If you’re aware of who director William Lustig and screenwriter Larry Cohen are, you expect to be engaged with a challenging, antiestablishment horror film whenever you sit down to one of their features. However, it is as if Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th raped Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry and subsequently sired Maniac Cop which, as far as escapist, B-movie horror goes, meets the bar, but as a Lustig/Cohen production, leaves one sifting through the remains of what one just witnessed, searching for what you obviously missed.
New York City detective Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins) is assigned to a case involving a man reportedly appearing as a uniformed police officer who has killed numerous innocents throughout the city. Midway through the investigation, a young policeman named Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is framed and put under arrest for the killings. Jack and his girlfriend Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon) then discover who is the true culprit is but is unable to convince anyone of the killer’s identity.
Honestly, there isn’t much (good) to say about Maniac Cop because it is truly a pedestrian effort (there is even an explosion and a car chase sequence), which wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t have Lustig, Cohen, and Campbell’s names attached to the project. For instance, there is only one instance of the trademark social commentary that we all know and love from the production team, which occurs–natch–in the form of a fleeting news report. (The overall premise of didactic nationalism which even death cannot thwart isn’t developed enough to be considered more than a mere plot contrivance.) What’s more, the film doesn’t seem to hold any interest for those involved as Campbell sleepwalks through the film, which is laden with plausibility issues, such as when McGrae, even before he has been put on the case, omnisciently declares that the killer will undoubtedly kill again because he enjoys it atop the fact that the titular character is superhuman (though he never left his mortal coil) and can take multiple gunshots to the face while remaining unscathed yet was pronounced legally dead after being stabbed and browbeaten.
What fascinates me the most is the fact that the film held enough viewers’ interests to prompt not only one but two sequels which, [insert sound of critic slapping head here], Lustig and Cohen come together for again (and again).
Bottom line, if you are searching for mindless escapism in the form of a horror thriller, Maniac Cop is standard fare. However, if you are a genre aficionado and were impressed by William Lustig or Larry Cohen’s other efforts, I would strongly suggest omitting this from your viewing schedule in order to retain your high opinion of these filmmakers.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
