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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 323

Maniac

193451 minUnited States
Horror
Video edition
YouTube · Channel’s colorized edition
Original language
English
This copy runs
50:58
Subtitles
English

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Synopsis

A former stage impersonator working for an eccentric scientist kills his employer and assumes the dead man's identity. Continuing the experiments only deepens his instability. Patients, relatives and neighbours enter a laboratory where disguise and delusion have erased the boundary between performing a role and believing it.

Cast

DirectorsDwain Esper

Inspirations

Dwain Esper and writer Hildagarde Stadie borrow motifs from Edgar Allan Poe, especially The Black Cat, within an exploitation-film framework. The independently circulated production mixes sensational incidents with claims of psychological instruction. It also incorporates imagery from the earlier silent film Häxan.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceInternet Archive — catalogue recordPublic-domain film catalogue — rights cross-referencePublic-domain film catalogue — rights cross-referencePublic-domain film catalogue — rights cross-reference

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

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Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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