It must have seemed like a great idea at the time: a sort of superhero-cum-monster movie set in Malaysia with lots and lots of topless ladies and the shark theme from Jaws. The title alone sold it for me – any film called OILY MANIAC is a must-have as far as I’m concerned. Danny Lee plays the eponymous Maniac – a polio victim who gains his powers when his mentor, shortly before his execution for murder, gives him the key to superhuman powers. All he has to do is dig a hole in his own house (which is built upon some kind of bewitched ground) and the magical oil will bestow its power. What it boils down to is this: if he covers himself head to toe in oil (of any kind), he becomes an invincible killing machine. He can switch between two forms at will: an oil slick (great for sliding along the ground or ceiling and slipping into the tiniest of cracks) or a more-or-less human form (great for throttling his victims). The Maniac then goes on a killing rampage righting the wrongs he sees in his everyday life as a clerk in a solicitor’s office.

I’ve just reread that plot synopsis and realised I’ve just made OILY MANIAC sound a hell of a lot more exciting than it really is. It tries to be both a superhero movie (the monster is kind of like THE INCREDIBLE HULK in a way, and the mild-mannered Danny Lee character is like any number of superhero alter-ego average Joes) and a horror film. It doesn’t really achieve either thanks largely to some terrible – and I do mean terrible – special effects. Plus, it’s about as scary as an episode of Postman Pat. The oil slick effect wouldn’t fool a five year old today, and it probably didn’t look too convincing back then, either. As for the human form of the Maniac – well, it’s a guy in a (badly made) rubber suit. Add to this the blatant ripping-off of the JAWS theme whenever the Maniac is about to appear, and it all makes for one hell of a wacko experience. Actually, if it wasn’t for this piece of music popping up all over the place, I’d swear this was a lot older than 1976 – if not for the effects, then for the fashions which seem more like they’re from the late sixties or early seventies to me.

As you might expect, all this results in some unintentional comedy and an overall campy feel to the film. Which is just as well, because the rest of it is a complete write-off. The morality of the film seems a little skewed, too, and some of the plot doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. I think the crew probably thought that if you throw enough topless ladies and rape scenes in, you could disguise the film’s shortcomings. This is probably the most “breasty” Hong Kong film I’ve seen, although I’m sure it can’t hold a candle to Cat III films (of which I haven’t seen any, Officer, I swear). The action scenes involving the Maniac aren’t too bad, though, but you can never get past the fact that it’s a man in a rubber suit. The film’s conclusion was more than a tad predictable, too.

OILY MANIAC is not so much a B-Movie as a C-Movie, but is entertaining enough in its camp way. I also strongly suspect it would play well in front of a post-pub male audience.