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Yes, even Maniac (Dwain Esper's old shock flick) has a maniacal number of DVD releases out there. I guess being public domain and such an oddity of its time makes this one worth putting out. Sorting through the releases is made more difficult because of other (relatively) popular releases by the same title and others that just include the word “maniac” all of which search engines assume are the ones you're REALLY looking for. See? Even Google passive-aggressively makes fun of you for hunting down this title.

I perhaps exaggerated a bit above for the sake of a comedic descriptor. There really aren't that many stand-alone DVD releases when I compare the returns to the number I get when I look up a lot of other public domain titles. This movie is included in a large number of combo packs, though, most notably the “Maniac/Narcotic” double-feature. Note that some of the releases are under the title of “Sex Maniac.”

The first of my versions I'll look at comes with the 50 “Horror Classics.”

Video:

1.33: There is no widescreen version. It's jumpy, trashy, fuzzy, and generally unclear not to mention that the framing cuts off some of the image. It looks rough which is not helped by the rough editing and other quality issues present just because of its age and history.

Audio:

1.0 mono: The audio is no better. It's full of white noise and jumps along with the video. It’s bearable quality, though perhaps just barely.

Packaging:

This particular disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve contained in a Velcro-fastened box (repackaged in plastic since I got it). You can read about the set as a whole in great detail in the Horror Classics (50 pack) guide.

While shorter than the runtimes I've seen listed on some other releases (being only 51 minutes), it does include the nudity thought by some to be nothing more than a rumor.

Extras:

There are no extras of any kind.

Other Editions:

Even the “Maniac/Narcotic” double-feature doesn't appear to offer a better quality presentation than any of the other release I've seen. (I base this on reviews I read of this package). It does, however, appear to be the only set to contain any extras including a commentary, a letter from the censors, and an excerpt from “Maciste in Hell” which is evidently the source of some of the images in the movie. Besides that, Narcotic, is not commonly found in the combo packs that include Maniac, so this might be a good choice for anyone looking for other Dwain Esper movies. The case mentions this being the “definitive edition” so I assume it includes the uncensored version. It's listed as having a run time of 54 minutes which is 3 minutes longer than other versions, even those that include nudity and violence, but I'm not sure what those extra minutes may include.

I can't tell based on product descriptions which of the other releases might include the uncensored version and which don't. None of the others mention any extras, and none say anything about being remastered.

Final Thoughts:

The double feature is your best bet if you're hunting for extra features, and it does list a run time that is longer than any other I've seen. At the same time, know what you're getting yourself into before you go paying that price for this movie. The Horror Classics 50 pack I mentioned is a much better value and is more along the lines of what the movie itself is worth. I wouldn't expect any quality improvement out of any other release, and it will be a shot in the dark as to which cut of the film you will get.

Review

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Next up is the Chilling 20 pack.

Video:

1.33: It's pretty much the same as the one I described above. It's quite trashy, fuzzy, and too dark at times.

Audio:

1.0 mono: The audio has a lot of white noise with some loud pops and is a little distorted.

Packaging:

The disc comes in a paper sleeve that lives in a plastic case. You can get more details about the set as a whole by checking out the Chilling (20 pack) guide.

This is also the 51 minute runtime.

Extras:

No extras for this one, either.