Maniac, in my opinion is a reality check. It represented the time in a way that only Marty Scorsese could. Lustig portrays society the same way that Scorsese presents New York. Ironically Maniac is set in the Big Apple. The film gives the impression that society is so wrapped up in themselves that they close their eyes to all else. It gives the impression that people would walk by, their heads turned if they saw a person lying dead in the streets. I don't consent to that philosophy, but it certainly adds to the mood of the film. That's one point for humanity analysis.

The movie follows Frank Zito, a psychotic man that lives alone in a one room apartment surrounded my mannequins. Frank is recovering from the traumatic death of his mother. She was an abusive woman that beat him and walked the New York streets an night as a prostitute. For some odd stretch of normal sanity Frank takes to murder in some sense of redemption. The message is never clear why Frank commits the murders he does, one can only assume. In the early stages of the movie, one of the more memorable, Frank purchases a prostitute for the night. This is where I think the mother plays into the situation. Frank strangles and scalps the young girl with a scalpel he had handy. He retreats home to position the scalp on one of his many mannequins. He lies in bed with his imitation lady comforted as if some sick desire has been achieved. Possibly this presents the idea that Frank slept with his mother and was molested a child. Who knows?

As the film progresses Frank takes an interest in a young female photographer Anna (Caroline Munro). Anna is a naïve young woman with a mentality of a teenager. Immortality. She doesn't seem to realize that Zito is a bad guy. And how could you? That is something I find very interesting about the character of Frank Zito. He appears to be regular guy, humble and likeable. You never really know a person. Anyhow Anna befriends Zito unacquainted to the sickness he can manifest. The movie builds from that point. A string of pointless murders that do not operate into the story line pile up and the climax becomes more palpable.

I can write on forever about why Frank Zito murdered and I could rant on with some neo- Freudian explanations, but the simple reason I do believe is insanity. Whether his mother plays into the picture at all, and I do believe she does, is irreverent. Crazy people don't need motives, and the motives they do have are usually crazy. No psychoanalysis essential