Maniac Cop 2
Well, our favorite undead (?) maniac cop is back. And he’s uglier, umm meaner than ever. We get a gritty, New York City action horror movie like we expected to. Does it stand up to the original? For me, no. It’s still good but not as good as the first one.
Photo Credit: Motion International
Released: Jul 18, 1990
Director: William Lustig
Writer: Larry Cohen
Runtime: 90 mins
Actors: Robert Davi, Claudia Christian, Michael Lerner
PLOT
You can't kill the dead!--Theresa
Cordell, the maniac cop, is back. He’s after the people that basically murdered him. He also teams up with a serial killer.
MY THOUGHTS
You're the prettiest one in my collection so far.--Turkell
Well, there is a high kill count in this movie. Over 30 kills! Most of the kills are people being shot though. Having said that, there isn’t much gore. We get a second killer who is a serial killer who kills strippers.
This movie has a lot of action. One of the best is the car chase scene, and when Susan (Claudia Christian) ends up handcuffed to the car, dragged for a while. And you have the massacre at the police station. Finally ending at the prison with that fight to the supposed death. I think the movie had so much action they chose to not add in any real scares.
As far as acting, we have a lot of good actors besides the leads. We have Robert Earl Jones (yes, James Earl Jones' father is an actor in this), Clarence Williams III, Charles Napier, and Daniel Trejo. Though we don’t get a lot with Bruce Campbell or Laurene Landon. Though she gets a little more air time, but not by much. Robert Davi takes the role as the cop investigating the new killings, and Claudia Christian plays the police psychologist who believes that Cordell is back and helps to stop him.
As much as I liked seeing Leo Rossi play Turkell the serial killer who kills strippers, I felt that that storyline took away from Cordell and his revenge story. I felt that it went too long and wasn’t really needed. Though I heard the role was actually meant for Joe Spinelli (from Maniac). That he was going to tie Maniac Cop 2 with Maniac, but sadly he died before shooting could happen.
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I’m going on a small rant now, be prepared. How the hell do you bring Bruce Campbell back for the sequel and then kill him off like that? He gets maybe 3 minutes or so of screen time just to be killed off so early in the movie. I was excited to see him in this. And his kill. Really? He deserves a better kill than what he got, in my opinion. Ok. Rant over. Sorry about that.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Bruce Campbell has jokingly stated at conventions that he does not like being reminded of or asked questions about this film, as he was going through a messy divorce at the time. People asking questions would then get savaged by Campbells sharp tongue. Now people at conventions will purposely ask questions just to be insulted by him.
If you want to see my other Maniac Cop reviews, click here: Maniac Cop Franchise.
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 3.5/5
Sex/Nudity: 2/5
Scare factor: 2/5
Enjoyment factor: 3.5/5
My Rank: 2.75/5
IMDB: 5.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 6.4/10 audience: 4.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.2/5