Elijah Wood wields a blade in first look at Franck Khalfoun’s Maniac remake

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Wow…I’ve been either benighted or in flat out denial about Elijah Wood playing the titular psycho in the remake of MANIAC. To those familiar with the 1980 original, is there anything even remotely believable about Wood playing the Joe Spinell part? Good gravy!

Alas, Wood has not only been substantiated as the star of the Franck Khalfoun remake, we now have proof. Some new set photos of Wood pummeling a poor broad in the street have surfaced, and while I appreciate his attempt to branch out from the Frodo stigma, I’m simply not buying that anyone, much less Wood, can recreate the unspeakable pathos Spinell put forth in the original. There’s just no way. Besides, isn’t that chick much taller than Elijah? Just saying…

Produced by Khalfoun’s longtime writing partner, Alexandre Aja (PIRANHA, HIGH TENSION), MANAIC centers on a serial killer who works at a shop that sells antique mannequins. He finds victims on the Internet and stalks them like prey, all the while suffering from hallucinations that throw him back into the past, when he was abused by his own mother. In his twisted mind, he gains a measure of revenge against his mother with each kill.

With Hank Azaria, Nora Arnezeder (below), Sal Landi, Délé Ogundiran and Dan Hunter also onboard, MANIAC is likely to hit sometime in 2013.