Little Kevin Dornwinkle is caught peeping on a sexy neighbor by his mother and her over reaction to this incident instantly creates a future serial killer. Twenty years later, Kevin has grown up into physicist Dr. Dornwinkle (Noel Peters) whose theories on “molecular reorganization” have given him the reputation of being a bit of a quack. He solidifies this by injecting himself with his invisibility serum at a medical conference.
When his formula doesn’t work, Dornwinkle becomes a literal laughing stock and goes on a killing spree, winding up in an insane asylum. Months later, he escapes from the institution and poses as Professor Kevin Smith (wait what?) in order to substitute teach at a high school during summer school and continue perfecting his formula. The class is full of hornball doofuses, and his propensity for peeping on the sexy cheerleaders only gets worse when he keeps injecting himself with his invisibility serum. The serum actually works this time around, but the side effect of turning Dornwinkle into a homicidal maniac still persists and so another killing spree ensues!
The Invisible Maniac (1990) lets you know from the first line of dialog that you are in for a goofy time. Writer/director Adam Rifkin (AKA Rif Coogan) is best known for directing Detroit Rock City (1999) and co-writing Joe Dante’s Small Soldiers (1998). His kooky and irreverent sense of humor kind of helps to elevate this insanity. While spoofing garbage T&A crap (I’m looking at you, Zapped! (1982)), this is also just a horny T&A movie, and Rifkin could have pushed this wacko material even farther into some truly insane territory. But this is still a worthwhile effort.
Noel Peters is so damn amazing as Dornwinkle. He doesn’t just chew the scenery, he savors it with a lip-smacking intensity that must be seen to be believed. The rest of the cast gives their all and everyone is in on the joke. I especially enjoyed Stephanie Blake, who plays the school’s horny principal. She delivers her lines like a mannequin that suddenly learned how to speak, and I loved every second she is on screen. Porn star Shannon Wilsey, better known as Savannah, is in this as well, just a few short years before her suicide.
The Invisible Maniac deftly combines a sendup of 1960s sexploitation films with a slasher movie (that yields surprisingly gory results at times) and almost reaches John Waters levels of tongue-in-cheekiness. The first half of the movie has an energy to it that is damn near impossible not to get swept up in, but the need to fill 90 minutes creeps in and the second half gets a bit samey. That being said, this is absolutely worth checking out for the spirited performances and some truly zany setpieces. Sadly, there was no peeping on any of the male characters, so we didn’t get any dingdongs on screen. Real peepers peep on the peener.
As usual, Vinegar Syndrome really kicks out the jams with their presentation of The Invisible Maniac. I don’t have a 4K player, so I can’t speak on the quality of the disc, but I can attest that the Blu-ray that comes with this double disc set looks and sounds excellent. There are two audio commentary tracks, one with Rifkin (moderated by filmmaker Elijah Drenner), and another with the Hysteria Continues! podcast. Both are worth checking out.
There is also a great half hour long making of documentary with Rifkin and members of the cast and crew who all look back fondly on the production of the film. There is also a 13-minute-long deleted scene which is interesting but I am so glad it was cut from the film. There’s also a fun segment from a public access show where Rifkin is interviewed in his Rif Coogan persona. The only extra that is just baffling to me is the music video for the “Invisible Maniac” punk/heavy metal theme song AND some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the music video. Lastly, there’s a trailer for The Invisible Maniac.