Maniac Cop

Maniac Cop is a 1988 American action slasher film directed by William Lustig, written by Larry Cohen, and starring Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z'Dar, and Sheree North. Z'Dar plays the title character, a murderous ex-police officer returned from the dead, and seeks revenge on the people who wronged him. It is the first installment in the Maniac Cop film series. Maniac Cop was released on May 13, 1988 and grossed $671,382 worldwide on a budget of $1.1 million. The film was followed by two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence (1993). Plot In New York City, a waitress on her way home is assaulted by two muggers and seeks aid from a police officer, who breaks her neck. Over the next two nights, this "Maniac Cop" commits more murders, prompting Lieutenant McCrae, who was told by his superiors to suppress eyewitness accounts that the killer was wearing a police uniform, to pass on information to a journalist, in an attempt to protect civilians. This causes panic and dissent among the city, and results in innocent patrolmen either being shot to death or avoided on the streets by people afraid of them being the Maniac Cop. Ellen Forrest, suspecting that her husband Jack may be the Maniac Cop, follows him to a motel and catches him in bed with fellow officer Theresa Mallory. Distraught, Ellen runs out of the room, and is slain by the killer. Jack is arrested under suspicion of murder, but McCrae believes Jack has been framed. McCrae gets Jack to tell him about his relationship with Mallory, who is attacked by the Maniac Cop while working undercover as a prostitute. Mallory and McCrae fight off the killer, who is deathly cold even through his gloves and does not appear to breathe; when they shoot him several times, the killer appears unfazed. Mallory hides out in McCrae's apartment while he investigates Sally Noland, the only person Mallory told about her affair. McCrae follows Noland to a warehouse, where she meets with the Maniac Cop and refers to him as "Matt". Returning to police headquarters, McCrae discovers files on Matthew Cordell, an officer who was unjustly imprisoned in Sing Sing for police brutality and closing in on corruption in city hall. He was mutilated and killed in a shower room in Sing Sing by other inmates, whom he helped incarcerate.