Maniac (1963)

Directed by Michael Carreras. Starring Kerwin Matthews, Nadia Gray, Liliane Brousse, Donald Houston, George Pastell, Norman Bird, Arnold Diamond.

One of a dozen or so lurid British thrillers to sprout up in the aftermath of Psycho, though this one owes more to Les Diaboliques than Hitchcock’s proto-slasher. Unfortunately, while director Carreras is a solid craftsman, he’s no Henri-Georges Clouzot when it comes to ratcheting up the suspense; some style is evident, but not enough to really hit home the giallo-esque moments, and when the plot twists start piling up in the last act, they’re not delivered as the startling shocks they should be. Plot is something of a cross-section of mad killer suspenser and noirish double-crosser—Matthews gets swept up in a seductive swirl with saucy Gray and her daughter (Brousse), roped into helping Gray spring her loony, murderous hubbie from an asylum. As one would expect, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny (logic is obliterated by a series of complications/revelations), but gets the job done as a slightly above-average gimmick-bound spine-chiller.

60/100