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[Blu-ray Review] ‘Maniac Cop’
Why do you guys like Maniac Cop? And by “you guys” I mean whoever created the demand for multiple sequels and this upcoming Blu-Ray? Maybe it’s Bruce Campbell fans, maybe it’s Tom Atkins fans, or is it just people who had a really good year in 1988? I mean, I love Atkins and Campbell as much as the next guy but as Atkins himself insinuates in his supplemental interview, it’s far from the best work he’s ever done.
Maniac Cop starts out promisingly enough, with a hulking uniformed figure choking a woman on the run from two pre-Giuliani street thugs. It sets up a nice, pulpy atmosphere that film is only able to maintain in fits and starts. Maniac Cop’s main problem is that it’s unable to decide what kind of movie it is. It alternates between actually having a sense of humor and then being incredibly dour for what it is. I like the moments of levity and carnage that recognize the game the film is supposed to be playing, but too often they’re beset by a stiff script with flat direction.
Skinny Bruce Campbell is required to play it almost too straight as the philandering and wrongly accused cop Jack Forrest (who gets over the death of his wife in what must be some kind of record time). Tom Atkins’ Frank MacCrae is given slightly more pathos but none of it adds up to much. Laurene Landon’s character is never developed enough for the audience to feel any kind of investment in her survival. Adding to our rogues gallery of wasted performances, Robert Dzar’s titular villain looks utterly ridiculous in the daylight (where the 3rd act of the film takes place). The movie also features probably the single weakest “it’s not over yet” final shot that I have EVER seen.
All that being said, nostalgia is powerful stuff. I’d actually never seen the film before but I found myself hankering for the gold old days of hard boiled 80′ slasher films – albeit ones that have half decent kills. The carnage in Maniac Cop is practically non-existent. There’s plenty of offings, but none that are remotely scary or memorable. Many of them are played almost off-camera with synth stabs indicating the supposed wounds being inflicted.
With all that out of the way, if you’ve seen Maniac Cop and are one of the film’s seemingly many cult fans, I can report that the transfer is actually pretty good. Grain is well preserved, the picture is clear and the colors are solid and stable. I suspect this was never a terribly good-looking film, but the print on display here seems fairly pristine.
EXTRAS
Maniac Cop Memories: Interview with Robert Z’Dar – A 12 minute conversation with the actor behind the film’s villain. He would like you to know that he has had two hip replacement surgeries and is thus ready to return to work!
Out The Window: Interview with Tom Atkins – A candid interview with Atkins wherein he recalls having a good time on set but admits that Maniac Cop is not one of his favorite films, ranking it far below Night Of The Creeps and even his brief appearance in Lethal Weapon.
Three Minutes with Danny Hicks – Take a guess.
The supplements are sounded out with a few trailers and some additional scenes filmed for the Japanese television version that don’t really add much.
Score: 5/10
Scream Factory brought Frank LaLoggia’s 1988 Halloween movie Lady in White to Blu-ray several years back, and now Vinegar Syndrome gives the film a 4K Ultra HD upgrade.
Vinegar Syndrome’s Lady in White 4K release is available now and shipping now!
Watch the trailer below and grab your copy from Vinegar Syndrome today.
This limited edition 4-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray x 3 set comes with a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (designed by Dylan Haley), includes a 40-page perfect bound book and is limited to 8,000 units. It is only available on their website and at select indie retailers.
The full Special Features package includes…
- 4-disc Set: 1x 4K Ultra HD (High Bitrate BD100) / 3x Region A Blu-ray
- 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
- Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Presented in three versions: 126-min Pre-Release Director’s Cut (UHD+BD), the 118-min Extended Home Video Cut (BD), and the 113-min Theatrical Cut (BD)
- New group commentary track with writer/director Frank LaLoggia, alongside actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut
- New commentary track with Frank LaLoggia, moderated by Scott Neumyer for the Extended Home Video Cut
- New commentary track with authors Emma Westwood and Stephen A. Russell for the Extended Home Video Cut
- Archival commentary track with Frank LaLoggia for the Extended Home Video Cut
- “Learning How to Fly” (10 min) – an interview with actress Karen Powell
- “A Snapshot in Time” (9 min) – an interview with actress Lisa Taylor
- “Human Touches” (6 min) – an interview with actress Lucy Lee Flippin
- “Still Relevant” (16 min) – an interview with actress Rose Weaver
- “75% Listening, 25% Editing” (9 min) – an interview with editor Steve Mann
- “Welcome to Willowpoint Falls” (6 min) – a location featurette hosted by Benjamin Scrivens, founder of Fright-Rags
- “Dream Talking: Looking Back” – a visual group commentary for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut with Frank LaLoggia, and actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou (103 min)
- Deleted Scenes with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (36 min)
- Behind-the-scenes footage with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (16 min)
- Extended behind-the-scenes footage (73 min)
- Introduction from the 20th anniversary dvd release
- Promotional ‘industry sales’ trailer (7 min)
- 40-page perfect bound book with essays by film historians Molly Henery, Mark H. Harris, and Heidi Honeycutt (limited edition only)
- Multiple radio spots
- Theatrical trailer
- Multiple TV spots
- Workprint trailers (7 min)
- Still gallery
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- English SDH subtitles
1962. Nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti enjoys a homespun childhood in a rustic Western New York town. The entire community gets into the spirit of Halloween, but then two bullies prank Frankie by locking him in his school cloakroom, leaving him trapped for the night. Alone and afraid, his slumber is interrupted when the ghost of a little girl appears, and Frankie witnesses the specter of her murder by an unseen assailant. Later, while recovering at home, the girl’s ghost appears to him again. With help from his older brother, Frankie begins investigating the circumstances of her death. He soon discovers that her murder was one of several unsolved crimes connected to a local child-killer. As the town’s bucolic veneer fades and long-buried secrets and tensions bubble to the surface, all of the clues to the mystery seem to point towards a huge mansion inhabited by a reclusive woman known as “The Lady in White.”
A nostalgia-driven ghost story wrapped within an intricate murder mystery and coming-of-age drama, writer-director-composer Frank LaLoggia’s passion project Lady in White remains one of the most beautiful and original American horror films of the 1980s. Featuring acclaimed actors Alex Rocco (The Godfather), Len Cariou (Executive Decision), and Sydney Lassick (Carrie, The Unseen), it boasts the first starring role by Lukas Haas (Mars Attacks, Inception) as well as breathtaking photography by Academy Award® winner Russell Carpenter (True Lies, The Lawnmower Man). Vinegar Syndrome is honored to bring this genre masterpiece to 4K UHD, newly restored from its original 35mm camera negative and presented in three versions: its pre-release director’s cut, its extended home-video version, and its original theatrical version, along with an abundance of both new and archival extras.
Paul Lê wrote here on Bloody Disgusting back in 2023, “Over the years, fans have described this film as gateway horror, but they liken it more to The Watcher in the Woods than, say, Hocus Pocus or Casper. There are chilling moments that warrant its PG-13 rating.”
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