Maniac Cop

Maniac Cop
Theatrical poster
Directed by William Lustig
Produced by Larry Cohen
Written by Larry Cohen
Starring
Music by Jay Chattaway
Cinematography
Edited by David Kern
Production
company
Distributed by Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment
Release date
  • May 13, 1988 (1988-05-13)
Running time
 85 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1.1 million[2]
Box office $671,382[2]

Maniac Cop is a 1988 American action slasher film directed by William Lustig, written by Larry Cohen, and starring Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z'Dar, and Sheree North. Z'Dar plays the title character, a murderous ex-police officer returned from the dead and seeking revenge on the people who wronged him, who is pursued by his former co-workers. It was released on May 13, 1988, and grossed $671,382 from a budget of $1.1 million. Despite negative reviews on release, Maniac Cop has become a cult film. It was followed by two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence (1993).

Plot

In New York City, a waitress named Cassie Philips is on her way home when she is assaulted by two muggers and seeks aid from a police officer, who kills her by breaking her neck. Over the next two nights, the hence-forth dubbed "Maniac Cop" kills a man named Sam and an unnamed musician. This prompts Lieutenant Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins), who was told by his superiors to suppress eyewitness accounts that the killer was wearing a police uniform, to pass on information to a journalist, in an attempt to protect civilians. Unfortunately, this causes panic and dissent among the city and results in innocent patrolmen being shot to death or avoided on the streets by paranoid people.

Ellen Forrest (Victoria Catlin), who suspects that her husband Jack (Bruce Campbell) may be the Maniac Cop (who has also murdered a US Delegate off-screen), follows him to a motel. There she catches him in bed with a fellow officer, Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon). Distraught, Ellen runs out of the room and is slain by the Maniac Cop. Jack is arrested under suspicion of murder, but McCrae believes Jack has been framed. McCrae gets Jack to tell him about his relationship with Mallory, who is attacked by the Maniac Cop while working undercover as a prostitute. Mallory and McCrae fight off the killer, who is deathly cold even through his gloves and does not appear to breathe. Even though they shoot him several times, the killer appears completely unfazed.

Mallory hides out in McCrae's apartment while he investigates Sally Noland (Sheree North), a fellow officer and the only person Mallory told about her affair. McCrae follows Noland to a warehouse, where she meets with the Maniac Cop and refers to him as "Matt". Returning to police headquarters, McCrae discovers files on Matthew Cordell, a fellow officer who was imprisoned in Sing Sing for police brutality and closing in on corruption in city hall (having killed at least five criminals prior). While McCrae is looking into his past, Cordell flashes back to being mutilated and killed in a shower room in Sing Sing.

When McCrae and Mallory visit Jack, they tell him that they think Cordell is the real killer and plan to visit the chief medical examiner at Sing Sing. McCrae leaves to go to the clerical room, and he is attacked by Sally. She is in hysterics, convinced that Cordell is going to turn on her because he found out she gave info to McCrae (and cause she's "no good" to him). After finding a policeman hung from the ceiling by his belt, Sally is grabbed by Cordell and beaten to death against the wall. Hearing the commotion, Jack and Mallory break out of the interrogation room and find the corpses of six more officers strewn around the building (and in a bonus scene it's mentioned that two more were also slain). Jack tells Mallory to go to McCrae's car while he searches for Cordell, who disappears after throwing McCrae out a window, killing him. Jack, who looks like the one responsible for the carnage to responding officers, flees with Mallory.

The two go to see Sing Sing's medical examiner, who admits that while he was preparing to autopsy Cordell, the officer showed faint signs of life. The examiner secretly released Cordell into Sally's care, convinced he was completely brain dead. During the 50th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, Jack waits outside as Mallory warns Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree) and Captain Ripley (William Smith) about Cordell. The two refuse to believe her and have her arrested. Cordell stabs Pike and Ripley to death, then targets Mallory, killing officer Fowler left to guard her. Mallory escapes through a window, while Jack is arrested and placed in a van, which Cordell hijacks.

Mallory and another officer chase the van, which Cordell takes to his warehouse hideout, running over and killing the watchman on the way in. Cordell attacks Mallory and Jack, kills officer Bremmer, and tries to escape in the van when backup arrives. Jacks clings to the side of the van and fights for control of it, distracting Cordell and causing him to drive into a suspended pipe, which impales him. Cordell loses control of the vehicle, which crashes into the river, and sinks. The van is fished out, and, as it is searched, his body is nowhere to be found. Jack is proven innocent as not being the Maniac Cop. As everyone leaves, Cordell's hand can be seen rising out of the water.

In the extended cut, corrupt mayor Jerry Killium relaxes in his office, content Cordell is gone. After Killium's assistant leaves, Cordell, who was hiding behind a curtain, murders the mayor offscreen as he screams in agony and the credits roll.

Cast

Director William Lustig makes a cameo appearance as a Motel Manager. Director Sam Raimi appears as "Parade Reporter." Lustig's uncle, boxer Jake LaMotta, appears briefly as a detective.

Release

Maniac Cop was released May 13, 1988. It played in 50 theaters and had a U.S. gross of $671,382.[2]

Home media

The film was first released on DVD on April 8, 1998, by Elite Entertainment and included a commentary by director William Lustig, writer Larry Cohen, star Bruce Campbell, and composer Jay Chattaway as well as a trailer and deleted scenes. Later, on November 14, 2006, a "special edition" DVD was released by Synapse Films. This version includes the film restored and re-mastered with a DTS soundtrack.[3] In October 2011, Synapse Films released a Blu-ray edition of the film.[4]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 50% of 10 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5/10.[5] The film was mostly panned by critics at the time of its release.[6] Variety called it a "disappointing thriller that wastes an oddball premise".[7] Caryn James of The New York Times called it an amateurish film with stiff acting and dialogue.[8] Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times wrote that film quickly becomes an uninteresting Friday the 13th clone.[9] Time Out London criticized the film as formulaic and said that it might have been better had writer-producer Cohen directed it himself.[10] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post called the script "undernourished and obvious".[11]

Reviewing the Blu-ray release, J. Hurtado of Twitch Film wrote that despite its faults, Maniac Cop deserves mention as one of the last grindhouse films set in New York City.[12] Tom Becker of DVD Verdict called it "a fun, mindless gorefest".[13] Bill Gibron of DVD Talk rated it 4.5/5 stars and called it "one of the era's finest forgotten gems", deserving of a critical reappraisal.[14] Noel Murray of The A.V. Club rated it B- and called it a goofy film that was always meant to inhabit the shelves of independent video rental stores.[15] Gareth Jones of Dread Central rated it four out of five stars and called it a cult film that is "amongst the cream of the crop of late-eighties low-budget horror".[16] Bloody Disgusting rated it five out of ten stars and questioned why the film has a cult following when it has a poor script and direction, uneven tone, and boring kills.[17]

Campbell said of the film that it was "not a good movie" when viewed in hindsight, but it initially struck him as "perfectly legit."[18]

Legacy

Sequels

The film was followed by two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 in 1990, and Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence in 1993.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "MANIAC COP (18) (CUT)". British Board of Film Classification. June 8, 1988. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Maniac Cop". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  3. ↑ Condit, Jon (2006-11-13). "DVD Release List: Big Monkeys & Maniacal Cops, Masters of Horror". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  4. ↑ Barton, Steve (2011-08-11). "Synapse Films: Maniac Cop Hits Blu-ray; South of Heaven Comes Home". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  5. ↑ "Maniac Cop (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  6. ↑ Bennett, Dan (2002-12-01). "Weird, twisted and perverse". Video Store. Retrieved 2015-09-15 – via Highbeam Research. (Subscription required (help)).
  7. ↑ "Review: 'Maniac Cop'". Variety. 1988. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  8. ↑ James, Caryn (1988-05-14). "Maniac Cop (1988)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  9. ↑ Willman, Chris (1988-09-12). "Movie Reviews : 'Maniac Cop' Goes 0 for 3 at the Plate". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  10. ↑ "Maniac Cop". Time Out London. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  11. ↑ Harrington, Richard (1988-06-04). "'Maniac Cop' (R)". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  12. ↑ Hurtado, J. (2011-12-31). "MANIAC COP Blu-ray Review (UK)". Twitch Film. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  13. ↑ Becker, Tom (September 26, 2011). "Maniac Cop (Blu-ray)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  14. ↑ Gibron, Bill (2006-11-14). "Maniac Cop". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  15. ↑ Murray, Noel (2011-10-26). "Maniac Cop". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  16. ↑ Jones, Gareth (2011-11-07). "Maniac Cop (UK Blu-ray)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  17. ↑ "[Blu-ray Review] 'Maniac Cop'". Bloody Disgusting. 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  18. ↑ Ross, Dalton (2001-08-13). "Chin Up". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  19. ↑ Hanley, Ken W. (2012-10-18). "Shadowvision: "MANIAC COP"". Fangoria. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
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