Schlock-Wire: Grindhouse Releasing Bringing MANIAC Back To The Big Screen This Fall

Most hard­core hor­ror buffs know that Maniac is get­ting a deluxe reis­sue from Blue Underground but did you know it is also return­ing to the the­aters?  Grindhouse Releasing, who have turned heads in the cult-movie scene with their recent the­atri­cal releases of Gone With The Pope and The Evil Dead (amongst oth­ers), are team­ing up with the film’s direc­tor, Blue Underground hon­cho William Lustig, to bring this dis­turb­ing serial-killer saga to select the­aters between the months of October and December.  Read on for all the psycho-scalper details, includ­ing full Fall screen­ing info for this and sev­eral other Grindhouse Releasing titles…

GRINDHOUSE RELEASING PRESENTS ‘MANIAC’

For Immediate Release

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Grindhouse Releasing, the com­pany that brought you THE EVIL DEAD, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, PIECES and Duke Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE POPE, has part­nered with direc­tor Bill Lustig of Blue Underground to present Mr. Lustig’s con­tro­ver­sial hor­ror clas­sic MANIAC in the­aters across North America.

MANIAC stars Joe Spinell (ROCKY, THE GODFATHER, TAXI DRIVER) as Frank Zito, a deeply dis­turbed man haunted by the trau­mas of unspeak­able child­hood abuse. When these hor­rific mem­o­ries begin to scream inside his mind, Frank prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaugh­ter inno­cent young women. Even as he begins a rela­tion­ship with a beau­ti­ful pho­tog­ra­pher (Caroline Munro of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME), Frank con­tin­ues to act on his vile com­pul­sions. The film holds noth­ing back in depict­ing the atroc­i­ties of a human monster.

MANIAC earned instant noto­ri­ety in 1980 as the most graphic and dis­turb­ing of all slasher films, thanks to the grue­some spe­cial effects wiz­ardry of Tom Savini (DAWN OF THE DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13TH). Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert called for their audi­ence to boy­cott MANIAC, fem­i­nists protested the film’s bru­tal vio­lence, and other crit­ics sim­ply reviled the film as “sick” and “dirty.”

Aside from the shock­ing, bloody spe­cial effects sequences, MANIAC draws much of its power from the act­ing of the late Spinell, who also co-wrote and exec­u­tive pro­duced the film.

“MANIAC’s longevity is a trib­ute to the extra­or­di­nary tal­ent of Joe Spinell, whose com­pelling per­for­mance has res­onated with world­wide audi­ences since the film’s release 30 years ago,” Mr. Lustig said. “I’m very pleased to work with Grindhouse Releasing on this series of screenings.”

Grindhouse Releasing spe­cial­izes in restor­ing and dis­trib­ut­ing the most extreme and con­tro­ver­sial hor­ror and exploita­tion films of our time. The com­pany was founded in 1996 by actor/director Sage Stallone (VIC, ROCKY V) and Bob Murawski, the Oscar-winning film edi­tor of THE HURT LOCKER, Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN 1, 2 & 3 and DRAG ME TO HELL. Author David Szulkin (WES CRAVEN’S LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT) runs the company’s the­atri­cal divi­sion, which has had its most suc­cess­ful year to date thanks to the phe­nom­e­nal suc­cess of EVIL DEAD and the first-run release of GONE WITH THE POPE in more than 25 U.S. cities.

“MANIAC is an absolute clas­sic and def­i­nitely the best of the late 70s/early 80s slasher movies,” Murawski said. “We knew it would be the per­fect follow-up to EVIL DEAD since it’s also one of those rare exploita­tion films that fully lives up to the hype and deliv­ers on all lev­els. As usual, we have gone all-out for this release, strik­ing brand new 35mm prints and com­mis­sion­ing Stephen Romano to cre­ate a stun­ning new one-sheet to pro­mote the film.”

“MANIAC is an extremely pow­er­ful movie, and I’m glad a new gen­er­a­tion of fans now have the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence it on the big screen,” said Szulkin. “Landmark Theatres has already booked the movie solid in November, and I expect to see it hit an addi­tional 50 the­aters in 2011.”

The new release of MANIAC begins Oct. 29 & 30 at the Egyptian Theatre in Seattle. Mr. Lustig will intro­duce screen­ings in Los Angeles (Nov. 5, Nuart Theatre) and New York (Landmark’s Sunshine, Nov. 19 & 20.)

For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.GrindhouseReleasing.com or dial 323–963-GUTS (323–963-4887).

To book MANIAC at your the­ater, and to receive press mate­ri­als, e-mail David Szulkin at info@grindhousereleasing.com.

Oct. 29–30            Egyptian (Seattle)

Nov. 5                   Nuart (LA) – Bill Lustig in person

Nov. 12 –13          Esquire (Denver)

Nov. 12–13          River Oaks (Houston)

Nov. 19–20          Sunshine (NY) – Bill Lustig in person

Nov. 19–20          Inwood (Dallas)

Nov. 26–27          Hi-Pointe (St. Louis) *tentative

Dec. 3–4              Uptown (Minneapolis)

Dec. 3–4              E Street (DC)

Dec. 10 — 11        Castro (San Francisco)

Dec. 17 — 18        Oaks (Pittsburgh)

Coming in 2011 to Loft Cinema (Tucson), Music Box (Chicago), Hollywood Theater (Portland, OR), and more!

MORE BIG-SCREEN MADNESS FROM GRINDHOUSE RELEASING!

See the fol­low­ing films in the­aters, the way they were meant to be experienced!

GONE WITH THE POPE

October 8          New Beverly (Los Angeles) *3rd encore screening!

November 6       Cedar Lee (Cleveland)

December 10     Art Theater (Champaign, IL)

December 29     Cinema Arts Centre (Huntington, NY)

EVIL DEAD

October 7 – The Art Theater, Champaign, IL

October 2 & 9 – Buffalo International Film Festival, Buffalo, NY

October 9 – Little Art Theatre, Yellow Springs, OH

October 15 – Castro Theatre, San Francisco, CA

October 17 – Alamo Drafthouse, Austin, Tx., with EVIL DEAD 2 and ARMY OF DARKNESS

October 21 –23 – Holiday Drive-In, Hamilton, OH

October 22 – Five Points Theater, Jacksonville, Fla., with THE BEYOND

October 22 & 23 – Kress Cinema, Greeley, CO

October 29 – 30 – Main Art Theatre, Detroit

October 30 – ZomBCon, Seattle, WA, with Bruce Campbell and the Ladies of the Evil Dead in person!

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST

October 8 & 9  – Grand CInema, Tacoma, WA

October 22 — Dundee Theatre, Omaha, NE

CANNIBAL FEROX

October 9     Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa

October 22   Toronto Underground Cinema

November 6   Hudson Horror Show, Silver Cinemas South Hills Mall, Poughkeepsie NY (with THE GATES OF HELL, EVIL DEAD 2, DEMONS and more!)

THE BEYOND

October 29 & 30    Inwood Theatre, Dallas

PIECES

October 22 & 23   Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa ON, CANADA

October 29   Toronto Underground Cinema, Toronto ON, CANADA

October 29  Horrorama 2010, Dayton, OH (with THE HILLS HAVE EYES, EVIL DEAD 2 & SATAN’S CHILDREN)

DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT

October 29     Aero Theatre, Santa Monica, CA

THE GATES OF HELL

October 9       New Beverly Cinema, Los Angeles

November 6   Hudson Horror Show, Silver Cinemas

Warning: Ultra-Gory NSFW Trailer