Maniac Cop *** (1988, Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon) – Classic Movie Review 8299

Larry Cohen writes and produces (though perhaps he should also have directed) director William Lustig’s cult film Maniac Cop, which tells an intriguing and involving tale about a brutal killer on the loose on the streets of New York City, dressed in a police uniform.

Tom Atkins stars as Frank McCrae, who heads the investigation, and Bruce Campbell plays Jack Forrest, a young cop set up by the real killer and arrested as the chief suspect, with Laurene Landon as his girlfriend Theresa and Richard Roundtree as Commissioner Pike.

Maniac Cop certainly has enough oddball touches to hold the attention and the action is fast moving, building to a long, satisfying climax. But it is clumsily and unsubtly handled by director Lustig, and the plot lurches into unimaginative and less interesting subplots that inhibit the main narrative drive.

However, this is still a still a gripping and sometimes exciting B-movie horror thriller, and, if it lacks finesse, the highly respected cast gives it gloss with their professional performances: Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z’Dar, Sheree North, Nina Arvesen, Lou Bonacki, Barry Brenner, Victoria Catlin, James Dixon, Corey Michael Eubanks, Jill Gatsby and Nick Barbaro.

Maniac Cop was released cut on VHS in Britain but the DVD is the original uncensored theatrical version.

Maniac Cop 2 and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence followed in 1990 and 1993, again directed by Lustig and written by Cohen.

Larry Cohen in 2010.

RIP Larry Cohen (15 July 1941 – 23 March 2019), best known for It’s Alive (1974), God Told Me To (1976), It’s Alive II [It Lives Again] (1978), The Stuff (1985) and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) and his screenwriting works Maniac Cop (1988), Phone Booth (2002), Cellular (2004) and Captivity (2007).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8299

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com