Description

Maniac, also known as Sex Maniac, is a 1934 black-and-white exploitation film/horror film, directed by Dwain Esper and written by Hildegarde Stadie, Esper’s wife, as a loose adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story “The Black Cat (short story)”, with erences to his “Murders in the Rue Morgue”.

Cast

• Bill Woods as Don Maxwell
• Horace B. Carpenter as Dr. Meirschultz
• Ted Edwards as Buckley
• Phyllis Diller as Mrs. Buckley
• Thea Ramsey as Alice Maxwell
• Jenny Dark as Maizie
• Marvel Andre as Marvel
• Celia McCann as Jo
• John P. Wade as Embalmer
• Marian Blackton as Neighbor

Cast notes

• Several key cast members in the film are uncredited, most notably the cat-farming neighbor ‘Goof,’ the detective, and Maria Altura, the woman who Dr. Meirschultz brings back to life. The identities of the actress who doubles for Altura for scenes that require nudity have also not been identified.
• Horace B. Carpenter was a producer, director, and actor from the silent film who generally portrayed white-haired characters in Western films once sound film came in.
• This is the only film that Bill Woods performed in. He later became a makeup artist, working in film and television until 1968.
• Marian Blackton is sometimes reported, incorrectly, as appearing in crossdressing as the neighbor who catches and breeds cats. She plays a female neighbor who is questioned by the detective. The male actor who plays Goof has not been identified. Blackton was the sister of Maniac’s assistant director and daughter of J. Stuart Blackton, founder of Vitagraph Studios and the father of American animation.
• The actress named Phyllis Diller in this film is no relation to the comedienne Phyllis Diller.