, all dripping in 80s neon, so it has that going for it too. "Neon Maniacs" isn't an 80s horror film anyone should seek out, but if you've already seen them everything halfway decent and are trying to find something you haven't seen before, it's worth a look.

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.

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.

It's not horror enough to be a horror, it's not funny enough to be a comedy, and it's not goonies enough to be a goonies ish kids movie. Overall there's no plot and no characters and no reason for anything. Just a blargh movie.

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.

there was no plot at all, a few badly dressed actors stumble around getting shot at by water pistols, not very scary. The only good thing about it was the box it came in which had a holographic effect (at the time this was unusual). If your scared of water pistols - get it - if not dont bother.

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.

In San Francisco, Natalie is celebrating her birthday one night in the park with a couple of friends, when suddenly a large group of nasty looking monsters gatecrash it. She's the only survivor, and the police don't buy her story, because of what she supposedly saw and her friend's bodies have vanished. These mutants only come out at night, from their home under the Golden Gate Bridge and seek possible victims to take back with them. Now their eyes are set on Natalie, and with the help of her lovelorn friend Steven and a plucky, horror enthusiast Paula. They set out to stop these monstrous mutants.

It doesn't get anymore ultra-bizarre, gloriously tacky and super-dumb, than the film known as "Neon Maniacs". Actually what mindlessly juicy fun, even though you'll be at a lost! Yep, it's one of those deliciously sweet and trashy horror oddities that only the 80's horror scene could possibly dream up! This low-budget item doesn't want to go into any sort of reasoning, or development to what's actually happening, so you just have to go with the flow and cop the threadbare screenplay for what it is. There's some imagination behind all of this kitsch, and what they mustered up with the wicked make-up effects for these cheesy looking nocturnal mutants are vividly creative with a whole variety to look at. Hey they even got their own collectible cards (don't ask me why), which we see at the beginning. The thing is they could've done far more with the unusual idea than what we got in the end. It was quickly thought-up and easily penned by Mark Patrick Carducci, and the results end up showing the shambles. Too many plot holes to poke a stick at and it might slow up in the latter half, but the cartoonish nature brings some nicely chiselled humorous touches and wacky situations of junky entertainment. It does have that childish feel to it, but the nasty side and gruesome effects make sure that it stays far from that crowd. The handling of it on the other hand came off looking more competent than you'll expect, but director Joseph Mangine (who's more often behind the lens), execution feels cramped and overwhelmed by the simple novelty. It's sloppy, but he keeps a steady momentum and spins out some atmospheric highlights (like a dream sequence). Shadowy camera-work is reasonably positioned, with moody lighting and there's a chewy bubblegum soundtrack with the familiar eerie electronic score finding its way in. The sound performances are pretty basic, but Leilani Sarelle, Allan Hayes and an animated Donna Locke are acceptable. Also popping up as one of the ghouls is Andrew Divoff, which was his first film appearance.

This preposterous clunker is pretty much a low-end horror delight that lazily amuses. Remember logic has no say here, but goofiness and unpleasantness does.

Oh, boy, this was bad. The script and its execution was bad . Lets be fair; every single film deserves credit for the mere fact it got made, not matter how bad.

Natalie is the only survivor of a group of teenage friends who were attacked by monsters. The police doesn't believe her bizarre story. Steven, who goes to school with Natalie, has a crush on her, and a convenient situation arises for him to get acquainted with her.

Paula, an amateur film maker, is intrigued by Natalie's story and decide to do some investigation of her own. By chance, she manages to capture footage of the monsters, but once home she noticed the camera did not record. She decides to team up with Natalie and Steven to obtain proof of the monsters' existence, but soon find themselves being hunted by the monsters.

I have so many issues with the movie, I don't even know where to begin. The most obvious is the bad dialogue, I suppose, and the bad acting from bystanders, who most of the time appeared to be oblivious to the monsters right in front of them! Shortly after Paula killed a monster in her home, she complained about her camera not recording, stating the tape would have provided proof. Sorry, what?? So what happened to the dead monster in your home?? Surely a body would be enough evidence??

None of the characters acted realistically given their circumstances. The morning after Natalie and Steven were almost killed by the monsters, they acted as if nothing happened.

How did the monsters always know where to find Natalie and Paula? Did they have a way of tracking them? And even so, why did they even follow them? And why would the monsters go to the school dance and weave through the crowd just to find Natalie and Paula?

Speaking of the monsters. Some of them acted like humans, so were they human once? Are they deformed humans? Humanoids? Hybrids? Aliens? You can't have antagonists purely for the sake of antagonists. We have to at least know something about them. All we know about them, is that they can't get wet.

'Neon Maniacs' is just bad writing from beginning to end. The Lieutenant is also a seriously weak and two-dimensional character who contributed nothing to the film. And they also forced a love story into this mess, which - by the way - wasn't the least bit believable or remotely romantic. In general the film was more laughable than suspenseful - and I don't mean in a funny way. Hell, this won't even work as a comedy!

On a positive note, some of the practical effects and make-up were really good.

As bad films go, this one's pretty enjoyable.

Anchor Bay, not long ago, released a wonderful widescreen DVD of NEON MANIACS. But you can also enjoy this on tape, because VHS copies are still floating around at used video stores. And perhaps an old VHS tape might be better for generating that 80's feeling...

This is the infamous low-budget horror flick from 1985 that boasts a gaggle of weird, oozing monsters--each with a different look and method of killing--who come out at night, ready for action. The movie takes place in San Francisco--and the monsters actually make their home under the Golden Gate Bridge (!). Sure, why not? It could happen.

The title monsters are NEVER referred to as "Neon Maniacs" by any of the characters. A narrator has a brief speech early on in the film and says something like "The children's path shall be darkened...by the SHADOWS of the...NEON MANIACS." (Yeah. Whatever.) But that's the only time you hear the term, and as a justification for the title, it's flimsy at best. AND, as noted by many, the monsters are NEVER explained in any way. At all!

Near the end of the film there is a climactic scene at a high school costume dance featuring an astounding "Battle of the 80's Bands" (one a Rick Springfield knockoff, the other a lame heavy metal group) that will have you squirming and your face contorting into various peculiar grimaces and scowls. Yow!

This is a time capsule film. You watch it to see what things looked like, what was going on twenty-odd (very odd) years ago. But please take care: What you see, you may find upsetting.

80's horror had its own very unique and pointless stamp, and this is one of the best examples of an endearingly BAD 80's horror film--just as THE BREAKFAST CLUB is one of the best examples of an endearingly good 80's teen film. That is to say, NEON MANIACS, despite how awful it is, is memorable. It gives you a strange warm happy feeling inside when you watch it. And when it's over, you think about it--chortle to yourself over it. You might even recommend it to your friends. And you know perfectly well that it's not a good movie at all! That it's one of the worst movies you've ever seen!! See it tonight! Yes, it's crap. Yes, it's fun.

The first time I saw this movie, I sat there scratching my head, thinking: What am I watching? The movie plot is so far out with non-sequiturs that it has to be good, right? Hydrophobic (no, not rabid, actually harmed by water)monsters, who in turn are controlled by amphibious aliens. This stuff is great. Side note: I liked the nod to Ridley Scott's "Alien" on the young girl's hat, which read USS Nostromo.

I can't believe I missed renting this film before. I saw the cover for the film so many times at my local Blockbuster a long time ago and for some reason I never got the urge to rent it. I'm just glad I finally go to catch this excellent flick. It has a nice mix of Clive Barker's Nightbreed and a small mix of the classic Monster Squad film. It basically starts off with a group of monsters discovering a bunch of teens having a small party at a park. They decide to crash the party and kill every one of the teens except one, who gets saved by the last minute. The monsters are then set out to hunt down the teen survivor and not letting anything get in their way. I thought this film had a lot of cool stuff in it and I found myself actually enjoying every bit of it. The monsters themselves were very cool. Each one of them had their own special skill or talent. One would use an axe while the other would use a rope to hang people. The only problem I had with the monsters was the fact that they could be easily killed by water. I thought that was rather lame, but I guess you gotta kill them somehow.

Usually when there are some freak monsters running around in a horror film there is only a small few, but in this movie there was a small army of monsters. I was also surprised that this film actually had decent acting, considering it was from the 80s. The directing wasn't bad either. For a low-budget movie it had some good effects. What I didn't like about the film was the fact that there was no explaination as to how the monsters came about or why they kill people. It was just never explained. I'm assuming that since the way it ended and since there was no explaination that there was plans for a sequel, but I guess that never came about. I'm pretty sure it's because their distributor, Lightning Video, went out of business. I would have happily given this film a higher rating, but I didn't like how it ended. It left you hanging and thinking to yourself, what the hell? Other than that it was pretty damn good.

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.

Very rarely do you seriously come across a movie with no redeeming values whatsoever. I mean, there are tons of movies these days that are so bad that you say something like that about them, but it's a rare occurrence when you can apply that statement literally. Neon Maniacs is the story of a lot of creepy monsters that live under the Golden Gate Bridge, evidently for no other reason than to make people wonder why a lot of monsters who can be killed by water would choose to live so close to it. In thinking back on the movie, is there really any reason at all why they live under the Golden Gate Bridge? Is it just so they can include a couple shots of the bridge at the opening of the movie?

Not only do we never find out why these creatures live to close to the one thing that can destroy them on contact, but we also never know where they came from or why they are killing people. Maybe they're upset because they're different. This is definitely an 80s horror film, so obviously you expect the acting to be just as bad as it is, and I think that Neon Maniacs really tests your levels of belief by trying to get you to believe that teenagers in the 80s thought it was the cool thing to do late at night to park their van in the middle of some park and play football and make out in the woods. Oddly enough, as dumb as that sounds, it looks even dumber on screen.

I will not waste your time describing what kind of creatures these are, because they are little more than some make-up artists weak effort to make some disgusting monsters for a meaningless horror film and their exact descriptions are beside the point. There is everything from an alien to an ape-man, so you can just imagine for yourself what's in between, if you're lucky enough not to have seen this movie. If you've read any of the other reviews of this movie on the IMDb, you already know that the movie sets up for a sequel that was never made (my good friend and colleague Christopher Brown makes a good point in his review, that the sequel may have never been made because Lightning Video went out of business, but he also makes a shocking miscalculation of the quality of the movie itself – sorry Chris!).

It's true that the movie leaves the possibility of a sequel so open that it calls too much attention to the fact that one was never made, but this is not an uncommon way to end movies like this. Little Shop of Horrors, for example, had a very similar ending, with the grinning plant showing up in the cute garden at the end of the film. Personally, I am more concerned with the sheer lack of quality of any kind from top to bottom in this movie (there's a scene at the end, during the `climax' of the film, where the hero and heroine are hiding from the approaching demons, and decide to lay down on the floor and make-out and just not worry about the monsters that are closing in, I guess hoping that they will just disappear – as it turns out, they were right), and besides that, even if someone wrote a sequel to this mess, who in their right mind would want to direct it?

There are tons of very 80's movie out there that rock. They just give off that vibrant 80s feel in a way that just makes ya smile, and make you wanna put something fluorescent on. Then there are others, like Neon Maniacs, that are so 80s and so campy, that you can actually get a headache.

I gotta admit I was pretty pumped to see this flick. On the cover you got this slimy, special-effects weirdo, that just seems to promise you this movie'll be awesome. Eh, sh!t. The flick revolves around a trio of high school kids who have encountered the Neon Maniacs, and they seem to be on the Maniacs de Neon hit-list. Simple, stupid stuff. Add in some truly horrendous 80s songs, and you got a serious letdown of a flick.

Something I should mention is if you're a fan of bad movies, there's a good chance you may enjoy this film. I usually do enjoy crap like this, but I mistakenly gave myself high expectations with the cool special effects shots on the cover. But if you know that this movie sucks before going in, and you're down with that, you should be just fine.

I saw this film a few years ago and since then I have been trying too find a worse film. I have not succeeded but even though I have viewed many bad films some of which would of been to bad even for the crew of The Satellite of Love.

It would seem that a group of Power Rangers have come down from space and can't fall in water and there's a one eyed dinosaur. I cannot even begin to tell you how bad this is. Its so bad I considered committing suicide with the video box.

Please do yourself a favour. DO NOT SEE THIS FILM. It is not worth your sanity.

So in conclusion I will tell you again: THIS IS THE WORST FILM EVER MADE!

This movie seemed to have quite a lot of potential. It jumped out of the gates swinging, but in the end it turns into a bit of a dud. This movie starts out with a guy finding these playing cards with pictures of monsters and stuff on them. The monsters end up being real and they go on a killing rampage. What are they and what is their purpose I don't think is ever revealed. They quickly go kill some kids and I am thinking it was better than what people said. Then comes the standard cops do not believe a thing scene that usually appear in movies of this sort and then a rather interesting dream sequence. Then there is a whole lot of nothing going on. The movie turns into a total snooze fest, as some teens try and figure out what is going on. Then the end comes and it doesn't match up to the beginning and it is just a real letdown after the brisk pace that it started out with. Also, how come these monsters are a problem at all? They happen to have a rather lame weakness that is really quite easy for anyone to use. All in all a movie with potential that falls flat.

It has been at least 12 years or more since I last saw Neon Maniacs. I rented it on video when it came out and really enjoyed it. Despite being low-budget, it was actually very good in the gore department. All attempts to rent it again in my area have failed - and in our small town we have 6 video stores! Maybe one day I'll get lucky. ;)

While I found it ultimately disappointing, it was a nice attempt at being different. The movie had nice costumes,make up and some humor. But it was too uneven. I'm not sure the film makers truly decided what type of movie this was going to be. I disliked the music that was used for background music and I really disliked the live music scenes. The background music was largely responsible for giving the mixed messages about what type of "feel" a scene was supposed to have. i just didn't feel like the scenes that were shot, and what was put together in editing and post-production matched.

But for B-movie, Video Nasty people I think its worth one watch.