P2 director Franck Khalfoun to helm Maniac remake? Aja still producing?

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Good luck finding a performance as arresting as Joe Spinell’s…

In an update of a story I was certainly unaware of, French remake director Alexandre Aja (PIRANHA, THE HILLS HAVE EYES) was apparently attached to redo William Lustig’s sobering trash-classic MANIAC a few years ago. Aja since opted to retouch Joe Dante’s PIRANHA, and is now apparently Paramount’s top-choice to helm their PET SEMATARY retool. Question then becomes, what the hell is up with MANIAC?

Well, according to our pals at Bloody-D, Aja’s friend and collaborator Franck Khalfoun (P2, WRONG TIURN AT TAHOE) will take the directorial reins on MANIAC. Word is Aja, along with longtime writer Gregory Levasseur, will retain producorial credit.

No telling when MANIAC will enter production, but if you’ll allow this lowly writer to opine, I’m hoping never. MANIAC is a blunt, austere piece of early 80s pulp…you can practically smell the piss from the gutter it was filmed in. The scenes of Spinell alone in his one-room hovel, talking candidly to his dead mother, are some of the most chilling aspects of the entire film. Seriously, where is Aja and company going to find a performance of that caliber? Why even try?

More on MANIAC as we chop it…

PIRANHA’S Riley Steele