If you were to watch a slasher film, would you be offended if the film delivered the gore it promised? Would you expect a deep, existential exploration of the human psyche, or would you just want to laugh and be entertained? I’m always amazed by what films make it onto the high-brow Criterion Channel, as it’s no stranger to ‘junk cinema’, but then again, one might say this is what gives the channel its charm.

William Lustig’s “Maniac” is currently being featured on the channel, and it seemed to offend critics in its day. Granted, while the ‘slasher’ film was still new to viewers then, Gene Siskel claimed to have walked out due to its violence, and Roger Ebert likewise called it ‘exploitative.’ Now, years later, as a genre all its own, would these critics have known what they were getting into? This is a slasher film, and what can one expect but to see people being slashed? Perhaps it does take years later to gain a perspective, because when I watched it, I found it funny.