Maniacal Review
By Christopher Null
And that's because -- while Joe Castro's direction is iffy, Eric Spudic's script is predictable, and the entire cast's acting is poor -- makeup effects wiz Castro has a way of exploding a person's head that you just have to see to believe.
Not much worth explaining here about Maniacal. Gilbert Gill (Lee Webb) is a silent, murderous teenager, sent to an asylum after killing his stepmom. Three years later, on the day he is to be released(!), he bludgeons a bunch of people to death and goes on a wholesale rampage through suburban L.A. Eventually he focuses on his sister (Perrine Moore) and her large-breasted friends, and their dates.
Aside from the boob and body count, the film's a wash. Who shoots a horror movie that takes place largely during the daytime? It's not until the last 20 minutes that Gilbert's "maniacal" murders really get good -- and I mean that in the aforementioned hilarious way. He puts his fist through skulls, slices necks and bellies with utility knives, impales people, and puts more fists through skulls. I bust out laughing every time he offed somebody. Gilbert rocks... if only he had more personality. Instead he's just Michael Myers without the mask.
Facts and Figures
Year: 2003
Run time: 82 mins
In Theaters: Friday 22nd December 2006
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 2 / 5
IMDB: 4.9 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: Joe Castro
Producer: Mark J. Gordon, David S. Sterling
Screenwriter: Eric Spudic
Starring: Perrine Moore as Janet, Heather Chase as D.J., Brannon Gould as Lance, Jon Prutow as Josh, Lee Webb as Gilbert, Carl Darchuk as Garrett, David Ortega as Dane, Carol Rose Carver as Brooke, Deborah Huber as Nancy, Michael Robert Nyman as Officer Spiegel, Darlene Tygrett as Nurse #1, Vida Ghaffari as Nurse #2
Also starring: Heather Ashley, Eric Spudic