Maniac Cop

Maniac Cop
Theatrical release poster for Maniac Cop
Directed by	William Lustig
Written by	Larry Cohen
Produced by	Larry Cohen
Starring	Bruce Campbell Tom Atkins Laurene Landon Richard Roundtree Robert Z'Dar
Distributed by	Shapiro-Glickenhaus Home Video
Release date	May 13, 1988 (U.S.)
Running time	85 min.
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$1,100,000 (estimated)
Box office	$671,382 (USA) (sub-total)

Maniac Cop is a 1988 action/horror film directed by William Lustig and written by Larry Cohen. The film spawned two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence (1993).

Plot

Innocent people are being brutally murdered on the streets of New York City by a uniformed police officer. As the death toll rises, Detective Frank McCrae heads the investigation. Jack Forrest, a young cop, finds himself under arrest as the chief suspect. He and his girlfriend Theresa, along with McCrae then set out to solve the mystery before the Maniac Cop strikes again.

Cast

• Bruce Campbell as Jack Forrest
• Tom Atkins as Frank McCrae
• Laurene Landon as Theresa Mallory
• Richard Roundtree as Commissioner Pike
• William Smith as Capt. Ripley
• Robert Z'Dar as Matt Cordell (aka Maniac Cop)
• Sheree North as Sally Noland

Cameos are made by William Lustig, and Sam Raimi.

Music

Jay Chattaway's score was released on LP in 1988 by Phoenix Records.

Track listing

1. "Main Title"
2. "A Night in the Park"
3. "Flashback Montage"
4. "The Chase"
5. "Morning Train"
6. "Face Down"
7. "Sally's Drive"
8. "On the Ledge"
9. "Splash Dance"
10. "Epilogue"

Release and Reception

The film was first released on DVD on April 8, 1998 by Elite Entertainment which included a commentary by director William Lustig, writer Larry Cohen, star Bruce Campbell and composer Jay Chattaway as well a trailer and deleted scenes. Later, on November 14, 2006 a "special edition" DVD was released by Synapse Video. This version includes the film restored and re-mastered with a DTS soundtrack.

The film was mostly panned by critics at the time of its release. It currently holds a 38% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics noted that the filmmaker did not do anything interesting or unexpected with its high concept plot.

External links

• Maniac Cop at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Maniac Cop at AllMovie
• Maniac Cop at Rotten Tomatoes