Elijah Wood cast in Alexandre Ajas Maniac remake

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Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D) and producer/writer Gregory Levasseur have teamed with P2 director Frank Khalfoun to remake William Lustig’s gruesome 1980s splatter classic Maniac.

Elijah Wood ( The Lord of the Rings ) and Nora Arnezeder ( Safe House ) will be heading up the cast.

Arnezeder will be Anna, a part played by the legendary Caroline Munro in the original, and Wood will play the titular maniac Frank Zito.

Lustig’s original flick is about crazed New York serial killer Zito, who has a penchant for scalping his victims.

Wood has played nasty before of course, most notably in Sin City , but we can't help but be a bit surprised by this particular piece of casting.

Aja and Lavasseur are on scripting duties, and their old pal Khalfoun – who helmed P2 for the pair – will direct.

While P2 is fun enough, we'll be hoping that Aja will be able to add a little bit of the grimy nastiness his Hills Have Eyes remake had in abundance to the Maniac mix.