Customer Reviews

Maniac Cop

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, let me clarify that the four star rating only qualifies in the genre of slightly-schlocky gore. For those of you that don't appreciate this type of movie, it's more like one star. But if you're looking to buy the DVD and reading this review, I have a feeling you're into this.

That being said, this is top quality when it comes to off-kilter horror action. A monstrous killer dressed like a cop is on the loose in New York, killing innocent people instead of criminals. One cop lets the paper know that they think it's a cop gone bad, which turns the public against the police force.

As the terror level escalates Bruce Campbell is framed for the murder of his wife, and becomes the lead suspect in the brutal killings. Now, only Bruce and two other cops know the chilling secret of the maniac cop, and will stop at nothing to try to stop him.

Although there are numerous amounts of "what the...?" sections in this film, it's still mindlessly enjoyable and Tom Atkins' performance as a hardnose cop keeps the film tenuously grounded in reality.

If you're into Bruce Campbell and silly horror movies, then you can't go wrong with Maniac Cop. If you're at all averse to either of those, then don't even bother thinking about it because you won't appreciate the hidden quality of such a classic as Maniac Cop.

I didn't make that up, thats the actual tagline for this decent low budget 1980's slasher flick/cop thriller. Maniac Cop has some great and thrilling moments along with some cheesy and over the top death scenes and the film has a pretty good b-movie cast which includes Bruce Campbell as a wrongfully accused cop named Jack Forrest framed for the murder of his wife and you might also recognise the other actors like Richard Roundtree from Shaft who plays the police commissioner along with Tom Atkins from The Fog as the detective who's trying to solve the case and Robert Z'dar as the maniac cop Matt Cordell who kills innocent people on the streets of New York and check out the small cameo by Sam Raimi as a T.V. reporter cool!. The film was about Matt Cordell an innocent cop who pissed off the wrong people, tired of media criticism of police brutality the police commissioner ensures that Matt is tried and convicted for the supposed beatings of some really bad guys. Once Matt is in prison he is beat up and killed by the very people he put away but he soon comes back to life seeking vengeance and hes also killing alot of innocent people along the way while the police themselves are looking for the wrong person when officer Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is set up and framed for the murder of his wife and the closer the investigation gets to stopping Matt, Jack gets accused of being the Maniac Cop himself and people on the streets start panicking not trusting any cops in uniforms.

I used to enjoy this film alot and it was one of my favorites, the film was more recently re-released on DVD by Synapse and has plenty of extras which includes some deleted scenes and an interview with Robert Z'dar, this new synapse release has a good widescreen transfer which was alot better than the previous Elite Entertainment release which I use to have . The film was written by Larry Cohen and was directed by William Lustig who previously made Maniac, unlike that film Maniac cop was less serious than Maniac and you can tell that he just wanted to make a fun b-movie with less gore and violence so the film wasn't really gory whilst Maniac was about a deranged serial killer and was quite dark and disturbing with a gloomy atmosphere, you get a laughable death scene where a guy gets drowned in concrete by the maniac cop so don't take it to seriously. The film was shot in N.Y. and William Lustig gets to benefit from the great locations and it does have some great atmosphere, I have to give credit to the director for turning this into an exciting horror/thriller film there was never a dull moment, I especially liked the car chase scene with Bruce Campbell handcuffed at the back of the police van and this was definetely one of his best roles so if your a Bruce fan then you should check it out. Overall this is definetely a well made film with some good acting and a great storyline but it doesn't have any scares, some scenes were a bit tense while others were just a bit ridiculous but it's still worth watching just don't expect anything earth shattering, watch it with a group of friends and you might enjoy it even more the sequels were great too.

Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell is framed and arrested for a series of gruesome murders against innocent law abiding New York citizens. Witnesses claim the killer was a large white male wearing a NYPD uniform.
Detective Tom Atkins (star of "The Fog" and "Halloween III" ) is not convinced that Campbell's the man. And he's not.
Robert Z'dar(a very big man) plays the killer, a former NYPD officer sent to an Alcatraz-style jail for getting too carried away in dispensing tough justice. Attacked and left for dead in prison, he survives and is somehow smuggled out by the coroner(of all people) and now Z'dar is mad and want's revenge.
Not bad, no terror or suspense though, just several nasty and quite hilarious murders.
Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree co-stars.

This Larry Cohen flick (produced and scripted by Cohen but directed by William Lustig) is a clever hybrid of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA story, 1970s and 1980s cop films, and the slasher sub-genre of horror cinema. But instead of an opera house, the venue has expanded to include the entire city of New York, and the wronged antagonist is not a forgotten composer but is, instead, a once-good police officer (hulking actor Robert Z'Dar) who was used as a scapegoat by higher-ups and was subsequently murdered in prison at the hands of thugs. Slasher-film elements come into play when the resurrected cop leaves a trail of corpses in his wake as he heads to city hall to even the score with his former bosses.

As is usually the case, Cohen's script is replete with dark tongue-in-cheek humor and palatable helpings of terror and blood. The gags (both the laughing and choking kind) are bolstered by the presence of horror-genre fave Bruce Campbell, he of EVIL DEAD (1981) fame; Tom Atkins, a ubiquitous face in police departments on TV and in the cinema; sexpot Laurene Landon, a Cohen favorite; and the original SHAFT (1971) himself, Richard Roundtree. There are also some delightful cameos from genre regulars like the late George "Buck" Flower, Victoria Catlin (known to genre fans from her role in David Lynch's TV series TWIN PEAKS), Judy Levitt (wife of STAR TREK's Walter Koenig), director William Lustig, and SPIDERMAN (2002) director Sam Raimi.

The Special-Edition DVD of MANIAC COP from Synapse is well worth the price of admission. It offers a crisp, rich digital transfer of the film in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (enhanced for 16x9 TVs) with the original Stereo SurroundSound soundtrack (as well as the option of using new Dolby 5.1 or DTS 6.1 soundtracks). Extras include a delightful feature commentary with Larry Cohen, Bruce Campbell, and William Lustig; a new interview with the Maniac Cop himself, Robert Z'Dar; theatrical trailers, including one from France; and much more.

MANIAC COP is a must-see for fans of Larry Cohen and slasher-flick fans, and the Synapse DVD will make a nice addition to the film collection of any horror fan.

Memorable guilty pleasure from the 1980's only in the time period could it be produced. However, it's actually not that bad. The performances here including Bruce Campbell, and Tom Atikis are very passable. There's a crazy killer masquerading as a cop in New York which nowadays would be very normal. It was directed by William Lustig of the classic film "Maniac: so I knew it would deliver the goods. It's not quite predictable either. He knows how to build tension and sometimes fool the viewer into thinking the killer will strike (as seen in the scene where a paranoid woman shoots a young cop thinking he's the killer).

The special effects and gore are fine. The movie never gets too boring and is very entertaining till the end. Robert Z'Dar as the Maniac who doesn't have any dialogue at all is very menacing as the Maniac. We also get a side story into how the mayor and other politicians know the reason why this guy is killing yet cover it up. This flick has it all. The sequels I heard are not that great but the first is always a classic.

The DVD has great stuff added to it including a couple of deleted scenes, a great featurette with Z'Dar himself, trailers and commentary.

"Maniac Cop" is a truly a horror classic. You know this plot as dumb as it sounds apply today to what's going in law enforcement isn't that far fetched (except for the part that this guy is unstoppable.) Recommended if you like any of Lustig's work.

MANIAC COP is a wonderful revenge film. Robert Z'Dar is the title character, a shadowy, towering killer who was once an NYPD hero. Is he alive? Dead? Something in between? Tom Atkins (The Fog, Night Of The Creeps) is the officer attempting to find and stop the maniacal man in blue. Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead 1 and 2, Bubba Ho Tep) is a likely suspect. Legendary Richard Roundtree (Shaft) is the police commisioner and William Smith (Invasion Of The Beegirls, Memorial Valley Massacre) is a captain! Larry Cohen's writing shines through this gloomy tale, w/ familar faces from his past work. Not very scary, but fun to watch...

And believe me, that's about all this movie has going for it. It's your typical low-budget freak/monster B-movie. There is little to nothing in the way of originality in this film and should be avoided by anyone who doesn't love B-movies. It lacks the humor and imagination of many other movies of this genre.

Having said that, though, it does star Bruce Campbell (star of the Evil Dead trilogy) as the hero and just about any movie starring BC is worth watching at least once. There's nothing terribly exciting about his performance here, but... it's Bruce Campbell.

It should also be said that this DVD comes with some excellent extras, considering that it's such a low-budget, relatively unknown, cult film. With many DVDs of this genre, you're lucky if you have any special features at all. Deleted scenes, trailers, commentary, etc. A very nice surprise.

Maniac Cop was a rather stupid movie, but I knew that when I purchased it. As it turned out it had a better story line than I thought it was going to have simply because it starred Bruce Campbell. I however was not expecting the DVD to contain Black Cobra as well. So I was more than satisfied with the seller and the produc I recieved.

Yes Sid the Elf goes the extra mile for his reviews. So we found out that Maniac Cop was once on Monstervision and that made it a mortal lock for a viewing. It was brought in off the bench to beef up the numbers for October Horrorgreatsucess but it greatly exceeded expectations. As soon as we saw commissioner Shaft Sid was hooked.

We start with serious Tales From the Darkside film quality as a cop or a man dressed as one murders a young punk in his camaro as he's downing a slice and a stella. There are a handful of additional killings that were pretty sweet. They weren't graphic at all, mind you, because we never see the killer actually stab or slice anyone. Good stuff. Just adds to the B. A young officer is framed for the killings and put in jail. However, a grizzled detective has a hunch that the young cop in question is innocent. He uses his old school methods and heavy scotch drinking to find the real killer. Good good great stuff.

When we finally find out who the real killer is, it's great because he'd been disfigured(don't ask)and he has the fakest looking face in film history. The movie is horror/cop drama if you want to get technical but to Sid it doesn't matter. It is listed under horror and it straight B all the way. It would have and was in fact liked by young Sid the Elf as much as it is today.

I bought this in HMV because I love slasher movies and it was very cheap so I thought, why not?

I wasn't expexting much from it (due to the low price and lackluster amazon reviews) but actually really enjoyed it.

The film starts with a handfull of innocent people on the streets on New York being murdered by a policeman (who's face we don't see). A policeman ends up as a suspect when his girlfriend is killed and the rest of the movie is set on him and a female police officer who he was having an affair with (the movie isnt as "Desperate Housewives" as it sounds..) trying to find the real killer, while the killer himself starts killing off everybody around him.

We actually find out who the killer is halfway through the movie, but rather than being a spoiler, this is actually a good thing because we see the mystery behind the killings unravel as well as the usual stalk-and-slash.

Quite a decent ending, too, which sets up for the sequel.