Maniac Killer

I must first say that I was kind of disappointed by the lack of gore in this movie by Andrea Bianchi (director of Burial Ground). Having seen the gorefest that is Burial Ground, I was expecting something along those lines, but it's not. Nevertheless, this movie was entertaining with its bad acting and its plot that barely make sense.

It's the story of a weird cult that kidnaps prostitutes in a small French village, and tortures "inquisition style" in order to purify their souls. But, soon the local pimp and others will seek revenge. It also includes a scientist from California that uses the village idiot to capture small animals to experiment on them.

Entertaining, if you want to laugh at a bad movie.

My recent '80s Italian kick led me to a weird place - the Italian-French co-production Maniac Killer (1987). This is a bizarre one as there are two separate plots going on here. One has a cult led by Gondrand (Robert Ginty) that tortures impure women and then he kidnaps the wife of Count Silvano (Bo Svenson, who should never play someone named Silvano). The second plot has professor Roger Osborne (Chuck Connors) performing experiments in life extension at his isolated mansion. The only common thing connecting these two are some cop characters that visit both. Andrea Bianchi is often credited as the director (under the pseudonym Frank Drew White), but this feels more like a Jess Franco film (and it was produced by his main outfit, Eurocine). It definitely has that Joseph Lai or Godfrey Ho feeling of two separate films being edited together. Oh, there is also no maniac killer so no one is killed by a maniac killer.

Maniac Killer - 1987 (This Film Rates a D ) After getting slapped in the face by a jerk of a man, Rosalee walks home in the dark alone and is stalked by an unknown assailant. She is drugged and carried away. Rosalee wakes up chained to a wall then stripped and tortured. The next day word gets around town and rumors start. A man is thought to be "experimenting on animals and women until they die". Meanwhile there is a town "half wit" named Matthew. He collects a cat/rabbit/bird in a canvas bag and is fascinated with fireworks. Matthew is snatching these creatures for Professor Roger Osborne who is a molecular biologist. This guy never takes off his lab coat. Anyways, he needs the animals for "new fresh blood". The professor teaches Matthew how to speak. There are also interludes of Occultist torture scenes that break up the monotonous and painful storyline. These feel very disjointed. The group of occultists torture women into confessing they are possessed by Satan and to "purify their souls". There are no real connections with either story except the local police investigations which intertwine both. By the time it ends you won't care about any of it. The acting is pretty terrible, but it is a French film. This is highlighted by the shootout scene at the 45-minute mark or the knockout scene at the 1 hour 6-minute mark. The poor doorman gets knocked out twice. No real gore but has some teaser moments that just do not pan out. So many gunshot to the stomach death moments. On the positive side there are a few boob shots. Do not waste your time here.

Maniac Killer is a typically surreal Eurociné production. There's no gore, in case you're hoping director Bianchi would repeat his blood feast from Burial Ground. There is an extremely unconvincing shootout, everyone seems to get shot in the the stomach(most convenient place to strap on a squib?) Robert Ginty (the Exterminator) crushes a glass in his hand - of course he's evil. There's a shaky hand-held shot of the Eiffel tower. There's also a village idiot reminiscent of Bob in City of the living dead. Maniac Killer is as low on any action as Gianni Martucci's the Red Monks. Nothing happens. Still, there is certain weirdness to the film.

This was a movie that I learned about through a podcast. I'm guessing it was Mr. Parka since this seems like a movie he would have checked out. I got this in for review from Laura at Scandal Coactive as part of the Eurocine Volume 1 boxset. This was one that when I saw it featured Bo Svenson and Chuck Connors, both are actors I've heard of it piqued my intrigue. I just haven't seen a lot of their works. I was excited knowing this fell into the horror genre as well.

Synopsis: a murderous cult kidnaps French prostitutes and tortures them to death to 'purify' them of their evil ways. The local pimps set out after them, as does a man whose girlfriend was kidnapped and may still be alive.

We start this off at what looks like a house party. It is revealed later that this is a night club. A couple comes out. There is a woman who is with Manfred Grey (Robert Ground). They get into a tiff where he hits her and goes back inside. She walks home. There is someone following her. They put cloth over her face, knocking her out. She wakes up, chained in a dungeon. This is the cult in the synopsis that is out to cleanse her.

It is from here that we meet moving parts that will come together. There is a mailman who meets his group of friends at a diner. They don't trust a local doctor, Professor Roger Osborne (Connors). He is doing experiments so they think he kidnapped the missing woman. Roger lives in his isolated home with Dorine (Dora Doll). Roger enlists of the aid of a deaf/mute young man who has mental issues. His name is Matthieu (François Greze). He collects animals for this doctor and this draws the attention of Countess Silvano (Paulina Adrián). She believes he's a poacher so she chases him off the property. The countess is married to the character played by Svenson. We see an interesting run-in at a party where she has a lover and the count kicks him out.

There is then the leader of this cult. I'm giving this information as it doesn't do much to hide it. There is Gondrand (Robert Ginty) who is working with Lysia (Suzanne Andrews) and Sam (Stanley Kapoul). They kidnap another young woman. This draws the attention of the police and Manny's crew. Gondrand has more pull than we realize, plus he has certain protections that help him as well.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I recognized our director of Andrea Bianachi since I've seen Strip Nude for Killer. I've also had another of his movies on my list for a while, Burial Ground, I just haven't watched it yet. I also know that he took over for Jess Franco for Angel of Death which is in this boxset. I'm giving this information knowing that this would be sleazy or at least I knew that it could be.

Let me then get into what I liked here. Having this cult kidnap prostitutes to cleanse them of their sins is a good idea. My problem is that they think these women are possessed by the devil, while they're wearing robes that are cult like. They look like they're worshipping Satan. They're also using a staff with a serpent on it, which also seems to fall in line there. These are good elements, but I just think that they didn't know what they truly wanted to do so it feels rushed and confused.

Another good aspect for me is having Roger doing experiments in this town so the regular townspeople distrust him. This feels like something taken from old world mad scientist stories like Frankenstein. His experiments leave blood so I did like that when the police officer in charge, the majordomo played by Henri Lambert, follows up a lead. It also makes sense that the henchmen of Gondrand would throw suspicion his way as well. It doesn't help that Roger flees when they want to take him in. This feels like it borrows from giallo films by needing him to clear his name.

There is also a subplot with Matthieu. I understood what they're doing here. He is a simple man. The way his brain works, it doesn't make the same connections for how we learned to read, write or just comprehend. That doesn't mean he isn't capable; a different approach is needed. Using the computer to help here was interesting. The problem is that this needs too much screentime to make it work. There are also leaps in logic to not linger longer than it already does there. What they use this for was fine in the grand scheme of the story. It just doesn't work how they wanted for me.

I'll finish out these thoughts with filmmaking. I do think that the cinematography was good. It doesn't do a lot to stand out. This being cleaned up for Blu-ray looks great though. I'll shift over to the effects and they're fine. We don't get a lot of them. This is working with a lower budget, so they needed to hide things. I'll credit the framing and editing there. We do get to see nudity, which I can appreciate. The problem that I have though is that this movie feels rushed. There are good story elements, it just jumps through things and we don't flesh it out in a way that feels complete. That is a gripe that I have in the end.

Let me then finish this out with acting. I thought the roles by Svenson and Connors were solid. These guys are collecting paychecks. I'd say that they didn't phone it in though, so that helps. Ginty was solid in his role, but we needed a bit more for his role to work for me. Doll and Lambert were fine. No one necessarily stands out here, but the acting was fine for a movie like this. Just don't expect too much there.

In conclusion, there are good elements here. I thought the concept for the story was one that is interesting, but I don't think they thought it out enough. They are supposed to be cleansing these prostitutes from being possessed by Satan, while looking like a cult that worships him. We get other concepts that I think could work, but what we linger on doesn't help. It also doesn't have enough time to make them all work and come together. The acting is solid. Svenson and Connors are the draw. The rest work for what was needed. I'd say that this is made well enough. It knows its budget so that helps them hide what they need to. There is untapped potential here that could work if remade properly. I struggled to keep my attention though which isn't good for a movie that is basing itself on a sleazy concept like this.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 10.