Maniac Cop (1988) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:12hey guys welcome back to another cult movie review with me beau there on the film scene

00:19investigation channel thanks so much for checking out the video in today's review i'm going to be

00:27taking a look at the 1988 horror movie maniac cop before we get into the review guys if you haven't

00:38already please do consider subscribing to the channel all support is greatly appreciated

00:44so maniac cop the american slasher film from 1988 was directed by the filmmaker william lustig

00:54and starred actor tom atkins in the lead role the legendary cult hero himself bruce campbell

01:03also starred alongside atkins as the accused cop jack forrest at that point i had already seen the

01:12evil dead movies and the halloween films so i was you know fully aware of who tom atkins was

01:20and also bruce campbell campbell is an actor who i'm very aware of having seen many of his films

01:28over the years and you know while i think he's a good actor i can't say i'm a huge fan

01:37he's got great

01:39comedy timing and yeah i can completely understand why he's a a much loved figure but uh yeah i just

01:49you've never been that really kind of interested in the guy and um i don't know i've never really

01:56understood the appeal that much anyways in terms of the film's narrative the story followed the new

02:04york lieutenant frank mccrae as he began investigating a series of gruesome murders

02:12mccrae who was played by tom atkins was an experienced officer who was determined to uncover

02:22the truth behind the killings various witnesses had claimed that the perpetrator was either a cop

02:31or at least an individual that was posing as one yet the cops seem to downplay this theory

02:40you see in their eyes it was just some sicko who needed to be stopped not an actual on-duty

02:49police

02:49officer but as mccrae's investigation went deeper he realized that a police officer could indeed be the

02:59culprit given the level of brutality and mccrae wasn't going to rule anything out news of the murders

03:09quickly spread which then caused a vision among the general public and the police suddenly you had

03:17people questioning whether to actually trust the cops or not people didn't feel safe when they saw

03:25a policeman patrolling the streets in case it was indeed the maniac cop all of this panic

03:33ultimately led to many police officers getting killed in the line of duty one incident we saw was that

03:41of a woman who got pulled over in a routine traffic stop i mean this woman was clearly apprehensive

03:51and very quickly pulled out a gun ready to shoot i mean who knows if this woman was mentally scarred

03:59or

03:59not but either way she was extremely apprehensive when she got pulled over we saw this young officer

04:08get out of his car and approach the woman's vehicle and then suddenly she shot him and he was dead

04:16and yeah it um it was quite a disturbing scene and i think that was really down to the fact

04:24that

04:25the whole thing was just as a result of a misunderstanding and i have to praise the

04:32filmmakers in their efforts for showing the real world consequences when it comes to the general

04:41public's trust being compromised and it's worth noting that maniac cop wasn't this uh big grand

04:51production you know it wasn't it was um a very small budget you know it had limitations and so it

04:59would

04:59have been easy for the filmmakers to you know not show actually any of those murders of those innocent

05:06cops but they did and yeah it kind of grounded the film a little bit and yeah just top marks

05:13for them

05:13for actually showing that on screen separately to all of this we were introduced to bruce campbell's

05:21character officer jack forest and his wife ellen played by victoria caitlin it was obvious from the

05:30start that this couple were having marital issues and that all stemmed from the fact that ellen

05:40thought her husband jack was cheating on her now of course jack denied all of this but in actuality

05:50he was having an affair with his co-worker theresa you know one thing led to another ellen eventually found

05:59out about the affair but the key part here was that the maniac cop eventually kidnapped ellen and killed her

06:09she became the maniac cop's next victim and her body was found the next day once her body of course

06:18was

06:19found her husband jack forest was the prime suspect the authorities immediately swarmed on jack and arrested

06:30him but it wasn't just ellen's murder that they were trying to pin this on no no no no the

06:36police wanted to

06:37pin all the recent murders on jack we saw jack's lawyer give him some harsh truths about the situation he

06:46was in and simply put the police department wanted to you know put a stop to this moral panic going

06:55on

06:55and simply wanted to pin everything on jack he was in some big trouble and uh yeah it didn't look

07:06good for

07:06him yet mccrae heard everything and uh didn't believe it while everyone was so eager to pin all the

07:16killings on jack mccrae kept an open mind and once he looked deeper he eventually uncovered the truth

07:27and who was responsible we eventually found out that the maniac cop's true identity was that of a

07:36supposedly deceased ex-officer matt cordell cordell who was played by actor robert zadar was once a

07:46celebrated cop he was a highly respected man among his peers but things soon changed for cordell once he

07:55unearthed a sickening level of corruption within his own police department cordell being the upstanding

08:05police officer that he was was going to expose everything and a lot of people were gonna likely

08:11go to prison and that couldn't happen so the powers that be decided to frame cordell which led him to

08:21go to prison now this leads me nicely on to one of the key scenes that i wanted to talk

08:27about here in

08:27this review and it was a scene that really stood out to me and that was matt cordell's a flashback

08:34in some ways it was like seeing the origins of the maniac cop you know seeing how it all began

08:44from the get-go cordell was public enemy number one i mean he was an ex-cop and suddenly he

08:53was the

08:53main target for all the other inmates that were inside he was eventually attacked inside the prison

09:01showers by several men cordell did his absolute best to try and fight them off yeah there was just too

09:09many it absolutely was a very sickening scene but it did reveal the ugly truth behind cordell's

09:23transformation but you know what really stood out to me with this flashback was how it was so perfectly

09:30executed with the slow motion and the overlays and the use of the shadowy lighting all of it just um

09:43really conjured up this bleak and depressing atmosphere and uh yeah it was just um done really

09:54well clearly a lot of time and effort had been put into this flashback and it showed yeah you know

10:00seeing all this play out in prison i'll be honest it actually made me sympathize with the matt cordell

10:11character i mean matt cordell was a celebrated cop i mean he was just trying to do the right thing

10:21and enforce the law as it should be done yeah somewhere along the way matt raised too much noise

10:31and uh he in some ways raised his head above the parapet and got punished for it now of course

10:40this

10:41doesn't justify matt's transformation into the maniac cop and you know his murderous ways

10:49but at least we knew his reasoning behind it i mean i can't say that i'm a huge fan of

10:59flashbacks

11:00but when it comes to maniac op indeed the flashback was used as an effective storytelling device that gave us

11:12the audience a uh a better understanding of the matt cordell character he was more than just this

11:23murderous crazy killer out on the loose instead he was a mentally unstable man out for revenge on those

11:32who had wronged him let's take a moment to talk about the performances in this movie i'll start with

11:42tom atkins who i thought was really good in the role as lieutenant frank mccrae he was the perfect fit

11:52to play this aging cop and honestly he really was the best part of the film atkins has a very

12:03commanding

12:03screen presence and that was definitely on show here in maniac cop just from the way the actor carried

12:12himself his portrayal felt very authentic and in no way did he look out of place what was a shame

12:25was

12:26seeing the frank mccrae character killed off before the third act we saw the lieutenant bloodied and battered

12:36by the maniac cop before being thrown out of an office window and falling to his death i still remember

12:44watching the movie for the first time and seeing that scene where mccrae dies and uh yeah it caught me

12:51off guard for sure and once atkins had been killed off the film definitely took a dip in quality as

13:02it

13:02turned into this buddy cop movie with jack and theresa i mean yeah in some ways you could say it

13:10was a

13:10a bold move to kill off your main character before the third act but uh in this case i don't

13:19think it

13:20paid off because just you know being totally honest with you guys as soon as frank mccrae left the story

13:27i became a little less interested atkins was the glue that was holding everything together

13:34and once he departed um yeah the film just kind of went off the rails a little bit i also

13:44want to

13:45mention the actor william smith for his performance as the no-nonsense captain riley from his husky voice

13:57to his shaved head this guy came across as a real son of a bitch who clearly cut corners where

14:06he could

14:06in his head he might have thought that he was some upstanding police officer but in reality he was

14:16just a scumbag a corrupt scumbag at that i don't know just when i saw him uh i just got

14:24a kind of

14:24shady vibe about the guy and to be honest it was great to see the maniac cop finally take him

14:33out at

14:33the end of the film and so dislikes for maniac cop from 1988 my biggest dislike for the movie would

14:46have

14:46to be its score by composer jay chatterway now in the past i have praised chatterway's efforts in you know

14:57other films that he's done but overall i thought his work here in maniac cop was uh pretty pretty poor

15:06by all means this guy is a talented composer a talented musician so yes i was disappointed with

15:17what i heard in this movie now there wasn't actually anything overtly wrong with it i just found the

15:26whole thing to be quite lackluster and boring besides the maniac cop main title theme

15:35i didn't really kind of remember any tracks it wasn't very memorable and uh yeah it was just a letdown

15:44for me at times during the action sequences there were a lot of didn't didn't didn't didn't you know

15:53it's like okay sure it was almost like chatterway just focused on the main title theme which you know

16:04is really good and you know kind of just gave up on the rest of the score i don't know

16:12what happened

16:12but uh yeah an uninteresting uninspiring piece from the composer another dislike i had with the movie

16:21was the whole action car chase sequence at the end of the film it was this big spectacle with the

16:31maniac cop

16:32apprehending a police wagon with jack tied up in the back you then had theresa and another cop chasing

16:40after them and it all led to this big crash in the river while the stunt itself was pretty impressive

16:48you know seeing the bus tilt over and the stuntman jumping out you know that was cool to see um

16:55i don't

16:55know it just felt a little bit unwarranted and it kind of felt more in line with an ending from

17:03an action

17:03film not a horror mystery also what didn't help was that the whole thing was shot in daylight which

17:14kind of undermined the horror aesthetic yeah it wasn't a terrible ending but uh definitely room for

17:23improvement so ratings for maniac cop from 1988 i am going to be rating this movie a solid 3.5

17:36out of 10

17:37maniac cop i found to be a pretty interesting horror mystery from director william lustig that offered more

17:47than just your standard slasher tropes there were some fairly important themes that were explored some

17:57still very much relevant in today's society there was a lot of realism when it came to the cordell

18:06story line that highlighted the systemic corruption within the police force as most of us know

18:14corruption runs rife across the whole world in so many different institutions from small scale corruption

18:23to large scale and yeah that we know happens it's been exposed and yeah i guess seeing that here

18:36again the corruption in maniac cop yeah that uh that resonated with me another aspect that i really

18:44liked about the matt cordell character was that he was both a killer and also a victim it wasn't as

18:55clear

18:55as initially thought and having that uh duality definitely elevated the movie's quality beyond just senseless violence

19:07you know it's always great to read your comments and hear your views and opinions so if you have seen

19:16this movie please let me know your memories in the comments section below for those who haven't

19:22i would say yes this is a minor recommendation from me i do recommend it but i also can't say

19:32that it's

19:33essential viewing but if you're a fan of the horror genre especially 80s slasher films then indeed watch

19:44maniac cop because you will enjoy it and well that's all from me today guys i hope you've enjoyed this

19:51movie review of maniac cop from 1988 i'll be back next week with another movie review don't forget to

19:59like and subscribe and of course take care guys

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