As a kid, Maniac Cop (not to be confused with Psycho Cop) terrified me. I dunno if it was the big ass face on Robert Z'Dar, or the fact that a police officer, whos very job is to "serve and protect", suddenly starts killing anyone he comes into contact with. Either way, watching these films back to back on UPN in the late 90's used to freak me the FUCK OUT. I may have completely forgotten about them too, if it weren't for being bored at my girlfriends house a few weeks ago. While sifting through her DVD's I stumbled across a movie called "Bone: A Larry Cohen Film", and, like any NORMAL person, went straight to IMDB to look through Larry Cohen's entire filmography. Cohen is one of my favorite writers/directors, so why hadn't I heard of "Bone" before? Also, why was I totally unaware that he and William Lustig were responsible for Maniac Cop 1, 2, AND 3? Maybe he wasn't one of my favorites after all. I mean, I really liked It's Alive, and LOVED The Stuff an- whatever. Point is, browsing IMDB once again piqued my interest in the Maniac Cop flicks and I had to see how they had aged with time. What better place to start than numero uno?
The film opens with some chick leaving work on foot on the streets of shitty, 80's-era New York City. Its no surprise that shes attacked along the way by two men who are attempting to steal her purse. After a bit of a struggle, she manages to break free and bump into a police officer at the end of the street. This guy proves to be anything but helpful, and as the two criminals watch from a distance the officer strangles the girl and snaps her neck. The thieves are later arrested and explain that it wasn't them who killed the woman, rather, a cop. Normally this theory would be thrown out the window, but after detective Frank McCrae (played by the wonderful Tom Atkins) has a word with the coroner, (who explains that the victims spine has been separated and her larynx crushed) he starts to buy into it. Unfortunately we learn that McCrae also attempted suicide a few years ago after his partner was killed in the line of duty, so the commissioner doesn't really care to take him seriously. In fact, he thinks the dudes been a little off ever since.
Meanwhile, the mysterious cop continues his killing spree... purposely leaving an eyewitness the second time around and finally putting that nifty sword he keeps in his holster to good use. The mayor fights to cover up the "serial killer cop" story, but McCrae meets with a publicist and helps blows the lid off the sumbitch. Soon, the entire city is living in fear... suspecting everyone with a badge of being a murderer. Hell, even Jack Forrest's own wife thinks hes up to no good! Forrest (played by Bruce Campbell) IS a sneaky bastard AND a police officer, but hes no serial killer. When the wife follows him to "work" one evening she learns this the hard way. He leads her to a dingy motel room, where she opens the door to find him having an affair with another girl from the precinct (Laurene Landon). Before he can explain himself, Jack's ol' lady storms out of the joint while holding him at gunpoint. On the trek back home, she is abducted by our beloved nutcase with the badge and killed. Talk about a setup! All Forrest was trying to do was get some new chase and now not only is his wife dead, shes been stuffed in the same hotel room that he was using the night before. The newspaper clippings that she collected regarding the murders (for whatever reason) don't help his case at all, and neither do the journal entries she had written addressing her concerns that he might be the killer. All of this "evidence" leads the police to believe they've found their guy and it isn't long before he is placed under arrest.
BUT, the murders don't end there and neither do McCrae's suspicions. Who's really at fault here? What is the motive behind all of these killings? Is this person a member of the precinct? If not, do they have someone on the inside gathering information for them?
I can honestly say that I enjoy this film now just as much as I did 15 years ago. I thought the plot was a lot stronger than most 80's slashers and didn't rely on an unnecessary amount of gore to keep its audience entertained. I was genuinely interested in what was going on, and when the killers back story was finally revealed I actually sympathized with 'em a little. My one complaint would have to be Bruce Campbell's role as Jack Forrest. Before I'm burned at the stake, hear me out! I fucking love BC but this was his first role outside of the Evil Dead series and for that reason I had a hard time taking him seriously. I was expecting a at least a LITTLE cheese from his character but he was all business and I found that hard to swallow. On the other hand, the killers "big reveal" makes up for the lack of cheese tenfold . You don't see his face until the last 10 minutes of the film and in a way I wish I never did. Hes terrifying in the shadows when you can't see his features, but when you finally do get a good look at them you'll either chuckle or, like me, find yourself very disappointed. Savini and Lustig may have worked together on Maniac back in 1980, but its obvious that Tom didn't have a hand in the SFX work here!
Whatever, Maniac Cop still rules. Its a good flick for anyone with an hour and a half to kill... and a must see for anyone who calls themselves a fan of the slasher genre.
Score: 3.5/5
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