No Surrender Cinema: Maniac Cop 2
It’s that time of year where terror is in the air, including here at Bulletproof Action! Last October, we talked about the killer cop that stalked the streets of New York, and this month we’re looking over our shoulders once again. Could a killer that caused New York City to become paranoid of the police be back from the dead? If he is, what’s his endgame? Can our returning heroes and a few new faces stop the current killing spree and get to the bottom of it all? Let’s find out as an old No Surrender Cinema favorite rises from the grave for another go-round. This month we’re going to talk about Maniac Cop 2!
One year ago in this column I covered the cult classic Maniac Cop, a 1988 thriller that focused on Matt Cordell (Robert Z’Dar), a cop that went too far in his fight against corruption, and wound up paying the price for it. When his superiors in city hall had enough, they set Cordell up and sent him away to prison, where he was assaulted and mutilated. Thought dead, Cordell wound up returning to duty in a much more nefarious manner, targeting criminals and citizens alike, causing every law abiding citizen to fear those that they should be able to trust. No one wanted to admit that it could be Cordell, and that plot point continues as we begin the sequel. Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) and Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon), our heroes from the first film, are back again and cleared for duty, with some requirements from Commissioner Doyle (Michael Lerner). Following in the footsteps of prior city officials, Doyle thinks that the duo are crazy for thinking that Cordell was responsible for the killing spree of the first film, or that he could possibly ever come back. Yet while Doyle is claiming that Cordell was killed in prison, we’re seeing that there is in fact a behemoth in blue on the prowl. It doesn’t take long for this Maniac Cop to make his presence felt, as he shows up to stop a convenience store robbery as only he can; by killing the clerk and setting up the coked out crook to take the blame and get gunned down by the real police.
In a bit of a shocker, the next one to fall victim to the killer is Jack, who gets stabbed through the neck while visiting a newsstand. It’s clear that this is Matt Cordell tying up loose ends from the first film, and soon after Jack is disposed of Mallory meets her end when Cordell runs a car containing her and police psychologist Susan Riley (Claudia Christian). Riley manages to escape, and while the officials try to do a repeat performance of what they did in the first film and cover up these Maniac Cop killings, Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi, in a rare role that sees him on the side of good) is on Riley’s side, believing that Cordell is back for more vengeance.
While everything seems pretty standard concerning Cordell’s M.O., the twist in Maniac Cop 2 comes when he crosses paths with another killer. Steven Turkell (played by well known character actor Leo Rossi, who had a role in the first Maniac Cop as a city official) seeks out strippers to strangle, and has already put six bodies in the morgue. Turkell is much more psychotic and brash than the silent, stoic Cordell, but Turkell sees a friend in the Maniac Cop. Rather than kill Turkell or set him up for a fall, he actively participates in Turkell’s escape, helping him get out of his latest victim’s apartment when the real police show up. Cordell even goes as far as following Turkell back to his place, and this kill crazy Odd Couple actually share some genuine bonding moments while they’re laying low. Though they’re now doing the most sadistic version of a Marvel Team-Up ever, Turkell can’t be reined in by Cordell, and goes off to find another victim. Naturally, without Cordell watching his back, Turkell finds himself behind bars thanks to McKinney and Riley.
What would normally be written off as the ramblings of a madman is foreshadowing of an amazing action sequence, one of the best out of the action and horror genres. Turkell keeps claiming that his “friend” will come to break him out, taunting Riley that bad shit is about to go down. Sure enough the Maniac Cop shows up at the police station by walking out of the shadows at the shooting range and laying waste to everyone there. Arming himself with firearms and ammo, Cordell makes his way through the police station, bursting through glass doors and gunning down nearly two dozen people. To top it off, at the end of his rampage, he hurls another officer through every office wall in the place! This several minute massacre is easily the most memorable scene in the Maniac Cop trilogy, and as far as shock and entertainment value goes, I would put this sequence up against any big budget killing spree scene any day of the week. When you have to live up to the moniker of Maniac Cop, there’s only a few ways to do so, and this scene shows it in spades.
After turning the station house into a slaughterhouse, Cordell springs Turkell and several other inmates (including a young Danny Trejo and the Mod Squad’s Clarence Williams III). Since our silent killer is less talk, more action, Turkell acts as the Paul Heyman to his Brock Lesnar and explains that Cordell’s vendetta will continue when they get to Sing Sing and recruit the inmates on death row for the purposes of continuing their killing spree. Of course, nothing winds up going as planned, not when McKinney wisely concludes that Cordell’s murderous rampage was spurned on from being framed and having his name ruined. McKinney forces the Commissioner to publicly give Cordell a full pardon and reopen his case, sending Cordell into the heart of the prison to exact his revenge against those who truly deserve it; the inmates who mutilated him. These final few minutes mold our Maniac Cop into more of an antihero, leading to a fiery climax where Cordell goes head to head with those who deserve their demise.
Even though the first Maniac Cop is a favorite of mine, Maniac Cop 2 is one of those times where the sequel outdoes the original. This is The Godfather, Part 2 of B-movies here. Even director William Lustig (who directed all three Maniac Cop films) has stated that this was his favorite film to make. It should also be noted that while the original Maniac Cop did well, Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment passed on the sequels due to James Glickenhaus hating Lustig. I guess the joke was on SGE, since Maniac Cop 2 is an excellent exploitation movie and, in my opinion, one of the biggest standouts of the 80’s-90’s B-movie boom. The police station massacre scene is a bonafide standout, the casting is solid (Davi’s take no shit detective and Rossi’s scenery chewing serial killer being the best), and unlike other sequels of the time, it carries on not just with the story of Matt Cordell, but gives closure to the characters from the first film. Some fans might be disappointed that Bruce Campbell is making what amounts to a cameo, but I applaud writer/producer Larry Cohen for letting Cordell kill off the Forrest and Mallory characters on screen rather than pretend they never existed.
Maniac Cop 2 is a must watch, an intense exploitation film that simultaneously delivers some great kills and thrills while turning our murderous main character into a sympathetic figure. Since it was one of the most popular movies on the video market, it’s fairly easy to find in a variety of formats (Blu-Ray, DVD, and VHS) or you can go the Youtube route where it’s available in full for your viewing pleasure. It would also be foolish of me not to tell you to stay tuned all the way through the credits so that you can enjoy the “Maniac Cop Rap”, since I think it was written into law that every movie made in the early 90’s had to have at least one rap song included in it. Matt Cordell might not be the type to bust a move, but he busts heads in a glorious fashion, so any action fan will enjoy this 90 minutes of mayhem.
