Maniac, 1980
Well boys and girls, this week Dion Baia and J. Blake have a real treat lined up, a personal favorite of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers, the 1980 cult classic Maniac, directed by William Lustig and starring the late, great, Joe Spinell.
The guys attempt to fit as much as they can into a humble little podcast about this movie, while not trying to go too overboard and show their true colors as absolute fanatics for this film. They discuss the amazing actor that was Joe Spinell, and how he hoped that this pet project of his would do for him what Rocky did for his close friend Sylvester Stallone. Dion and Blake also go on about how it all came together and who Spinell was able to get on board, like SFX legend Tom Savini and iconic director Bill Lustig, to name a few. And the love the boys have for this movie brings up very interesting topics: Is there really an homage to Spielberg‘s Jaws in the film? What were student reactions when J. Blake screened it for his college horror class? Does this movie maybe contain the best head explosion ever? How does the 2012 remake starring Elijah Wood compare? And why do the lads keep butchering actress Catherine Munro‘s name? Well all these questions and a few more get answered in this very exciting and quite informative all new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
(Well here we go again- in lamenting his love for X-rated star Sharon Mitchell who cameos in the film, Dion mistakenly referred to her as “Shannon Mitchell”. Please except his apologies)
(Here’s Mr. Spinell being interviewed on The Joe Franklin Show about his new film, Maniac)
(Check out the promo film to the unmade Maniac 2, aka Mister Robbie, starring Joe Spinell)
(Have a look at Tom Savini and others talk about his memories of Joe Spinell)
(Here’s Elijah Wood discussing Joe Spinell’s characterization of Frank Zito, verses is own.)
(Take a look at the International trailer for 1980’s Maniac)
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Good fun guys, this was a big film in my country, this and Evil Dead were at the heart of the Video Nasties scandal, in the UK in 83 it was a silly time with all the nonesense about Horror movies saying they can actually warp your childrens minds, i met Caroline Munro a few years back at a convention and she signed my Maniac Vhs original film and The Last Horror Film she also made with Joe, she is still gorgeous, Elric kane of Killerpov says Joe spinnell has magic in his eyes, that sounds right to me, a true star,
Hey, Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! That’s so cool you met her, and we couldn’t agree more with you about Spinell. We love him here at SNMS and actually will have an interview coming up in the coming months with someone who was very close to Spinell, which along with many other things, we will touch upon in that podcast- so please stay tuned! But thank you so much for listening and thanks for taking the time to tell us your story! Cheers!
An extract of dialogue from the film’s trailer was sampled on the song “Frank Zito, The Maniac” by metal band Frightmare on their album