Movie Screw Up's
'Maniac'
by Adam Beck • MovieMassacre.com
One of my all time favorite horror films from the 1980's is a low budget slasher from former porn director William Lustig titled 'Maniac'. The film stars veteran actor Joe Spinell (Rocky / The Godfather) who plays a misogynist serial murderer named "Frank Zito", who spends his free time walking the streets of Manhattan searching for female victims. There is one scene in particular, that in my opinion, ranks right up there as one of the most suspenseful moments ever captured on celluloid. Unfortunately the near perfect sequence is also spoiled by a rather unfortunate movie screw up...
For those who haven't seen the movie, or are unfamiliar with the scene, let me give you the play-by-play.
A registered nurse (played by actress Kelly Piper) is on her way home from work at a local hospital and is followed by a shadowy figure of a man who has spent a great deal of time watching her from across the street.
For those who haven't seen the movie, or are unfamiliar with the scene, let me give you the play-by-play.
A registered nurse (played by actress Kelly Piper) is on her way home from work at a local hospital and is followed by a shadowy figure of a man who has spent a great deal of time watching her from across the street.
She becomes increasingly nervous about the man who is following her and decides to make a quick dash for it into the 59th Street Subway Terminal in hopes of losing him.
As the woman fumbles through her purse looking for a subway token, she glances over at the stairwell, only to find the same mysterious man making his way down the steps after her.
The nurse finally makes her way through the subway turnstile, down the steps and onto an empty subway platform where her train awaits.
Unfortunately for her the doors are closed and she is unable to board the train...The nurse pounds on the door trying to get in and runs after it in a panic, as the train leaves the station.
Now this is where the "Screw Up" comes into play. Even though we're lead to believe that the woman is all alone in an empty subway station, the camera reveals otherwise. There is a shot from inside the train as it's departing the station, heading uptown...This particular shot shows a total of 6 other individuals (mostly on the opposite side of the track) who are waiting for the next train to arrive. To make things even worse, there are also 2 uniformed police officers standing approximately 10 feet away from the actress as well. This is a long shot that goes on for several seconds and the further away the train moves from the actress, the more these people are revealed.
After the train leaves the station we find that the nurse is, once again, all alone on the subway platform, with the killer quickly gaining ground.
The main reason for this goof is due to the film's low budget. 'Maniac' cost approximately $135,000 to make and because of this they were unable to obtain the proper insurance required by the MTA to shoot on the subway platform. Scene's such as this and the infamous "shotgun blast" sequence were accomplished by simply "stealing the shot". This particular scene was filmed at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle subway station which is often difficult to find completely empty, especially for long periods of time. Without a film permit, the crew were forced to get in and get out as quickly as possible and unfortunately a few local commuters ended up in the final cut.
