Behind the Couch

2012 Dir. Franck Khalfoun Just a steel town girl on a Saturday night  Looking for the fight of her life  In the real time world, no one sees her at all  They all say she's crazy  She's a maniac, maniac on the floor  And she's dancing like she's never danced before! Sorry! Wrong Maniac . The Maniac I’m actually referring to is Franck Khalfoun’s remake of William Lustig’s 1980 ‘video nasty’ of the same name. Despite its higher budget, slick production values and the presence of a star name in the titles, this update - co-written by Alex Aja ( Switchblade Romance/Haute Tension ) - is every bit as unsettling, extreme and confrontational as its predecessor. And it's all shot from the perspective of the killer. While aesthetically far removed from Lustig’s cult sleaze-fest, Khalfoun’s slickly lensed take on the tale of a young man who hunts, scalps and murders women on the cruel, grimy streets of downtown LA, is still an immensely vicious and unsett...

1988 Dir. William Lustig Innocent New Yorkers are being brutally murdered by a uniformed police officer. As the death toll mounts, officer Jack Forrest finds himself accused of the slaughter. With few friends, powerful enemies and a psychopathic slayer still at large, Jack teams up with hardboiled Detective Frank McCrae and fellow officer Theresa Mallory, to prove he’s not guilty and bring down the killer. You have the right to remain silent… Forever! Boasting a cult-tastic cast of 80’s exploitation veterans including Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree, Bruce Campbell and Laurene Landon, Maniac Cop has so much going for it. The script, by Larry Cohen, coupled with William Lustig’s bruising direction, ensures the film unravels as an entertaining and riveting suspenser. Cohen has made a career out of subverting normal, everyday things into objects of terror: babies ( It’s Alive ), ice-cream ( The Stuff ), paramedics ( The Ambulance ), and public phone boxes ( Phone Booth ). Maniac ...