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Thanks for the memories!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent but underrated film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A tile like 'Maniac Cop' should be an indicator of low quality but this film even though low budget is surprisingly good. A disgruntled ex-cop thought deceased is killing people in New York but it is not as simple as that. Who he is and why he is killing are eventually explained which involves the justice system, the penal system and ideas of trust and betrayal. There is a lot in the film and it moves along briskly with good character scenes and exciting action scenes. The last stunt is amazing. When the city realises there is a killing cop the paranoia of the population is well portrayed.The cast acquit themselves excellently, particularly Tom Atkins as policeman Frank McCrae, William Smith as Captain Ripley and Sheree North as Sally Noland. Robert Z'Dar as the titular cop is frightening, even in silhouette standing still. Bruce Campbell plays an adulterous cop who is accused of the crimes. Apparently the actor disliked the film but what does he know? He is fine in it.It's not really a slasher film, it's not a monster film, it's not a police procedural film. The laudable direction by William Lustig and script by Larry Cohen makes it rather a good drama and more engrossing than many a bigger budgeted thriller. There were sequels but was definitely the best one.

When old (and by 'old' I mean in the eighties!) horror films are discussed, you normally hear about the Friday 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises. Granted, they were the most successful, yet for some reason the unsubtly-titled 'Maniac Cop' never really gets a mention. This is surprising for two reasons: the first is that it stars Evil Dead lynchpin Bruce Campbell and, secondly, it's actually quite good.Okay, so when I say 'good' I kind of mean that it's good if you know what you're getting. And you should. In the same way as if you watched 'Snakes on a Plane' you should know what kind of film you're about to sit down to. Maniac Cop is a horror, vaguely slasher film, although rather than having an unstoppable brute mercilessly stalking a bunch of over-sexed teens, you have an unstoppable, well, maniac policeman stalking people in a major U.S. city.But, fear not good citizens, for every nut-job with a badge who wants to hack you to pieces for running a red light, there's an honest cop waiting to solve the mystery (and a mayor who doesn't want to admit that there's a problem – kind of like that official in 'Jaws,' but we're dealing with a shark with a truncheon here). So, our decent, law-abiding boy in blue sets out to investigate the strange sightings of a cop out of control. But our hero isn't Bruce Campbell. He's also in it, but spends a large portion of the film in a cell. That's not really a spoiler as it happens almost directly after meeting him. However, he does – as in many cheesy horror films – tend to steal every scene he's in and the film wouldn't be half so much fun without him (even if his 'boomstick' never makes an appearance.As I mentioned, Maniac Cop never received the attention other – equally B-movie – horror flicks got and perhaps that's because it's (if I'm being generous) a little uneven (and if you don't like the film you'll probably call it 'all over the place plot-wise). It's like it really wants to be taken seriously as a film, yet exhibits no real traits of anything other than a B-movie horror film. Everyone plays it straight and there's nothing particularly tongue-in-cheek here. The plot has various elements and threads which start heading in one direction, only to go off in another. Like I said, this could be a deliberate attempt to mislead the audience by the writer, or it could just be sloppy writing. We may never know.However, what I do know is that Maniac Cop – for all its numerous faults – is actually quite good fun and well worth a watch if you're into horror (and Jason-style slasher) films in general. See it quickly before it's remade for the worse (Evil Dead, I'm looking at you).

William Lustig's Maniac Cop plays like a B-movie fan's wet dream. It has Lustig - director of the wonderfully grim Maniac (1980) - at the helm, and Larry Cohen, legendary writer/director of such gems as It's Alive (1974), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) and The Stuff (1985), on scriptwriting duties. In front of the camera it has Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, William Smith, Richard Roundtree and Robert Z'Dar - all together in the same movie! I almost feel like I should complain that Michael Moriarty wasn't invited to join the cast. Due to the stellar talent involved, I feel like Maniac Cop is almost a let-down. Contrivances and bad writing can usually be forgiven in movies like this, but it's difficult not to expect that little bit more. Still, this doesn't stop the film from being a great deal of fun.When a man dressed as a police officer breaks the neck of a woman fleeing from rapists, investigating police lieutenant McCrae (Atkins) is told to keep eye-witness accounts of a cop committing the act hush-hush. This prompts McCrae to leak the information to a journalist, only for a media frenzy to cause the public to turn on genuine police officers trying to uphold the law. A woman suspects her husband Jack Forrest (Campbell) to be the killer, and when she is murdered moments after witnessing him in bed with another woman, Jack is arrested as the prime suspect. McCrae, however, believes Jack to be innocent and digs deeper into the story of a hero cop long believed to be dead.Too much just doesn't add up in Maniac Cop. Like Jason in the Friday the 13th franchise, the Maniac Cop has superhuman strength and a sense of invincibility. Where Jason can be chalked down to some sort of supernatural influence, no explanation is giving here, failing to fit in with the back-story provided for the killer. The scenes of police procedural - something Cohen is normally very accomplished at writing - are muddled, with Jack still being held even after McCrae and Jack's lover and fellow cop Theresa (Laurene Landon) are attacked by the Maniac Cop while Jack is held in custody, and any real female police officers will no doubt be offended to Theresa's wailing reaction while being threatened.I could carry on bashing the film, but I won't, as I actually had a pretty good time watching it. Like most movies with Cohen involved, Maniac Cop is very funny. Campbell is effortlessly hilarious, even in a relatively straight role, and the script is witty when it's not taking liberties with the plot. Lustig, who went on to direct two sequels, also provides some decently staged action scenes. The film is also surprisingly brutal in it's violence and gore, so gore- hounds will not doubt finish the film feeling satisfied. And it's due to these positives that I cannot be too harsh on Maniac Cop, as even though it's little more than a decent slasher flick, I certainly kept me entertained.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

The decade of the 1980s was filled with production companies that made attempts to knock off or even originally make their own horror franchise that revolved around a nortiously iconic slasher villain. Most audiences at least by the late 80s had witnessed several villains in the vein of some type of knife wielding psychopath who kills innocent people. It was "the in" thing and audiences just couldn't get enough of their blood, thus the genre was began to become overused. However, there were films that tried to give a more distinctive edge in their slasher villains. The original Child's Play (1988) was one of them. It's curious though to why people seem to forget this piece by director William Lustig who also directed his more well known piece, Maniac (1980). Lustig sure seems to have a liking to the word "maniac" in his film titles.Maniac Cop (1988) is another one of those slasher knock-off films that borrows familiar concepts from previous famous slasher franchises, and then adds a little of its own originality to it. For most, as long as it doesn't completely rip off a franchise entirely or blatantly, it's fairly acceptable. Not original, but acceptable to a point. This is what Lustig does here as a final product, although I'm not sure if that was his intent. When a suspect only described as a police officer of the local force murders random citizens, people begin to panic. Of course, why shouldn't they? The police are supposed to protect not randomly slaughter. The writer behind the story is Larry Cohen, better known for writing Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth (2002). The elements that Cohen takes are the invincibility and the silent nature of the maniac cop; which resembles that of Michael Myers from Halloween (1978). Other than that, the idea is original.However, this is also the weakpoint of the story. How on earth does this character survive so many fatal injuries? At least for Michael Myers, it was at least described as if Myers was possessed by a demon, but here, nothing's given. Then again, the plot plays out like a crime mystery, which helps pull in its audience instead of just continuing to show mindless killing. There are also numerous cult celebrities like Tom Atkins as a tough detective (like many other roles he's played), Bruce Campbell, William Smith, Richard Roundtree (who all play cops) and even Sam Raimi has a brief cameo. All of which give respective performances. Even the female leads are convincing. Playing the villain is Robert Z'Dar, an actor with a unique chin / jaw line. It's about time someone finally got the idea that he could make a memorable character, which he does. Sure he's no Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees or Freddy Krueger, but he does stand out. Give him credit for that. Some of his kill scenes are even inventive that I'm not sure many villains have done before. The gore is also there. It's not gross out, but there are various disturbing images, like the maniac cop's face. Z'Dar can also perform action sequences decently. I was amazed to view a car chase scene in a horror film, it almost felt like an action movie; viewers should still enjoy it though. This goes hand in hand with David Kern's editing because the flow of the story has good pacing.The two cinematographers who worked on the film did an OK job. It wasn't bad but it would've been nice to see a little more daytime scenes considering there wasn't any visual style to the film. Producing the music was Jay Chattaway. There was a theme in the film but it's difficult to say what it represented. It was a long drawn out brassy ominous sound, which was appropriate for its tone though. Even the chase scene had adrenaline pumped beats in it, but it lacked development in any way that didn't sound anywhere close to being a memorable score. All around this is probably one of those underlooked slasher films that seems silly on the surface but actually is entertaining when given a watch.Like many other films that focused on psychotic blade wielding crazies, the reasoning behind certain facts just aren't revealed. Watch it for its plot dealing with mystery, its distinguished cult cast and unique villain.