Reviewed By: Chris Wright, Morehorror.com
Directed By: Joseph Mangine
Written By: Mark Patrick Carducci
Starring: Alan Hayes (Steven), Leilani Sarelle (Natalie), Donna Locke (Paula), Victor Elliot Brandt (Devin), David Muir (Wylie), Marta Kober (Lorraine), P.R. Paul (Eugene), Jeff Tyler (Wally), Amber Austin (Lisa), James Acheson (Ray), Chuck Hemingway (Gary), Bo Sabato (Manello), Jessie Lawrence Ferguson (Carson), John Lafayette(Thomas), Gene Bicknell (Cozzie)
Neon Maniacs is by far one of the most obvious 1980s B horror films I have seen in quite some time. It doesn’t try to disguise the era at all with the blaring 80s songs, the teen sex, right down to the slightly cheesy monsters attacking people. I honestly don’t see how this movie has fallen by the wayside as I rarely hear any horror fan talk about it in the least in B movie circles. It is far from perfect but it is at least a fun movie.
The plot is about a bunch of monsters living near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco coming out at night killing and mutilating people in the surrounding area. A group of teens escape but the local police do not believe the story they are telling them. There is nothing ground breaking in this movie. I was confused throughout why these monsters were randomly living in the Golden Gate Bridge and doing this to begin with. Once I got past that random head scratcher, I enjoyed it for what it was worth.
The characters aren’t particularly spectacular. It was very stereotypical B 80s horror movie since they were one dimensional and anxious to have a one night stand. I wasn’t exactly complaining because those scenes are where the gore starts! At least Natalie (Leilani Sarelle) is likable as the leading lady of the film otherwise almost all the characters would be entirely forgettable from start to finish.
The gore isn’t in your face but there are plenty of kills in this film. The maniacs themselves are rather corny looking but if you can look past that, its cheesy fun. One positive is how each one is very different looking and kills in its own way. I still do not know why they are called neon maniacs since it makes no sense in the least.
My major complaint is the pace in the middle of the film. It started off good and ended good but in the middle it was as if the director really wanted to shoot for that 90 minute mark and just dragged the film out. A minor complaint I had was some of the 80s music was not kind on my ears to the point of being irritating after a while.
“Neon Maniacs” is far from perfect but I think B horror fans should check it out at least. Despite its imperfections, it is a rather fun movie in most places. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars for a decent effort but could have been better executed. It has a 4.3/10 on IMDB.