Monday, 27 January 2025

Article: First Watch of Maniac Cop

I always remember the poster of Maniac Cop being slapped up on independent video shops in my town. A dark, mean-looking poster that promised horrible things would happen in the movie. “You have the right to remain silent…FOREVER!” What a tagline. Such succulent marketing. Was there any doubt about the type of movie that you were going to get? 

Indeed, grim events do take in Maniac Cop, an exploitation feature that is part procedural, part authoritative corruption, pulled down a supernatural slasher film funnel. The film is lean and mean and doesn’t like to hang around. Yet despite its short run time, a glut of intriguing themes are pulled from its plot. Situated in 80s New York, a volatile period when the city was still in a mode of economic and societal recovery, Maniac Cop delivers slight but pointed commentary on ideas of police brutality and corruption.  Asking the question: What would happen to a Dirty Harry-style cop if the hierarchy started to turn the screws on their antics. Nothing has time to be explored with any complexity. But while it’s not academic it certainly feels like it wants to prod at the thin blue line.

Detective Frank McCrae (Tom Akins) begins an investigation into a series of brutal murders which at first seemingly have no pattern yet have enough clues to convince the officer that the killings are coming from one of their own. Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) fits the bill of the killer at large and is taken in under suspicion. However, when the attacks are still occurring, it falls to Forrest, McCrae, and Forrest’s partner Theresa (Laurene Landon) to find out what’s happening. 

Maniac Cop is the creation of filmmaker William Lustig. Director of low-budget, exploitation features such as Maniac (1980) and Vigilante (1982).  Maniac Cop is perhaps Lustig's most well-known feature, becoming a cult hit in the 80s and succeeded by two sequels after the 1988 original. It’s easy to see Maniac Cop did so well. While it may be an exploitation vehicle at heart, the film is still a well-made piece of trash. For a low-budget movie that may not even reach 90 minutes without its end credits, Maniac Cop packs a lot into its characters, while handling some effective set pieces. Nothing outstays its welcome, which makes it understandable why some people expected more meat on the film’s bones. 

Yet Maniac Cop is a film that is succulent with some of the things that it says. The film’s first murder feels unnerving not least for the victim, Cassie, to mention nonchalantly to her Bar colleagues: “I’d rather face the muggers” when someone cracks wise about her leaving the establishment. She is then chased by some would-be thieves before running into the Maniac Cop.  Glimpsing the uniform, Cassie believes she is safe, only to meet a ruthless and violent end. It’s a moment that reaches into something quite primitive. When people see the authorities, they expect safety. 

The film plays on this well. 15 minutes in and tension in the city is so high enough that citizens are more than willing to unload on police folk. Unfortunately, due to how the city goes about its policing, the film happily suggests that this is the NYPD’s own doing. When a black kid on TV is interviewed at one point, he is frank:

“I’ve seen plenty of my friends murdered by cops. Shot in the back, shot when they didn’t have a gun or a knife, claiming the suspect had a shiny object. You know, Cops like killing…That’s why they’re cops…who’s gonna be next?!”

The lines don’t appear in the quote section of the film’s IMDB page, yet they feel like a haunting precursor to recent history. When Cassie is examined by the coroner after her death, another officer is flippant that a cop would do such a thing. And yet, we know that officers can and will. Watching the news says enough. 

I was a little upset to see reviewers being as sour on the movie as they were. Perhaps due to the expectation of the film to be more for what it is. It’s a film that is quite serious and cynical at times but never really penetrates any of its topics with any academic depth. It’s an exploitation B-movie through and through, but it’s not as outrageous as one may expect from its premise. I can’t say I didn’t expect slightly more from its premise, but as a trimly cut action horror, it’s solid in a way direct-to-stream movies of the modern ages are not. It’s uncomplicated, uncompromising and far better crafted than it gets credit for. I do not expect the logic of a possibly supernatural cop to hold up well. However, I will praise the subversive nature of casting the man who would risk his neck for his brother man as a corrupt and calculating commissioner. I’m also willing to forgive the film's lack of extreme violence for its simple, yet effective set pieces. There’s something I find profoundly ominous about a cop terrorising a couple at a deserted traffic stop. The idea of having to drag a dying cop who’s handcuffed to you has an odd chill to it too.

But what perhaps made Maniac Cop work the most for me is the sense that everyone in the production is looking to do a little with the little they have via resources. This is a movie that has a strong visual style visually. The night scenes are solid, while the action has a good sense of geography. The cast know the kind of movie they’re in and act accordingly with Bruce Campbell showing himself to be a far more vulnerable leading man than he’s ever really had the chance to showcase. Far from the gloopy pratfalls of The Evil Dead series, Campbell shows off the B-movie acting chops fans have always loved him for. He’s flawed, angry, and a little sensitive. It works. 

It's a shame that not all of it pays off. The film’s slenderness ensures some head-scratching. However, watching Maniac Cop in the current era feels fresh. The film feels like it wants to take a few jabs at the establishment while being a Friday-night actioner and a slasher movie. The film hedges its bets a little. But that said, I’ve been told that the second film is the thing to see. And there are enough good things in Maniac Cop to place its sequel higher up on my watchlist. And if a movie is entertaining enough to do that, then it’s worth a watch.    

Maniac Cop is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. 

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