[Grim]

I don't see why it is even being called Maniac. The plot of Maniac is, overall, incredibly generic and it doesn't really stand out amongst other slasher flicks of its time. What did make it stand out, however, was Lustig's direction, Spinell's incredibly sleazy and creepy performance, and Tom Savini's effects. Without any of those things, they might as well just call it something else and give themselves full freedom to do whatever the fuck they want with the concept.