Maniac (1934)

Date	User	Rating
Aug 28, 2022	janus	20 _1st
Hilarious acting, putrid otherwise. Some rough handling of a kitty cat was upsetting including a (though very fake-looking) gouging of its eye. Seems like this was one of the first "worst ever" films and it is deserved especially for the way it plays at offering an enlightened perspective on mental illness.
Mar 30, 2021	JPFerguson	35 _8th
A bizarre and often disturbing public service announcement about the dangers of mental illness as told through Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat' (which I've not read). I also get some flashes of Bataille's 'Story of the Eye' (which I have read).
Oct 20, 2019	manwhonose	35 _2nd
Unoriginal, (even for 1934) clunky rubbish that would be campy fun, were it knowing and tongue-in-cheek, but this pile of pants knows nothing and doesn't have the merest suggestion of a tongue or a cheek.
Nov 09, 2018	monclivie	30 _4th
I like the educational part. And it had more scenes containing real boobs than Piranha 3D.
Apr 08, 2018	hotsake	30 _10th
A sleazy film that pretends to be an educational film. But man was I bored.
May 24, 2017	deep_green	60 _39th
Hell of an odd bird, this. Full of weird dialogue and people losing their shit. I particularly like the superimposed shots of bizarre hellish imagery that seems like it came from a film made 15 years before this one. The very outmoded approach to mental disorder is quite fun, much like watching some of those old cautionary drug films from about the same time, in which Esper also dabbled.
Apr 28, 2017	backwardsuit	50 _13th
What a bizzarre thing! Almost transcendentally terrible. Too bad I didn't have any drugs on me.
Aug 09, 2016	BillyShears	40 _12th
Enough bloomers in SEX MANIAC to make you blush then holy moly I saw a bosom from 1934.
Oct 19, 2015	PeaceAnarchy	27 _0th
Wow, this is really boring in addition to being really bad. I'm ok with the acting being on par with a mediocre stage performance, but most of what's going on makes no sense and the script is terrible. The long intertitles with diatribes about mental illness don't help wither.
Feb 14, 2015	natebarrios	0 _0th
I feel bad for other movies I rated 0 because they have to be in the same rating category as this movie.
Mar 13, 2013	PUNQ	50 _78th
I've got no idea how to rate Maniac. It's terrible. But it's so damn terrible it's incredibly funny! And since it's an "educational" it's got all you need for a cheesy spectacle. Nudity, killing, random information about madness, eating cat eyes and acting so "unbelievable" that'll make anyone smile. It's just good horrendous fun!
Nov 19, 2012	graveyardtan	35 _9th
Groundbreaking exploitation film that has a non Phyllis Diller Phyllis Diller, a shitty Poe-meets-Shelly-meets-sex fiend type script and nothing else.
Jan 11, 2012	Coheed	68 _48th
On a technical level this is one of the worst things I've seen but it has the virtue of unpredictability. Made outside of Hollywood censorship, with content which is surprising to see in such an old film, and only to make money, it manages to cram so many entertaining aspects into 50 or so minutes. The result is either a) a barrage of bad taste which is invigorating rather than numbing or b) unintentional anti-cinema, and either way it stands out when terrible films are usually life draining.
Jun 02, 2011	x-human	30 _4th
It's Lovecraft's Re-Animator meets The Black Cat with sexy results. It's everything you'd want out of 30's horror with mad science, corpses, cellars, flappers in lingerie and even the occasional flashes of nudity. The crew for Reefer Madness must have studied this film frame by frame because they're so similar it's spooky! [Rifftrax had a lot of fun with this one and you know it was a true labor of love and outshines Reefer Madness too! I hope they do Child Brides next.]
Sep 25, 2010	PaulCurtis	25 _3rd
Perhaps I will change my rating next time I see this again...but my recollection is that this film is loathsome.
Feb 12, 2010	gogokain	10 _19th
Hilariously improbable. Also, complete garbage.
Mar 22, 2009	moviesinhell	88 _85th
Remains Dwain's most enduring contribution to our bad-cinema archives. One of the strangest sustained hallucinations ever to flicker before grindhouse audiences's disbelieving orbs. As an arresting officer notes at film's end, "Man, you're crazy."
Mar 08, 2008	joseywales	51 _23rd
I don't toss this term around lightly, but this movie is trippy!
Aug 14, 2007	supergloo	4 _13th
Incredible!

Average Percentile 19.63% from 132 Ratings