Originally titled Maniac, the movie was retitled Sex Maniac to draw in the sleazy crowd on the exploitation circuit. This marketing genius is still working, seeing as I clicked it for that reason. Does the movie live up to its second title? Not really; at least, not by 2020 standards.
However, you do get a rape scene (kind of), women dancing around in old-style lingerie (actually pretty sexy), and a cat getting strangled and having its eye plopped out and eaten (no PETA to cry foul back in those days).
I’m going to be lazy and give you the plot from Wikipedia:
“Don Maxwell is a former vaudeville impersonator who’s working as the lab assistant to Dr. Meirschultz, a mad scientist attempting to bring the dead back to life. When Don kills Meirschultz, he attempts to hide his crime by “becoming” the doctor, taking over his work, and copying his appearance/mannerisms. In the process, he slowly goes insane.”
The dude impersonating the mad doctor is even more mad than the mad doctor. He injects people with stuff that make them batshit crazy and, as I pointed out above, ends up eating a cat’s eye. Pretty wicked for 1934, I would imagine.
All that said, it’s not very good. There are multiple needless scenes that do nothing to advance the plot, and these scenes seem to last longer than the scenes that actually matter. It’s an oddity of early filmmaking with a few interesting moments, but little more. But hey, it’s only fifty minutes long. It’s worth that.
Check it out on YouTube.