Review by Stuart Barr
Stars Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon,
Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z’Dar, Sheree North | Written by Larry Cohen
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £xx.99 | BD Region B | Runtime 84 minutes | Directed by William Lustig
Arrow, the cult film lover’s favourite UK video label, has begun raiding the back catalogue of the Shapiro-Glickenhaus company for cheesy 80s fare. We have already seen a reissue of Chris Walken top lined mercenary flick McBain, and likes of Red Scorpion and Frankenhooker are in the wings for early 2012. Now they have dusted off Maniac Cop, a 1988 slasher/thriller hybrid that was a minor hit on video on release, at least enough to spawn two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993). No doubt a remake will be on the way soon.
Written by the extremely prolific writer/director/producer Larry Cohen, Manic Cop is a high concept slasher film, in which New York is terrorised by a psychotic police officer (or someone posing as a police officer) who attacks and kills innocent people and sparks a city wide panic creating mistrust and fear of the badge and uniform as the media spreads news of the attacks. Well, creating more mistrust and fear to be accurate, this is the pre-Guilianni Big Apple after all. On the case is battered detective Frank McCrae (the wonderful Tom Atkins). McCrae believes the killer is a New York City cop, and isn’t concerned about protecting the department’s image in his investigation. The shadow of suspicion falls on a young uniformed officer Jack Forrest (Campbell) when his wife is murdered after discovering his affair with vice officer Theresa Mallory (Landon). McCrae is unconvinced of Forrest’s guilt and continues to investigate, coming to believe the killer is actually Matt Cordell, a legendary ball busting cop who was sent to Sing Sing for human rights violations where he was murdered by the inmates.
This is quite a neat premise, and continues a theme that runs through many Cohen scripts and films of something or someone that is trusted becoming a threat. Cohen has done this with newborn babies in It’s Alive and sequels, ice cream in The Stuff, and paramedics in the underrated The Ambulance. Cohen has a keen nose for an exploitation hook, and a natural tendency towards left-wing and anti-establishment subtexts. The idea of an authority figure to whom one would run to for help when at one’s weakest and most vulnerable, who then turns on you, is a scary idea. Unfortunately Cohen’s script is one of his weakest efforts, and director William Lustig (who made the notoriously sleazy 1980 video nasty Maniac) does little with it. The narrative is disjointed, lacks a consistent hero (it seems to be Atkins, then it seems to be Campbell) and is realised with a lack of flair.
Although Arrow has done a great job with the HD transfer, Maniac Cop has the production values of an episode of Starsky and Hutch, all beige automobiles and polyester suits. Atkins tries his best, but both his part is a walking cliche. Campbell is cast as a romantic lead, but his character is introduced as an adulterer and is so unbothered by his wife’s murder that he is not a natural object for the audiences’ sympathies. The film has little sense of place. It rarely feels like it was shot on actual NY locations, with the exception of some blatant second unit type footage of a St. Patrick’s Day parade. In fact a climactic car chase is quite clearly shot in a different time zone altogether. There are a couple of good stunts, but the low budget cripples the film which is neither exciting nor scary. The killers Michael Myers-like ability to survive multiple bullet wounds is given no credible explanation whatsoever. The 18 certificate is rather baffling, as this is was pretty tame stuff when I first saw it in the late eighties.
If you are looking for a shot of NY City exploitation goodness, might I suggest Arrow’s excellent Blu Ray release of The Exterminator from a few weeks back instead.
EXTRAS ★★ Interviews with the charming Atkins, a spaced out Landon, and Cohen as well as trailers.