Maniac Cop 2
Year: 1990
Director: William Lustig
Written by: Larry Cohen
Threat: Undead
Weapon of Choice: Billy Club Knife
IMDb page: 
Maniac Cop 2Year: 1990 Director: William Lustig Written by: Larry Cohen Threat: Undead Weapon of Choice: Billy Club Knife IMDb page: |
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Other movies in this series:
Maniac Cop
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence
Rish's Reviews
I saw this as part of a double feature of William Lustig flicks. The director, as well as
writer Larry Cohen were there to introduce the movies. Also joining the creators was
actress Laurene Landon, a frighteningly unhealthy-looking woman with giant lips and
cheekbones. They spoke with great affection about making Maniac Cop 2,
referring to it as "the picture."
I gave the first Maniac Cop a really
positive review. Larry Cohen claimed beforehand that this one was better than the
original. But I was skeptical. It's rare for a sequel to surpass an original film, and I'd
say the track record in Horror is even stronger against it. Also, I've never been a fan
of Mr. Lustig's work. I consider 1980's Maniac
to be one of the least pleasant films we've had to sit through. And all the creativity of
Uncle Sam seemed to go into its box art. But William Lustig was a friendly,
jolly fat guy and instantly likable. And this was an excellent flick. It was so good, I had
to go up and congratulate Cohen and Lustig afterward.
Robert Z'Dar returns as the fugly title character, fighting against the NYPD, this time in the
guise of the grizzled Robert Davi and corrupt Michael Lerner. Bruce Campbell returns
in a small role, but he sure is good. Heck, they all are in this.
The film was very fun and VERY well-written. The filmmakers gave depth and
backstories to all the characters, even the Maniac Cop, who drew sympathy in a grotesque
sort of way. There was a REALLY funny serial killer character. Plus, there was a great deal
of gory, over-the-top violence, but that's sort of a given.
According to the filmmakers, the first flick had a one million dollar budget, which beat the
$350,000 budgets for It's Alive 1 & 2. Obviously, while watching Maniac Cop 2,
it's all up there on the screen. Whenever I hear stuff like that, it makes me want to make
movies just like this one. For such a low-budget movie, it had fantastic stunts. The scene
with Claudia Christian handcuffed to a moving car was insane, simply because you know
it's not only real people, but the real actors in that dangerous scenario.
The film had a great opening, where an evil bastard robs a convenience store and steals
some scratch-lottery tickets, making the clerk scratch them off. When one turns out to be
a big winner, the clerk gets all excited, as if he's winning something other than an untimely
death in this situation. Also memorable was a scene where a policeman is writing up a
parking ticket, only to be killed by the Maniac Cop, much to the relief of the owner of the
ticketed car.
I'd Recommend It To: What's not to like? There's even a Maniac Cop rap over the
closing credits.
Posted: October 25, 2005
Total Skulls: 9
| Sequel |  |
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| Sequel setup | |
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| Rips off earlier film | ||
| Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie | ||
| Future celebrity appears | ||
| Former celebrity appears | ||
| Bad title | ||
| Bad premise | ||
| Bad acting | ||
| Bad dialogue | ||
| Bad execution | ||
| MTV Editing | ||
| OTS | |
|
| Girl unnecessarily gets naked | ||
| Wanton sex | ||
| Death associated with sex | ||
| Unfulfilled promise of nudity | ||
| Characters forget about threat | ||
| Secluded location | ||
| Power is cut | ||
| Phone lines are cut | ||
| Someone investigates a strange noise | ||
| Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door | ||
| Camera is the killer | ||
| Victims cower in front of a window/door | |
|
| Victim locks self in with killer | ||
| Victim running from killer inexplicably falls | ||
| Toilet stall scene | ||
| Shower/bath scene | |
|
| Car stalls or won't start | ||
| Cat jumps out | ||
| Fake scare | ||
| Laughable scare | ||
| Stupid discovery of corpse | ||
| Dream sequence | ||
| Hallucination/Vision | ||
| No one believes only witness | |
|
| Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth | ||
| Warning goes unheeded | ||
| Music detracts from scene | ||
| Death in first five minutes | ||
| x years before/later | ||
| Flashback sequence | |
|
| Dark and stormy night | ||
| Killer doesn't stay dead | ||
| Killer wears a mask | ||
| Killer is in closet | ||
| Killer is in car with victim | ||
| Villain is more sympathetic than heroes | ||
| Unscary villain/monster | ||
| Beheading | ||
| Blood fountain | ||
| Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc. | |
|
| Poor death effect | ||
| Excessive gore | ||
| No one dies at all | ||
| Virgin survives | |
|
| Geek/Nerd survives | ||
| Little kid lamely survives | ||
| Dog/Pet miraculously survives | ||
| Unresolved subplots | ||
| "It was all a dream" ending | ||
| Unbelievably happy ending | ||
| Unbelievably crappy ending | ||
| What the hell? |