2012 (film)

2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. The film was produced by Centropolis Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver, although it was originally planned to be filmed in Los Angeles. The plot follows Jackson Curtis as he attempts to bring his family to refuge, amidst the events of a geological and meteorological super-disaster. The film includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012.

After a prolonged marketing campaign comprising the creation of a website from the point of view of the main character, and a viral marketing website on which filmgoers could register for a lottery number to save them from the ensuing disaster, the film was released internationally on November 13, 2009. Critics gave 2012 mostly mixed reviews, praising its special effects and dark tone compared to Emmerich's other work, but criticizing its screenplay and 158-minute length. However, it was a huge commercial success, and one of the highest-grossing films of 2009.

Maniac (2012 film)

Maniac is a 2012 French-American psychological slasher film directed by Franck Khalfoun and written by Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur, and C.A. Rosenberg. The film was produced by the French film companies La Petite Reine and Studio 37. It is a remake of the 1980 film of the same name and stars Elijah Wood as Frank Zito, a brutal serial killer. The film also stars Nora Arnezeder, Jan Broberg, and America Olivo.

Plot

Frank Zito is a mentally disturbed young man who has taken over his family's mannequin sales business after the recent death of his mother, who also moonlighted as a prostitute. Frank's childhood experiences of seeing his mother bring home clients or being taken out with her to turn tricks has left Frank unable to enter into meaningful relationships with women, and his sexual impulses tend to manifest themselves as violent urges that Frank externalizes as his mother's will. Struggling to come to grips with his mother's treatment of him, and spurred by memories of his mother brushing her hair before going out at night, Frank stalks, murders, and scalps a woman one night, attaching her hair to a mannequin that he then keeps in his bedroom.