[home] [news] [reviews] [features]		FACE OFF Slasherama enjoys an explosive head-to-head with 'Maniac' director William Lustig...
			Hello Sir! You've said that watching 'Maniac' makes you feel melancholy. Do you still feel that way? William Lustig: "Probably even more so, now. It reminds me of my youth - being 24 years old. It also reminds me of the fun times I had with (the late 'Maniac' star) Joe Spinell. It's a time that has passed." If you did 'Maniac' now, assuming Joe was still with us, would you make it differently? Or at all? Lustig: "'Maniac' was a movie of its time. To make another 'Maniac' today would be pointless. There have been so many films like 'Maniac'... it was a period of time when these movies were being made. You don't wanna go back and plough the same fields again." What happened with 'Maniac 2'? There was some very gory footage included on the US VHS and DVD... Lustig: "Actually, I wasn't involved with that footage. It was something done by Joe and a film-maker named Buddy Giovinazzo, who did 'Combat Shock'. As I understood it, the story of 'Maniac 2' was suspiciously similar to a movie called 'Psychopath' that I discovered after Joe passed on. I found a copy of 'Psychopath' in a video store and it was a little scary, because Joe was actually gonna make the same movie! I don't even know if he realised it." What was the storyline, for those who haven't seen 'Psychopath'? Lustig: "It was about a children's TV show host, who kills the parents of abused children. That was basically it. Joe wasn't gonna play the 'Maniac' character Frank Zito, but a guy who put on a clown's face, much like John Wayne Gacy. And that's as much as I know about it." On-screen, Joe Spinell played some wonderfully sleazy characters. How much of that was the real Joe? Lustig: "Joe could be a very sleazy character. Then, a day later, he could be the most elegant, well-mannered person you could ever imagine. He was a man of many contradictions and that's what I remember about Joe. He could show up at my place with a suit and tie, looking very proper, or show up at seven in the morning, having had an all-night drug binge, looking ragged. That was him." It's a similarly striking contrast in 'Maniac', when the suited, suave Frank Zito goes to visit Caroline Munro's character. Lustig: "Yeah. That's why the movie is very much Joe!" 'Maniac' has long been branded misogynist. Does that word get bandied about way too much, or is it our imagination? Lustig: "I don't think the film was misogynistic. 'Maniac' was much more about a deeply disturbed person than it was about a misogynist. I never really thought about it that way, because he killed both men and women." Certain parts of 'Maniac' are also quite funny. Was that intentional? Lustig: "Yeah. Absolutely. It was intended to kinda break some of the tension that we had built up in the movie. So we put a little black humour in there!" The 'head explosion' scene in 'Maniac' obviously draws a lot of attention. Was that a fun scene to shoot, or a technical nightmare? Lustig: "Actually, it was very simple to shoot. That was probably the simplest effect of all. It was simply a shotgun firing into a dummy's head! We shot it with three cameras in slow motion, and it's pretty remarkable that it came out really good. I kind of expected it to be a powerful scene. It wasn't so much the effect, as the uneasy lead-up to it." Were you the first head-exploding horror director? Lustig: "Well, 'Scanners' was actually released the same day as 'Maniac'. I found out from the special effects guy that he did it exactly the same way we did it." Your 1982 action flick 'Vigilante' still stands up well today. It captures the feel of New York very nicely. Lustig: "Well, New York is the easiest city to shoot. Wherever you turn the camera, there's an interesting shot or composition. You just have to watch the TV series 'Law & Order' to know what I'm talking about. What I deliberately did with 'Vigilante' was shoot in areas which were not tourist areas like Times Square. I think that gave it a unique feel - a neighbourhood feel." Thematically, 'Vigilante' shows contempt for the legal system. Were those your own views showing through? Lustig: "Oh, pretty much. I believe that beaurocracy is corrupt. I'm very sceptical about politicians and authority. Of course, 'Vigilante' is a comic book version of reality, but there's some underlying truth to it." Do you see the film's peers as being 'Death Wish' and 'The Exterminator'? Lustig: "It was absolutely inspired by 'Death Wish'. If there wasn't a 'Death Wish', there wouldn't have been a 'Vigilante'. My film went in a different direction to 'Death Wish', but was definitely inspired by it." At the time of making 'Vigilante', had you had much experience with crime yourself? Lustig: "Well, I grew up in New York! I wasn't a criminal, but I certainly knew about crime going on around me. I was never a victim of crime, either. I would read about victims in the papers, though, and start to get a little angry about it." The ending of 'Vigilante' is extremely abrupt. It's almost like you ran out of budget! Lustig: "Well, I didn't think the ending was abrupt at the time I did it. I didn't wanna wrap up Robert Forster's story. I wanted to leave you with a guy driving off into the night. I wanted questions left about what he was going to do next. I wanted it to feel unsettling, but not abrupt. Maybe I needed a couple more shots in there..." By killing the judge at the end, Forster's character has clearly crossed a line. Lustig: "Yeah, I thought of it as him having crossed a line. When he drives off, I wanted to leave a question mark over whether he'd gone crazy. But I didn't want it to be abrupt!" How was working with Fred Williamson? He gets some great rabble-rousing speeches in the movie. Lustig: "It was great working with Fred. He's under-rated as an actor - he's really good. I'm so surprised that his career has never gone past the B-movies. He's a much more talented actor than he's given credit for." How do you feel about the 'Maniac Cop' trilogy as a whole? Lustig: "I'm very proud of parts one and two, but not three. Part Three was a 'committee' movie and reflects that fact. It was made with different producers and not the film we wanted to make." Do you feel the impact of the movies lessened as Matt Cordell's character became more sympathetic? Lustig: "Actually, I thought 'Maniac Cop 2' was as good as the first part. In some ways, it was even better. But it totally fell apart with 'Maniac Cop 3'. All the things that we tried to do kinda fell apart." One of the cool things about the trilogy, though, is that you never know who's going to die next. Lustig: "That's right. Alfred Hitchcock was Larry Cohen's greatest influence, so you see it in everything Larry does, including the surprise of heroes being bumped off unexpectedly." Spoiler alert for anyone who wasn't seen 'Maniac Cop 2'... were Bruce Campbell and Laurene Landon not available for all of the movie? Lustig: "No, they knew they were gonna get killed off. As a matter of fact, it was something they were not happy about! But we viewed the 'Maniac Cop' series like an old-fashioned serial, with little cliffhangers and unexpected twists. We tried to keep it fresh and introduce new characters." Why did you stop at the third part - just because you weren't happy with it? Lustig: "Yeah, I was very disappointed with the whole production. I said, 'You know, I've been to this field too many times and it's not good'."" So how do you feel about your own semi-slashers, 'Relentless' (1989) and 'Uncle Sam' (1997)? Lustig: "Well, I don't really consider 'Relentless' to be a slasher film. It's much more of a police procedural. Again, I thought 'Uncle Sam' was a film of its time. I felt that, as we were making 'Uncle Sam' it was already dated. We shouldn't have been making that film. It's a lot like 'Maniac Cop'. I guess me and Larry were trying to create a new franchise. Our greed got the better of us and we should've stopped when we were ahead! There are some moments in 'Uncle Sam' that I think are okay - I like the opening sequence, and Isaac Hayes. He's fun. But for the most part, the film fails because it feels old." Ironically, 'Relentless' saw you unwittingly starting a franchise... Lustig: "Yeah! Very much so. I never expected it, but 'Relentless' was a more successful film than 'Maniac' or 'Maniac Cop'. That movie made a lot more money - it was much more mainstream. But, again, they came to me to do the sequel. I said, 'It's over! What do you do?'. And they made three sequels to it. Shows you what I know!" Did you see the sequels? Lustig: "No. Ahhh, I take that back. I did see 'Relentless 2' because I was curious and I thought it was dreadful. Then I didn't watch any more. I knew the people making them really didn't give a shit and were in it for the money. When Larry and I made 'Maniac Cop 2', we really set out to make a good movie. And I think it showed." What's your own favourite from your movies, in terms of 'art'? Lustig: "'Maniac Cop 2'. Without a doubt. It's by far the best of the movies I've done. I really enjoy it. It's a good movie, it's well crafted. I watched it on TV recently and I was kinda surprised. I thought, 'There's not much I would change'." When did you start working at Anchor Bay? Lustig: "In 1997, so it's been six years. I look at DVD as an artform, and there are a lot of decisions that go into producing a DVD. It's a lot like making a movie. So I find that to be fun and challenging. I also like presenting movies - especially movies that are more obscure - and having them appreciated, in the way they were meant to be seen. I also like paying tribute to movies that I think are under-rated classics. Putting out a lost gem like 'Repo Man' is very satisfying. Obviously, I have my own DVD label now, Blue Underground, and we've put out some beautiful discs of titles like 'The Prowler', 'The Toolbox Murders' - and in the UK, 'Hitch-Hike' and 'Last House On The Left' (due May 26)." Surely a 'Maniac Cop' box-set is long overdue?! Lustig: "I would love to, but unfortunately each movie is owned by a different company and they all have resentment against each other. It's an example of corporate egos killing the golden goose!" With thanks to Paul J Brown at Midnight Media. [Back To Top] [Features Menu] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present