Maniac Cop
Director: William Lustig
Release year: 1988
The VHS cover for Maniac Cop was iconic to video shop-haunting teens like me who were too young to rent it, not really interested in a New York police film anyway, but saw it in every horror section. I did not know Bruce Campbell was one of the stars, although it’s hard to know if Evil Dead 2, which came out in 1987, had taken off at this point, so he might just have needed a gig.
Tom Atkins plays Tom Atkins as detective Frank McCrae, hunting a mysterious police officer who’s killing innocent people on the streets of New York. He believes two-timing officer Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) has been set up for the murders and enlists the help of Forrest’s girlfriend, Teresa, also a cop, to hunt the real killer down. But is the killer alive or dead?
The script by Larry Cohen is awful, but it’s directed competently and the acting talent does a great job with what’s there. The maniac cop’s face is cheap and cheerful in HD—they wisely hide it until close to the end. The final car chase is impressive but, you know, none of it makes any sense. Somehow, I still had a good time.