Just Another Maniac Monday

You Have The Right To Remain Silent. Forever.

So ran the tagline to Maniac Cop (1988). Directed by William Lustig. Written and produced by Larry Cohen.

There's a Cop patrolling the streets of New York city killing innocent people. Who is he? He is Maniac Cop.

One of the most successful of Larry Cohen's witty, subversive, low budget New York horror movies, Maniac Cop became a big hit on video. It tuned into Joe Public's growing sense of injustice and a mistrust of authority in society. Good cops getting the job done but being punished for being over zealous.

Detectives overwhelmed by paperwork whilst criminals walked free around the city.

Cohen (who had previously made films like God Told Me To, It's Alive, Q - The Winged Serpent and The Stuff) and Lustig (infamous for making Maniac) had all the exploitation film experience to make Maniac Cop the fun ride it is.

A good cast featuring Tom Atkins (Halloween III) , Laurene Landon and Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) have to figure out who the rogue Cop is and stop him before he kills again... and again...

Trailer

Cohen and Lustig went on to make a good sequel in Maniac Cop 2 but a poor 3rd entry with Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence. They reunited later in 1997 with the disappointing Uncle Sam which revisited the same themes but with a re-animated Desert Storm veteran instead of one of New York's finest.