Maniac Cop Blu Ray (Monster)

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Maniac Cop isn’ especially complex. But it is fun. It’s a confluence of b-grade genius. A Bermuda triangle of exploitation royalty, written by Larry Cohen (The Stuff), directed by William Lustig (Maniac), and starring Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead). If that’s not enough, Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree pops up as the police commissioner. Then to elevate this into an hysterical uber geek realm, a few months ago news hit that no less than Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive) is signed on to do a prequel – with both Cohen and Lustig part of the team as producers.

Made in 1988, Maniac Cop is the kind of seedy high concept chequebook cinema that’s all too rare these days. Think about it, how could a melange between a cop thriller and the horror genre lose? It’s a concept that screams Cohen, a man who boasts titles like God Told Me To (Kill) and It’s Alive. A series of gruesome murders has New York City in the grip of fear, particularly when it becomes apparent that the vigilante may be a cop.

“You have the right to remain silent…forever,” screams a tagline that could only come from the Bermuda triangle of exploitation genius.

There’ lots of shots of people in distress rushing into the arms of a cop, only to have their heads ripped off or to be stabbed mercilessly. Maniac Cop it appears is more than happy to slaughter the innocent. And Lustig is content to film it with relish. With the populace now terrified of cops there’ also a bit of paranoid citizens on patrolman action.

Maniac Cop

Lustig though chooses to ignore the over the top lunacy of the script and approaches Maniac Cop with the gravity of Schindler’ List, a technique which does serve to enhance the insanity of the premise, but does feel a little like a missed opportunity to camp it up. Particularly with the presence of Captain Camp, Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness).

Yet there are some genuine twists here, thanks in the main to Cohen’ script, not just his desire to meld genres, like the horror, thriller and action genres, but also his ability to mess with the expectations inherent in these genres. With gory murders, mysterious super human villians seemingly from beyond the grave, police chases, and early Bruce Campbell, it’s no wonder that Maniac Cop has become something of an exploitation classic. So much so that it has spurned two sequels and apparently soon a prequel.

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Bob is the features editor of Cyclic Defrost. He is also evil. You should not trust the opinions of evil people.

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