Maniacal

Maniacal is basically a Halloween rip-off with a little bit of Slumber Party Massacre and Sorority House Massacre mixed in. All in all, it is a very enjoyable film the suffers in a few departments. One of these departments is the acting...

A lead cannot carry a film on her looks alone. Yes, Perrine Moore is beautiful but she needs acting classes. This leads to one question... WHY wasn't Heather Ashley (DJ) the lead? She is a natural actress and makes the best of her usually sex-obsessed character's dialog. No wonder she has done like five movies in the past year alone. She is deserving of better material. Deborah Huber is great as the mother in the beginning too. She is also deserving of better material and also shines in her Eyes of the Werewolf and Blood Sisters performances. The rest of the cast is okay but they don't shine like these two actresses. Another department it suffers greatly in is camera work...

I know this is a very low budget film, but they could have at least used a tripod more often. Now the tape I saw was a screener copy so the image may be cleared up by the time of release. The cinematographer has done better work in the past.

The writing is okay for a film of this genre but it is all a cliche. I have a feeling it was meant to be that way. The direction is adequate but doesn't feel like Joe Castro really put his effort into it like Blood Sisters and Terror Toons.

All in all, a entertaining throwback to early eighties slasher films that resembles them is every department.

PS: GIVE HEATHER ASHLEY AND DEBORAH HUBER BETTER MATERIAL!!!