Maniac Cop

• Directed by William Lustig
• May 13, 1988

A disgraced police officer believed dead returns seeking revenge on those who wronged him.

I miss the glory days of direct-to-video film. With the advent of the VCR and its growth in ownership, studios both big and small churned out film after film hoping to cash in on the market. Enter Maniac Cop. It was a film aimed squarely at the direct-to-video. Like any self-respecting cult classic it is cheap and trashy and thoroughly entertaining despite its flaws.

One of the elements in this movie’s favor is that the main threat of the story-Officer Matt Cordell/The Maniac Cop (Robert Z’Dar)-is not evil for the sake of the movie needing a baddie. Cordell was a good cop unjustly imprisoned in Sing Sing. Married to the job he was closing in on corruption in City Hall before getting sent to prison unjustly to reside among many he had put there. And now because of all that was done to him he has come back for vengeance and perhaps wound up a bit twisted.

Initially you are left thinking that the explanation for his return is supernatural. Given the era in which this came out that would not be an illogical assumption, but his return is because of a fortunate set of circumstances. All the right things happened for the wrong person.

You may think that there is a lot of prosthetic makeup on Robert Z’Dar who plays our titular cop. You may think that, but you’d be wrong. I know I did for many years until I got a good look at him without make up. Z’Dar (real name Robert James Zdarsky) suffered from a medical condition called cherubism which gave him an enlarged jawline and a slightly sinister appearance. A few fake scars and he was good to go here.

The best you get of Cordell are brief glimpses of him with most of the shots avoiding his face and focusing on the uniform. It is a great technique that makes this character less than human and much more threatening. Good looks at the main threat makes them too real and less scary. That is one of a few unusual though not bad choices by the creative minds here.

Also starring in this movie is Tom Atkins as Lieutenant Frank McCrae who had one of the manliest mustaches of the 80s. It was so manly it could kick Tom Selleck’s mustache’s butt. Humor aside, Atkins himself is a generally good actor and makes the most out of whatever material he gets.

From the opening credits McCrae is hot on the trail of Maniac Cop and understanding what is really going on by making a few huge logical leaps with very little information. I mean so huge that the audience doesn’t even see it on the screen. This is a B-movie so such issues are almost a given, but they are still not excusable.

McCrae comes instantly to the conclusion that the person behind the killings must be a cop and in short order figures out that this cop is getting inside information and that at least one of the killings is a frame up to free the actual killer to go after their true target. And this is all based on absolutely nothing other than what could be concluded as gut instinct or ESP or a limited budget so some stuff could not be filmed. Anywho…

Once McRae makes his initial leaps of logic the story becomes a bit of a mystery to understand what exactly is going on and how Cordell got out of prison and is still alive despite being declared legally dead. And they do a surprisingly good job of that. The elements are laid out and the mystery is followed and solved. And it makes sense.

Also in this is a young Bruce Campbell as Officer Jack W. Forrest Jr. Campbell is king of the B-movie. And I say that with respect. The man has a unique acting style and always brings that something special to whatever he does. I must say he is much better as the charming asshole rather than the serious character like he is here. That doesn’t make him bad, but this role doesn’t necessarily work with his strengths as an actor.

Jack getting pulled into events feels a bit random at first, but this is revealed to not be so. It all connects to Cordell and the general mystery of what is going on. I’m just thoroughly impressed with the logic put into Maniac Cop. There was thought given and maybe with a few bucks more those necessary leaps of logic could have been avoided.

For me the gore is relatively mild for a slasher film. They don’t focus too long on it, and it just amounts to a bloody sheet. I think the most we see beyond that sheet is Jack’s wife (whom he is cheating on) getting her throat slashed and that’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment. Maniac Cop looks more like a well-done TV movie. That is not a strike against it as this gives it trashy thriller vibe and that is why you are watching this.

There are a few moments that occur for needs of the plot rather than as a natural outgrowth of events. For instance, at the end of the film a bunch of cops see Jack across the street right after a chair comes crashing out the window of City Hall. Rather than investigate (at least some of them investigate anyway) why this chair hit the pavement they all chase after Jack. Either these are really bad cops or somebody didn’t give too much thought to that scene. Did they think he did it?

Despite its flaws this is a movie that certainly deserves cult classic status. It’s a film that makes the most out of what it has. Those behind it attempted to do something special within the limitations of what they had. And it did indeed become something special.

Maniac Cop is a gem of a direct to video feature. While not necessarily scary, it’s interesting and at points intense. This is something that certainly should be checked out by slasher fans and fans of cinematic cheese.