Let's be realistic.

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The "title" of this user comment is obviously a reference/tribute towards the tagline of the legendary infamous early 80's exploitation classic "Maniac". Like another reviewer already righteously pointed out, this slick and surprisingly grim mid-60's grindhouse feature could be considered as a predecessor and definitely a source of inspiration for William Lustig's later film. Both movies revolve on a perverted New York serial killer, whose identity isn't exactly kept secret, who sadistically butchers women because all of them are whores. Moreover, both killers still hear their mommy's voice and both have an impressive yet uncanny collection of mannequin dolls in their living room. Last but not least "Maniac" is mostly famous for its disturbing atmosphere of nihilistic brutality and the extreme gore, and even though "Aroused" naturally isn't that engrossing, it's definitely ahead of its time in terms of sexual and violent explicitly.Weird choice of title, actually, since "Aroused" basically centers on a freak with an aversion from sexual pleasure since he spent most of his childhood locked up in a closet whilst mommy received her sex customers. Thus he developed hatred towards prostitutes and prowls the streets at night looking for new preys. The movie opens with a powerful sequence, clearly inspired by Hitchcock's "Psycho", in which the maniac strangles a defenseless girl in the shower whilst experiences flashbacks of his dominant mother. A reckless rookie cop and the frank lesbian lover of a murdered prostitute combine forces to catch the killer, and particularly the woman plots a barbaric vengeance. "Aroused" is a pretty good movie for its kind. The script horribly drags in places and the jazzy soundtrack is extremely annoying, but those are typical and forgivable defaults in cheap & sleazy 60's sexploitation movies. At least the overlong and tedious parts always end with exciting moments, like when follow around a black prostitute for what seems to be hours only to witness her getting slaughtered nastily in the end. There's even suspense in certain parts and the dialogs as well as the performances are astoundingly above average. Heck, even the girls that go nude are all pretty attractive and that's a lot more than I anticipated. It's truly a shame Anton Holden didn't direct more of this type of raunchy horror/exploitation flicks (apparently he's more at home in the sound editing business), since most of them are worth bothering for.

Gutsy tale with plenty of wonderfully shot crisp b/w photography. Strangely languid in parts (possibly to extend running time) because for the most part well paced, well edited and excitingly told tale of a sex killer prowling the streets of Manhattan. Great opening and first killing (and aftermath) and some of that power returns at times throughout. Novel attempt to give background to the killer's psyche whilst he's in the act and several nice touches make for an enjoyable ride as cops and prostitutes try to find the killer. It all ends in his lair in a fabulous scene with him returning to his room filled with mannequin parts, to hug his teddy bear but find himself surrounded by a pack of call girls intent on removing a vital part of his anatomy!

Another NYC sexploitation film, and one of the good ones. Competently directed by Anton Holden and even pretty well acted, with a dark and grungy noirish feel. Ever since witnessing his abusive mom bedding down with her many lovers as a tormented youth, a sexually fearful young man is now compelled to murder all those dirty and trashy "whores" he encounters in Manhattan. But the lesbian/hooker lover of this psychotic's latest victim vows to find and castrate him, with the aid of her street-walking friends. It seems that this could have been a precursor to William Lustig's MANIAC; the disturbed killer not only has deranged flashbacks, but also lives in a run-down, mannequin-infested city apartment. *** out of ****

Aroused is a moody hooker-killer drama and a good example of 60s sexploitation flicks. Short, violent, and loaded with discordant jazz, this is only for fans of the genre. Some of the girls are fairly pretty, and the acting is generally adequate, but if it were made in 2004, it would be rated R and star A-list actors. It's a deeper psychological look at the killer than your typical Showtime skin flick, but that hardly makes up for all that bad jazz; but it does feature a nice Psycho ripoff that gives its audience what Hitchcock couldn't.