Maniac Cop (1988)
- Andrew Smith
- 22 hours ago
- 6 min read
"You have the right to remain silent... forever."
Plot
A killer dressed in a police uniform begins murdering innocent people on the streets of New York City. It turns out that a vengeful former cop has taken to branding out their own style of justice, determined to make people pay for the awful things that happened to him when he was unfairly imprisoned on made-up charges.
Review
I can’t believe it took someone as long as they did to make a film about a killer police officer. This was the 80s, a decade known for being the playground of the slasher flick where all manner of deformed caretakers, jilted lovers and murderous siblings turned into serial killers, taking aim at the nearest bunch of partying teenagers they could find. What better stock character to turn into a psycho than one of the people meant to be protecting you? When you really think about it, it is brilliant but terrifying. When a killer wears a hockey mask or wields a chainsaw, society is the cure. You run to the police. You scream for a cop. But when the killer wears a badge, society is the disease. It completely short-circuits your survival instincts. Maniac Cop doesn't just isolate the victims physically in a dark alley, it isolates them institutionally. Where do you go? Who do you call when 999 is the threat? (I’m English so 911 makes no sense to me!)
Definitely a case of a film which sticks rigidly to its title, Maniac Cop doesn’t pretend to be anything other than an exploitation film and wears its heart on its sleeve. This is a rare film which delivers on its promises and then some, combining action and horror in equal measure. It rings every single bit of shock value out of it for entertainment. It doesn't try to be subtle. Director William Lustig had helmed the disturbing and controversial Maniac a few years earlier and applies himself well again, dialling back a little bit of the grime and sleaziness and playing it straighter to avoid offending a broader audience. He has a certain eye and flair for the low budget carnage that ensues in his films and he sure can milk every penny from the finances. The film looks good, with the darker, seedier side of New York being exploited as much as it can to add a sense of atmosphere and tension to the nighttime scenes. The shadows, the steam coming out of the subway grates, the chain link fences -this is certainly a city where you wouldn’t want to be out at night and Lustig weaponizes the environment just as much as the notion of a killer cop.
Maniac Cop literally splits its personality right down the middle. The first half operates entirely as a suspenseful atmospheric slasher film. There’s the towering figure of Cordell stalking the mean streets, targeting law-abiding citizens. He racks up a decent body count from law-abiding citizens in the means streets of New York. He’s pretty handy with whatever police accessories he’s carrying – he’ll even use wet cement if the need arises. The kills are decent enough and filmed well to convey a real sense of atmosphere. But then boom, the film shifts gears completely. In the second half, the traditional horror elements basically get thrown out the window. It ramps up into a high stake, adrenaline fuelled action flick as there is a massive city-wide hunt for Cordell. Suddenly, the audience isn’t just hiding from a lone slasher in an alley; he’s out in the open and everyone is looking for him. Usually if a film completely changes genres halfway through, it totally falls apart. It gives the audience massive tonal whiplash. Imagine if Halloween suddenly turned into Die Hard in the third act. The reason it works in Maniac Cop, even if the narrative veers across the border lines a few times, is because of the foundational work done in the first half. The slasher elements establish the stakes. By isolating victims and building atmosphere early on, Lustig shows the audience exactly how dangerous, brutal, and unstoppable Cordell is. The horror half proves the threat. If Cordell was just shooting guns in a car chase right from the beginning, he's just a heavily armed criminal. But, because we watched him stalk and kill people like a monster possessed, by the time the film transitions into that action-packed hunt in the second half, the audience is already fully invested. We know exactly what the heroes are up against, so the transition into action feels earned rather than disjointed. We aren't just watching car chases and shootouts for the sake of it; we’re watching a desperate attempt to stop a force of nature. Lustig isn’t just a great horror director; he’s skilled at directing action pieces and throws in plenty of exciting moments here, including the great finale where Cordell attempts to escape justice by fleeing in a police van.
Grounding all this gritty, shifting action on the streets is a surprisingly solid script by screenwriter Larry Cohen. The script forces the characters to act like real adults, which meant they couldn't just cast a bunch of screaming teen idols, they needed actors with actual grit. By bypassing the standard 80s trope of clueless teenagers, he anchors the entire narrative. He focuses on adults who have jobs, mortgages, responsibilities, and complicated interpersonal lives. it's like they brought blue-collar realism to a late-night drive-in movie. And the roster of actors they got to play these professionals is fantastic. Bruce Campbell, still fresh-faced after his appearances in the first two The Evil Dead films, takes on the leading role of the rookie cop. It’s far from Campbell’s best work, and he plays it completely straight, but his youthful appeal provides a necessary innocence to the story. This is a nice contrast to the ever-reliable Tom Atkins, who is somewhat underused in a smaller role as the more experienced Detective McRae and it’s good to see the pair work off each other in the screen time they get to play off that veteran-rookie dynamic. Richard Roundtree, of Shaft fame, adds more credibility as the police commissioner. All three men get a decent chunk of screen time too which was nice to see. Too many low budget horror films hire named actors to give top billing to and then only give them a few minutes of screen time for budgetary purposes. Cohen’s script allows all three men to shine in the roles they’ve got. The fact that the focus of the film is on adult characters with jobs and lives, rather than annoying teenagers in the woods somewhere, lends the narrative more of a gritty edge.
They’re not the only stars in the cast but special note should be given to Robert Z’Dar. He is the maniac cop of the title and is a mountain of a man, a literal tank His Officer Cordell is one of the most imposing villains to come along in an 80s horror flick. His physicality is central to his impact. The guy walks into a frame and instantly takes up all the oxygen. There is no getting away from him. It’s no wonder that Z’Dar returned for the two sequels – his deadly character just smacked of franchise material the first minute you see him as there was so much more you could do with the notion of a killer cop. Sadly, the sequels, nor this for that matter, never really played on the paranoia and fear that a vigilante member of the police would create for a town or city and turn the character into something of a one-note slasher. Cordell does have a back story which is explored here but that fades into the background and becomes irrelevant when he murders innocent people.
The soundtrack is effective, with a pulsating typically-80s synthesised to accompany the thrilling moments and a haunting whistling song to be paired with the flashbacks to Cordell’s miscarriage of justice. I do like a good synthesiser score. Finally, no review would be complete without highlighting the fact that Maniac Cop also sports one of the greatest tag lines from an 80s horror film, hell any film made – ‘You have the right to remain silent…forever!’ ranks up there with the best.
Final Verdict
With an effective director-producer-screenwriter pairing of William Lustig and Larry Cohen, Maniac Cop is one of the horror genre’s most unappreciated entries. A solid, entertaining way to indulge in some of the 80s finest exploitation offerings and essential viewing for any genre fans, it crams so much into its small running time that you’ll never be bored. It’s not just a solidly entertaining film though but a very well-made one with plenty of craft and skill on show. You’ll be pleasantly surprised if you choose to phone 999 for this (or 911 if you’re American).
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Maniac Cop Director(s): William Lustig Writer(s): Larry Cohen Actor(s): Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z'Dar, Sheree North, Nina Arvesen Duration: 85 mins |  |
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