Maniac Cop

The story goes that there's a twisted Maniac Cop stalking the streets at night killing indiscriminately, the police are trying to keep it under wraps. But word soon gets out and the lines are drawn between the public and the police. In order to try quash the killer cop problem they quickly pinpoint an unfortunate lawman (played by SGM favorite Bruce Campbell) to take the heat. Genre veteran Tom Atkins stars as a detective that is suspicious of the true identity of the killer, and pursues the truth.

Bill Lustig's Maniac Cop is a vastly underated movie that deserves a fresh look by fans of the horror genre. Presented here in widescreen you can see throughout the movie that Lustig is indeed heavily influenced by the Italian genre. The maniac cop's flashback scene in jail (in particular) is very reminiscent in atmosphere of the flashback scene from Argento's Tenebrae.

Not as an accomplished piece of work as Lustig's earlier classic Maniac starring the late great Joe Spinnel but a thoroughly enjoyable movie nonetheless. Although let down a bit by the car chase finale the film overall is a great piece of horror cinema that should please you all.

Elite have done a fine job once again with this release. There is some murkiness showing in the early scenes but this soon picks up and the stereo soundtrack shows off some of the moodier musical moments (the italian influenced moments) nicely.

The extras are cool also (and similar in vein to their Maniac DVD), there's a selection of Trailers and TV/Radio spots, an informative and entertaining audio commentary by Bill Lustig, producer/writer Larry Cohen,Bruce Campbell and music man Jay Chattaway) and a collection of additional scenes that were filmed for Japanese television (that centre around the Mayor character).

Check this out to see that Bill Lustig is not just the man behind all those cool Anchor Bay Italian releases, Maniac Cop is the italian movie that never was. Recommended.