Elijah Wood Gets Bloody in New Photos from MANIAC

Elijah Wood is busy these days. The man most famous for playing Frodo Baggins will reprise that role later this year when part one of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit comes to theaters, and he also just signed on for the lead in a crazy-sounding film called Grand Piano. (If you haven't heard about that project, trust me - it's worth looking into.)

The Playlist just posted some new photos of Wood and co-star Nora Arnezeder (who appeared as Ryan Reynolds' girlfriend in Safe House) in Maniac, a remake of the 1980 gory exploitation film about a serial killer in New York City. Here's the official synopsis:

Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill.

It's interesting to note that this movie should not be confused with the similarly-titled Maniac Cop, another 80s slasher movie that has a prequel coming soon produced by Nicolas Winding Refn. Both of the originals were directed by William Lustig, so you can tell from these two properties alone what kind of movies this dude preferred to make. 

These photos give us a pretty good sense of the creepiness we can expect when this movie comes to theaters on May 26th. Tell us what you think in the comments. Have you seen the original Maniac, and are you interested in seeing Wood return to his Sin City serial killing days?