''Maniac'' is an American short

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...

, directed by

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf (; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and ...

. It was released for free on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, on October 31, 2011. The short film stars American rappers Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi and Chris "Cage" Palko as French-speaking

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

s. Mescudi and Palko also co-wrote the film with LaBeouf.

Synopsis

A filmmaker (

) documents the exploits of two serial killers (

Scott Mescudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Yo ...

and Chris Palko).

Background

first directed a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for New York-based rapper

Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayin ...

in 2009, for his track "I Never Knew You": "I'm 22 and I'm directing my favorite rapper's music video," LaBeouf told '' LA Weekly'' of the project, "This shit is better than riding unicorns." It was through that project that he met Cleveland-bred rapper Kid Cudi, which led to LaBeouf filming and directing Kid Cudi's video for " Marijuana", which was shot at the 2010

High Times ''High Times'' is an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade.Danko, Danny"Norml Founder Retires – Exha ...

Cannabis Cup The ''High Times'' Cannabis Cup is a cannabis festival sponsored by ''High Times'' magazine. The event features judges from around the world who sample and vote for their favorite marijuana varieties, with cups (trophies) being awarded to the ove ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. LaBeouf subsequently went on to collaborate with Cudi and Cage on a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

titled ''MANIAC''. Kid Cudi first spoke of the short film on March 5, 2011, via his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

feed, when he announced: " hemaniac horror short will be released on halloween, rager short this summer, marijuana video this spring. i got you guys, no worries." The short film was inspired by Cudi's song of the same name, from his 2010 album '' Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager'' and is an homage to the 1992

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

crime mockumentary, ''

Man Bites Dog The phrase man bites dog is a shortened version of an aphorism in journalism that describes how an unusual, infrequent event (such as a man biting a dog) is more likely to be reported as news than an ordinary, everyday occurrence with similar cons ...

''. In an interview with ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'', Cudi went into detail about the short film, as he discussed how Shia LaBeouf reached out to him to do the project, playing the role of a killer, funding the video and why was it in French: "It was me creating the back story for this person in my mind. What you see just seems like senseless acts of crime happening but in my character’s mind it was always justified. When you watch it, it’s like, ‘Why are these things happening?’ You want answers but there's no answers really given. When I was in character, it was always justified for me." He also added "When it came time to shoot, it was as real as possible and you were scared of this character. I literally transformed into this person. I didn’t talk much on set, didn’t crack many jokes, I kept to myself."

Release

On June 3, 2011, Kid Cudi released the first trailer for the short film. On October 31, 2011, in the spirit of Halloween, Kid Cudi released the short film via

Cast

as Twisted Killer * Chris Palko as Dark Killer *

as The Director *Ron Ayers as Sound Man *Ariel M. Carlson as Murdered Woman in Park *Jeremy Cook as Pedestrian *Erika Hoveland as Waitress *Bill Lumbert as French Diner Stud *Sydney Lumbert as Hallway Girl *Melissa Marra as Restaurant Patron *Eric Adam Swenson as Diner patron *Bryan Valko as Shotgun Murder Victim *Laurie Valko as Murder Victim *Johnny Marra as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)

References

External links

* * {{Cage 2011 short films 2011 films 2011 horror films American black-and-white films 2010s French-language films Films shot in Michigan American serial killer films American slasher films 2010s slasher films American splatter films American mockumentary films Films set in France Films about snuff films French slasher films French short films American horror short films Cage (rapper) Kid Cudi 2010s American films 2010s French films