Review of Maniac Cop (1988) by Bobby L — 11 Apr 2010

A surprisingly effective 80s horror movie. Bruce Campbell, as the prime suspect, plays against type, and is pretty good, but it's not really his story. It's more about the detective and his cop girlfriend trying to prove his innocence.

Written by Larry Cohen (Phonebooth, Q: The Winged Serpent), and directed with great flair by William Lusting, this movie hits some cliches, but is really smart, plays more like a drama, with a few horror moments, and has some excellent characterizations.

The real star is Tom Atkins, best know as "that guy whom always play a cop", as a detective trying to solve a string of random murders, with the only clues being the suspect's height, build, ethnicity, and that he/she wears a police uniform. Not much to go off of, and due to the discovery and ensuing fight of Campbell's wife catching him with the aforementioned girlfriend, Laurene Landon, she is killed by the cop, and thus, Bruce is blamed.

While incarcerated, Tom and Laurene go about trying to discover who it really is, and why, and about halfway through it's all revealed to us. I really like that. This isn't some last minute, "Here's the killer" now it's over moments, there's no villain has you, will now talk your ear off, allowing you to escape, or anything like that. The reveal here is by a secondary character the cops go to talk to, and that explains the whys of whom the baddie is killing, and the baddie just keeps killing. It's refreshing and nice to see something like this.

The movie looks rather well, which I didn't expect. Despite most of it being at night, the lighting is strong, and the cinematography is very good, almost dream-like. The director keeps the kills on screen, but it never goes over-the-top, keeping with the realistic tone of the movie. The editing is very good, and has some fun with one end shot to another.