Review: Maniac Cop

Tom Atkins plays a police detective who thinks a recent spate of grisly killings are the work of a former cop gone to seed. He’s right, although philandering husband and cop Bruce Campbell is wrongly pegged for the crimes when his wife turns out to be one of the victims. The real culprit is a former gun-happy rogue ‘hero’ cop (played by Robert Z’Dar), who was imprisoned for extreme over-zealousness. He was supposedly killed by prison inmates though, so good luck trying to convince the police commissioner (Richard Roundtree) of that. Sheree North plays a veteran cop now disabled, William Smith plays Campbell’s superior officer, Laureen Landon plays Campbell’s mistress, a fellow cop who tries to help Atkins clear Campbell’s name and find the real killer. Ken Lerner plays the cowardly and corrupt local mayor, Leo Rossi is his off-sider.

 

I’m rather late to the party with this 1988 schlock favourite from C-grade director William Lustig (“Maniac”, “Vigilante”, “Uncle Sam”) and veteran B-filmmaker Larry Cohen (the excellent “Black Caesar”, and its hastily made sequel “Hell Up in Harlem”), who serves as screenwriter/producer here. Cohen’s clearly a better director than Mr. Lustig (they also collaborated on “Uncle Sam”), but I’ve got to say that this is solid, schlocky fun with a great schlock cast. Standing tallest among the cast is Tom Atkins, a very capable B-movie actor who frankly deserved an even better career than he has had (He’s the only thing about “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” that didn’t suck). He’s great fun and perfectly typecast here as the typically hard-boiled cop. In support the standouts are Ken Lerner and Sheree North, both veteran character actors like Atkins. I saw an extended version of the film, apparently the characters played by Lerner and Leo Rossi aren’t in the theatrical version of the film. That’s a shame, because Lerner is a spineless hoot as the completely cowardly, corrupt mayor. In a film that doesn’t particularly take itself too seriously, Lerner is genuinely hilarious. The enduring Sheree North (who has been in everything from “The Shootist” to the little-seen comedy “Cold Dog Soup” and playing Kramer’s mother Babs on “Seinfeld”) is great fun as an injured cop who is still around in the hall of records department.

 

As essentially the title character, the late, gigantic chin Robert Z’Dar is used primarily for physical presence alone. Since he was never much of an actor (amusingly enough, he’s a real-life former cop!), that was probably wise. Aided by some rather good makeup, he fits the bill as a hulking psychopathic killer ex-cop who previously had a reputation for being a total Dirty Harry. Practically immortal, he functions largely as Freddy Krueger in a uniform. What’s interesting is that although he was a ‘shoot first’ cop, it seems that now that he’s completely bonkers, he’s not just killing crims, but innocent people as well. Another famous chin turns up here, that of B-movie legend Bruce Campbell. Amusingly cast as a cheating louse who becomes the prime suspect for the murders, Campbell apparently didn’t think much of the film and only did it ‘coz he needed the money/work. It’s not his greatest work as an actor by a long stretch, but he’s an amusing presence here, and the film’s a lot better (or more fun at least) than he seems to think. Veteran B-movie tough guy William Smith has a shaved head and is good fun playing a gruff, tough cop, though his services aren’t called upon much. Even more wasted is “Shaft” himself, Richard Roundtree as the Police Commissioner, a glorified walk-on that the normally charismatic actor gives the bare minimum of effort for. On the plus side composer Jay Chattaway (“Missing in Action”) escapes the Cannon Group to contribute a fun score. The film has also been well-shot by Vincent J. Rabe (strangely his one and only credit to date), with cool, dark lighting used to obscure Z’Dar’s mangled face for much of the film’s length. I bet the sequels show off the makeup a heck of a lot quicker and more often. Cohen’s script is a bit better than Lustig’s occasionally clunky direction, Cohen’s injection of some nice humour a particular asset for something as silly as this. At least, I assume Campbell’s marital woes were meant to be reaching for laughs. I also found it particularly hilarious that the title character makes everyone scared of cops, so people are shooting cops whenever they get pulled over now out of panic. One thing Lustig does that I did like was the eerie use of silence for the stalking scenes, with only the occasional musical cue or ‘boo!’ sting. It’s quite effectively done.

 

Although it’s obviously not a great film, this schlocky B-grade horror-thriller was never aiming for great heights anyway. Although William Lustig is in the director’s chair, this is your standard fun Larry Cohen high-concept B-movie. Great schlock cast (including a Sam Raimi cameo at a St. Paddy’s Day parade), terrific lighting, a good music score. What more do you want out of a film called “Maniac Cop”?

 

Rating: B-