Maniac Cop (1988)

Pretty Good

Overrated and overhyped

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

What a great 80s treasure MANIAC COP is & so much fun!!! This was one i owned on old vhs & watched it tons of times it's so rewatchable & exciting, It's a very dark & gritty New York mystery Horror Thriller all in one & works perfectly. Cult Horror icon TOM ATKINS is fantastic as the tough & gritty detective Frank Mcrae a perfect performance by Atkins he's born to play these rugged hero types especially cops!!!! & Bruce Campbell is good in this as the other hero who takes over in the second half of the film & he's good not great like Atkins but just good as he doesn't have the screen presence that Atkins does but all in all this is a BRILLIANT brutal slasher Thriller set in the very scary darkness of 80s very gritty New York City a place full of creepy atmosphere & plays like another character in this film!!! Also Matt Cordell the Maniac Cop is a great Villain who should be up there with Jason Voohees & Michael Myers!!! Robert z'dar is another great screen presence as this big scary violent Cop turned Maniac after the system screws him over & puts him in a tough prison surrounded by criminals he's put away, a really great 80s film & a really great Cop Thriller & Horror Slasher combined. Tom Atkins is great in this probably my favourite role & performance by the King of cool!!! MANIAC COP truly is one of those 80s gems & so much more!!! Thank you TOM ATKINS you make these movies even better.

Maniac Cop is definitely a cult classic horror action flick from the 80's.In New York a man dressed as a police officer is killing innocent civilians. Jack Forrest is a cop and gets framed, the real killer is Matt Cordell, a cop who was sent to prison for brutality and ended up getting killed inside. Forrest, his piece on the side Theresa and detective Frank McCrea try to solve the case, before the maniac cop kills again.Maniac Cop is a 1988 American action-slasher film directed by William Lustig and written by Larry Cohen. It stars 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-cop who returns from the dead, chased by his former co-workers. It was released on May 13, 1988, and grossed $671,382 from a budget of $1.1 million. Maniac Cop still is a cult film today.I seriously love this action Horror film. Tom Atkins,Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon did definitely the best acting job. Specially Robert Z'Dar who plays Maniac Cop, a murderous ex-cop who returns from the dead, chased by his former co-workers did a terrific job one of his best roles I have ever saw. I love the sequels but for me this one is the best in the series. The acting in this film is pretty decent good for a 80's slasher horror flick. Jack Forrest is played by the legend Evil Dead trilogy Bruce Campbell. Campbell is one of the few actors that can make even the worst of films watchable, and makes any good film like this that much better. After the Evil Dead movies and Army of Darkness this is Campbell's best work. Genre legend Tom Atkins is perfectly cast as McCrea, Atkins starred in some of my very favorite 80's movies including The Fog, Escape From New York, Lethal Weapon and obviously this. He was also the main star of the underrated Halloween 3 Season Of The Witch, a film that would probably be quite well liked if they had left Halloween out of the title. He also played in another horror flick that I do like very much My Bloody Valentine 3D. Richard Roundtree who is better known as Shaft is good in a small role as commissioner Pike, Laurene Landon, William Smith and Sheree North give good support. Robert Z'Dar who looks like a real life Quagmire from Family Guy, is a huge man and is very effective as the supernatural Matt Cordell.Maniac Cop is definitely William Lustig's and Bruce Campbell's best Action Horror fun flick from the 80's. I really miss the 80's because back than they had much better action horror slasher films. 10/10

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

Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell and Robert Z'Dar star in this 1988 horror film. This takes place in New York and begins with a woman getting murdered by a mysterious killer (Z'Dar) dressed as a police officer. Soon, the killer stalks the streets and wipes out more innocent people. Atkins (Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Night of the Creeps) plays Police Lieutenant, Frank McCrae who investigates and suspects that the killer is a real cop. Campbell (Evil Dead Trilogy) plays cop, Jack Forrest who becomes the main suspect after his wife is murdered. Frank discovers that the maniac cop is Matt Cordell, a former cop who was badly scarred while in prison for brutality and is out for vengeance. Frank helps Jack clear his name and try to stop Matt from killing more people. This is a pretty good 80's flick, Tom & Bruce are great as usual, Robert is creepy and Jay Chattaway's score is chilling. I recommend this.