Innocent people are being brutally murdered on the streets of New York City by a uniformed police officer. As the death toll rises and City Hall attempts a cover-up, Frank McCrae heads the investigation. A young cop, Jack Forrest, finds himself under arrest as the chief suspect, having been the victim of a set-up by the real killer and a mysterious woman phone-caller. Forrest, his girlfriend Theresa, and McCrae set out to solve the puzzle before the Maniac Cop can strike again. A killer dressed in a police uniform begins murdering innocent people on the streets of New York City. The story (written by Larry Cohen of "It's Alive" fame) is just about as straightforward as you can get: a guy's dressing up as a cop and going out and hacking the stuffing out of people, first at random, then with a clear vendetta in mind. Tom Atkins plays the tough as nails but honest as a boy-scout detective who decides he's got to unravel the whole thing, even if it means airing out some dirty laundry at the mayor's office. Along the way, Bruce Campbell turns up as the prime suspect, and he's determined to prove his innocence! The pace is great, especially at the beginning where some films will bog you down with trying to get to know their one dimensional characters as if that has any relevance in a film like this. Nope, Maniac Cop doesn't pretend its characters are people it gets right down to the nitty gritty of murdering victims. Murder, meet Tom Atkins and see that his boss doesn't like him much, murder, get to see a couple more scenes of Atkins, murder, hello this is Bruce Campbell he could be the killer but murder happens and it's not likely he did it. No stringing you along, no pretension that this is anything but a slasher film through and through. While we're on the topic of murder, the killings are all done well. There's not an especially high level of variety or creativity to them, but it's not a film that calls for that kind of thing anyway. There's stranglings, stabbings, hangings, quite down to earth, almost even realistic within the story. The level of gore is also just right.<br/><br/>Overall rating: 8 out of 10. Maniac cop, a late eighties horror/thriller directed by William Lustig, written by Larry Cohen (responsible for one of my favourite 80's New York based horror films Q-the winged serpent) and starring seasoned actors Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree and the ever fabulous Bruce Campbell from the evil dead films! Fear hits the streets of New York as a cop starts killing innocent citizens. Detective McCrae (Atkins) suspects a member of the force, a suspicion seemingly confirmed when the wife of New York cop Bruce Campbell is found dead in a sleazy motel room with her throat slit, in her possession is a dairy implicating Campbell. Campbell claims hes been set up and with the help of a female officer with whom hes been having an affair with, set out to try and clear hes name. But the real maniac is never far away and tries to implicate Campbell for even more murders. Well made, with a suitably sleazy late 80's New York feel to it. I liked this. It keeps moving, its never dull or boring, some nice action and violence in there too. Nice performances by the great cast, although I felt Atkins and Roundtree were underused. The likable Campbell gets plenty of screen time though. The ending was not so good, which has sequel written all over it in a tacky 80's horror film kind of way. Worth watching.
Flouryonin replied
295 weeks ago