Maniac (1980 film)

Maniac is a 1980 American exploitation slasher horror film directed by William Lustig and written by Joe Spinell and C. A. Rosenberg. The plot focuses on a disturbed and traumatized serial killer who scalps his victims. Spinell also developed the story and stars as the lead character.

Frank Zito Joe Spinell awakens in his bed after having a nightmare about killing a couple on a beach. After waking up, Frank later dresses and leaves towards downtown Manhattan. He lives in a oneroom apartment consisted of paintings, one being a framed picture of his deceased mother, and a collection of mannequins. Frank passes by a hotel with two prostitutes standing outside. One of them invites Frank and checks in. Inside, the prostitute Rita Montone and Frank kiss, where abruptly Frank strangles her and later carefully scalps the woman with a utility razor. Frank returns home and adds the killed prostitute to his mannequin collection by placing her clothing and nailing the scalp onto the mannequin. Inside his mind, he tells himself that beauty is a crime punishable by death. After Frank finishes, he reads a newspaper detailing about the murdered couple at the beach as seen in Franks nightmare. Sometime later, Frank dresses and takes a collection of weapons with him, including a doublebarrelled shotgun, before leaving.Driving around Brooklyn and the Queens area, Frank finds a couple exiting a local disco and parked near the side of the Verrazano Bridge. The disco boyfriend Tom Savini starts up the vehicle after his date uncomfortably sees a spying Frank. Frank appears in front of the vehicle and kills the couple with his shotgun. Frank later returns and adds the killed woman to his mannequin collection as he watches the recent murder on television. Soon, Frank begins talking to himself and the other mannequins as he begins to sleep. ........

Source: Wikipedia