Neon Maniacs

1986 "There are twelve good reasons to be afraid of the dark. And every one of them is a killer."
5| 1h31m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 November 1986 Released
Producted By: Cimarron Productions
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A group of teenagers in San Francisco discover a nest of homicidal monsters living in a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, but when they try to tell authorities, no one believes them.

Genre

Horror

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Director

Joseph Mangine

Production Companies

Cimarron Productions

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Neon Maniacs Audience Reviews

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
Tockinit not horrible nor great
Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Foreverisacastironmess I felt greatly let down by this pitiful excuse for a movie. I wasn't under the impression it would be Shakespeare but going by the cool cover art I did think it would at least be something of a monsterfest type film along the lines of "Spookies", which is one of my all-time favourite fun horror movies. But sadly it soon turned out to be nothing but a confused tiresome mess that I found downright insulting in its plain unapologetic stupidity. Like the number one thing that bugged me about it was the most obvious thing: Where, who, and what the f**k were the Neon Maniacs!? Oh they just magically sprung from the scary iron door beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.. Pathetic! I'm not five years old, give me something to go on! You don't know if they're mutants, demons, robots, nothing! So not cool! I hated the music that'd instantly start playing whenever they appeared, it really grated on me. And some of the actors were really awful, like the main guy Steve who played a cheesy rock number near the end, he couldn't have said his lines with less feeling if he'd tried. There was just way too much wrong with it and too many gaping plot holes for me to ignore and I just couldn't enjoy it enough as a result, there was no story! And it's a shame because I really thought there were some interesting themes and the potential for something special buried deep in this hopeless picture that could've been great if the plot had been adjusted and it had been directed better. I think it could have been a classic of 80s horror instead of what it is. I liked the character of the teenage girl who was a horror movie buff not unlike young Tommy Jarvis from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. I wish they would've done the story so that the Maniacs had been monsters from horror comics that had somehow come to life and they were after the girl because it was her doing - if nothing else it would have offered a passable explanation as to their laughable fatal weakness to water! And the thing with the trading cards when the fisherman gets axed in the back made me wonder if at one point they had considered going for something of a Garbage Pail Kids idea. Yet another neat angle that is just lazily discarded.. Again, shame, there was potential! And I did like the gang of monsters, there was some good eerie moments with them. The scene where the mad doctor chloroforms the poor guy and cuts out his still beating heart is very macabre and scary, and the weird little cyclops alligator thing was so adorable! All of the makeup effects on the monsters was nice, and they each had a distinct look and personality, but you can't build a movie just on that alone, at least not without a little information for the audience to go on, and it just feels horrendously incomplete and unfinished to me, not good enough at all, they should have shelved it. Anyway that's all just my opinion, if you love it more power to ya, but I don't get you man, I don't get you at all! Utter trainwreck, in fact I'd say that if you wanna see how not to make a movie watch this monster!
udar55 See, there are these twelve Neon Maniacs who live under the Golden Gate bridge and come out at night to kill people. No reason really, they just do. Natalie (Leilani Sarelle) sees all of her partying friends offed by this gnarly group but no one will believe her because the only thing left at the scene of the crime is some neon goo. Insert Steven (Alan Hayes), a fellow high school student who has the hots for Natalie, and Paula (Donna Locke), a young horror obsessed tomboy, to form a trio of folks who the cops won't listen to. This NEON MANIACS madness is really something and plays with the same logic of the home movies I made when I was a 12-year-old. Sad when you realize director Joseph Mangine was in his 50s when he made this. We never get any history on the titular creatures or learn why they are so intent on tracking our leads. But we do know they melt when water gets on them (you listening M. Night?). I guess you could get away with stuff like this in the 80s if you throw some slime around, which this film does plenty of. Probably the only film in the history of cinema to have the heroes discussing ways to off the monsters and one says, "Hey, isn't the battle of the bands tonight? We can do it there!" Insert two dueling bands (new wave vs. heavy metal) duking it out while the Maniacs converge on the school. The film ends with the hope of a NEON MANIACS II and I'm still, like, totally waiting.
David Cooke Yep, the 80s were so cool I spent the entire decade drunk! 'Baby lied when she told me...' - 'I love the choice you made...' - The battle of the bands ROCKS man. 'We've had enough' sing the grotesque hair-metal band.The ending ruins it for a lot of people. Many of my buddies who I forced this film upon all expressed disgust at there being no attempt at an explanation/resolution. Fair enough. Me? I don't mind.But be honest folks - all the fuss about 'Rosebud' in Citizen Kane!!! Why do YOU think the Neon Maniacs came into being? Maybe some university somewhere will have eggheads debating in pretty much the same manner as the Welles film. :) Donna Locke was a pretty young girl who would have grown up nicely. I wonder where she is now. My investigations tell me she's out of the biz. Shame, because her acting was rather good - as was most of the cast, to be fair.For the record: Archer is my favourite maniac!
Aaron1375 This movie seemed to have quite a lot of potential. It jumped out of the gates swinging, but in the end it turns into a bit of a dud. This movie starts out with a guy finding these playing cards with pictures of monsters and stuff on them. The monsters end up being real and they go on a killing rampage. What are they and what is their purpose I don't think is ever revealed. They quickly go kill some kids and I am thinking it was better than what people said. Then comes the standard cops do not believe a thing scene that usually appear in movies of this sort and then a rather interesting dream sequence. Then there is a whole lot of nothing going on. The movie turns into a total snooze fest, as some teens try and figure out what is going on. Then the end comes and it doesn't match up to the beginning and it is just a real letdown after the brisk pace that it started out with. Also, how come these monsters are a problem at all? They happen to have a rather lame weakness that is really quite easy for anyone to use. All in all a movie with potential that falls flat.