A Horror Fever Dream

Recently I might have talked about Maniac. The 80's movie that gave me nightmares as a kid. Funny thing is that it seemed kind of ridiculous as an adult. The special effects are top notch. Tom Savini is a master of effects. He is even one of the victims in the movie. As I sat thinking about it, one thing occurred to me. First, you have this killer and no big alerts. You'd think after bodies started turning up, the killer would not be able to walk around at night without being questioned. Then, you have his psychosis. He sees things that aren't there and even finds his end at the hands of mannequins that come to life. He is unreliable narrator. We see the movie from his point of view. You have to ask, what is real and what is fantasy. I know they director was probably not going for that direction. It is something you can see. It's like Total Recall. Did he really go through all that or was it the recall he paid for? You could be watching a man whose mind is breaking down to an extreme psychiatric break. In the end, if he were found, would he be dead or in a catatonic state? Watch the movie and decide yourself. If you see the shotgun scene, the victim is the special effects artist himself!