Maniac Cop

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
The wrong arm of the law


You have the right to remain silent....forever!
—A tagline so nice they used it thrice

Maniac Cop franchise was a trilogy of horror movies spanning from late 80's to early 90's. First two films were directed by William Lustig and produced by Larry Cohen and the third film had both on co-status.

First movie which was released in 1988 told us the story of Matt Cordell (played by Robert Z'Dar in all three films), a former NYPD officer who was sentenced into prison for a crime he didn't commit. He suffered heavy abuse from the scum whom he had arrested himself and was left heavily scarred and brain-damaged from their attacks. With the help of his former girlfriend, Cordell starts wreaking chaos in New York by dressing as a cop and murdering innocent civilians, which leads to city-wide panic. Detective McRae (Tom Atkins) is set to work on the case and is later joined by Officer Forrest (Bruce Campbell) who is framed for the killings and must clear his name.

Second movie was released 1990 and continued where the last film ended. This time Cordell ties up some loose ends and teams up with serial killer Turkell to cause even more chaos in the good ol' NY. This movie introduces Detective McKinney (Robert Davi) as the protagonist for the rest of the trilogy.

Third and the final movie was released 1992 (with Badge of Silence as the subtitle) and it's the one where things start to get weird; Cordell is resurrected from the dead by a voodoo priest who wants him to do his dirty work. But Cordell has other plans, as he learns about a certain female officer Sullivan who was framed for a crime that she didn't commit. Seeing a kindred spirit in her, Cordell stars killing everyone involved with the case, from the real perpetrator of the crime to the doctors who plan to cut the life-feed from her now-comatose body. After he is done, Cordell wants to make Sullivan his bride. McKinney tries to put end to the mayhem.

There are rumours circulating for a possible remake.


Tropes used in Maniac Cop include: