Maniac Cop [1988]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

Because Robert Z'Dar, an actor who has appeared in many B-movies and straight-to-video releases including Bad Movie Night favorite, "Samurai Cop", passed away last Monday, we felt it was only right to honor him and take in the feature that really made him known: "Maniac Cop", or as we came to think of it, "A Tale Of Two Chins."

After the best uniform-donning montage since "Batman & Robin", a New York City police officer whose face is masked in shadows kills some random people, causing a fear in the civilians (that is too real) and distrust among the other NYC policepeople. Our main cop protagonist, played by a giant chin named Bruce Campbell, is introduced a few minutes into the film when his wife, suspicious that he is the maniac cop, discovers that he is having an affair with a coworker and later turns up dead. Now everyone thinks Chinbell is the maniac and it's up to Lieutenant McCrae and the coworker he was screwing, Theresa Mallory, to figure out who the real maniac is. Turns out it was this vigilante cop who got sent to prison and supposedly died there but complete negligence enabled him to live on, brain-damaged to kill innocent people now, with the help of his fiancee who was so obsessed with him that she jumped out of a window when she thought he died and now has a leg brace. He kills her randomly when he breaks into the police station but she seems okay with it. When the lieutenant encounters maniac cop, it is then up to Mallory and a broken-out-of-jail Chinbell to evade their fellow cops (one of which had the brilliant idea to handcuff himself to Mallory) and stop the maniac cop who turns out to be Robert Z'dar with rotten teeth and cuts on his face. After a chase scene ending with Z'dar impaled and drowned, no body is recovered paving the way for "Maniac Cop 2".

This movie falls on that thin line between bad theatrical release or decent straight-to-video release and was fairly enjoyable to watch in all its cliched glory. We may continue with the other "Maniac Cop"s and thankfully the main cast seems to return for the sequel. Even more interesting is that apparently a few years ago the director and Nicolas Winding Refn (director of violent artsy films often starring Ryan Gosling) were in talks to do a remake. We can only dream.

Maniac Cop full in the face.

Bruce Campbell, horrified to discover that he doesn't 

have the most magnificent chin in the film.

Quotes:
"[Your wife's] throat was cut from ear to ear. You wanna see the pretty pictures?"

[to a man with a giant bandaged hand] "What happened to your hand?"
"I cut myself shaving."

"He would shoot first and ask questions later . . . He was a nice guy though."

Adam's Grandma's Review: "It was two chins up!"