IMDb RATING
5.9/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
An American painter has an affair with a bar owner in a French village and agrees to help murder her husband, who has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane.An American painter has an affair with a bar owner in a French village and agrees to help murder her husband, who has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane.An American painter has an affair with a bar owner in a French village and agrees to help murder her husband, who has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane.
Daniel Brown
- Bar Patron
- (uncredited)
André Maranne
- Salon
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Jack May
- Bar Patron
- (uncredited)
Manny Michael
- Bar Patron
- (uncredited)
Leon Peers
- Blanchard
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was on Hammer's 1960 schedule but for unclear reasons it was shelved. It would have starred Peter Cushing and George Sanders.
- GoofsAt the beach, Eve begins to remove her blouse twice between shots.
- Quotes
Eve Beynat: [of her husband Georges, aka the Maniac] He's not insane.
- Alternate versionsWhen originally released theatrically in the UK, the BBFC made cuts to secure a 'X' rating. All cuts were waived in 2017 when the film was granted a '12' certificate for home video.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Late Movie 18: Maniac (1979)
Featured review
The Imbecilic Maniac
If Hammer movies had been released the same way as vinyl records "Maniac" would be a typical B-side effort; meaning it's an extremely low-keyed, low-budgeted and nearly forgotten little black-and-white thriller that understandably stood in the shadows of the studios' contemporary Grand-Guignol horror productions, like the Frankenstein cycle starring Peter Cushing and the Dracula series featuring Christopher Lee. There are quite a bit of hidden treasures to discover amongst Hammer's modest thriller productions of the 1960's ("Scream of Fear", "Hysteria"
), but sadly "Maniac" isn't the studios' – or writer Jimmy Sangster's – finest piece of work. The film nevertheless opens very promisingly and provides a fairly large number of slick and unpredictable plot twists during the grand finale, but everything in between is dull and incredibly uninteresting. But what a great opening! In the usually quiet and peaceful French Camargue, a father catches the rapist of his 15-year-old daughter in the act and promptly extracts his bloody vengeance with a blowtorch! Hell yes! Four years later, the man – Georges - resides in a mental asylum while his gorgeous wife and astonishing daughter both fall in love with the traveling American painter Jeff Farrell. In return for his wife, Jeff agrees to help Georges escape from the institution and out of the country. But the plan goes horribly wrong and the blowtorch will have to be used some more! The basic plot is ingenious and suspenseful enough, but the 90% of the film revolves on the dire and slowly unfolding triangular relationship between the American, the mother and the daughter. The "maniac" in question also doesn't really deserve to be referred to as a maniac, as he doesn't come across as very menacing and makes a couple of really dumb moves during the climax. Still, the killer's choice of weapon is original and Michael Carreras occasionally generates a tense and unsettling atmosphere. "Maniac" is reasonably interesting material for Hammer fanatics, but not exactly recommended viewing.
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- Coventry
- May 1, 2014
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Maniac
- Filming locations
- Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France(Roman amphitheatre)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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