There are a lot of cop movies. I would venture to guess that probably the majority of them are about bad cops. However, there aren’t that many that take the bad cop movie and make it a full-on slasher film like Maniac Cop.
The streets and back alleys of New York City in the middle of the night are not the safest of places to be. As a woman walking them alone is about to find out. After an attempted mugging she runs off into the night to escape her would-be attackers. As she hides in a playground she spots a towering hulk of a cop. As she runs towards him looking for safety and explaining her situation, she quickly realizes that he is not there to “serve and protect”. The police officer grabs her by the throat, hoisting her off her feet by her neck, and then kills her.
Somewhere else in the city, a police officer gets ready to go on his shift. His wife has been secretly getting phone calls telling her that her husband is, in fact, the killer cop. She follows him as he leaves for his shift and catches him in the act… of adultery. Threatening to shoot him and his mistress, she realizes it is only just that, a threat. She runs off and is captured by an unknown assailant becoming the next victim of the Maniac Cop. Now her widower husband is the prime suspect in the killing and must not only clear his name but stop the murderous police officer.
Maniac Cop might be one of the more perfect background horror movies. There isn’t a ton of gore, or swearing, or any nudity. Once the movie gets going, it really doesn’t take its foot off the gas though. From the first girl to die down to the dramatic fight scene at the end, it just kinda goes and goes hard. Starring Bruce Campbell and feeling a lot like Jason Take Manhattan, Maniac Cop really earns its place in a line-up of great cult classics. This is the first time I have watched any of them and am actually pretty excited to see the next one.
This is truly one of those turn off your brain and just enjoy horror movies. It doesn’t take a lot of time dwelling on the plot or the setup for the killer. From the time the mystery of the cop is revealed to the time they figure out who it really is it’s about 10mins worth of film time. “Who could this be?” … “Oh, it’s clearly that guy.” Moving on…
There are so many actors/actresses that will be familiar to any horror movie fan. As stated it stars Bruce Campbell and there is a cameo from Sam Rami, and I think I even saw Sam’s “boat tail” car that is in all his movies. In fact I had to do two searches related to this to see if Ted Rami was in it somewhere (sadly no) and if this was directed by Sam. While it doesn’t have his signature style of cuts and angles (fans of his know EXACTLY what I mean) it does have a bit of his flavor tucked in there. I can’t imagine that the other two will improve on such an easily executed and well-worn trope, but I am excited to check them out. If you are throwing a Halloween party and need something on in the background to set the mood, you could do a lot worse than this flick.
Comentarios