Maniac Cop 2

How do, everyone. I really hoped you enjoyed the write up for Tales of Frankenstein. Today I am back in the B movie territory, of which is just fine for me. I mean when you have Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Robert Davi and Claudia Christian all in a Horror sequel that many critics were confused with.  This is Maniac Cop 2.

Forget vengeance, howzabout a makeover?

Recapping right back from its predecessor, Officer Cordell (Robert Z'Dar of Cherry 2000, Maniac Cop, Tango & Cash, Soultaker, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Frogtown II, Future War, Hollywood Cops and Samurai Cop) plunged into the icy March waters while being chased by his fellow boys in blue to a watery grave. Now while this was all happening during St. Patty's Day, the next festivities is Christmas??  Hmm, methinks a continuity error.

Director William Lustig (Hot Honey, Maniac, Vigilante, Hit List, Relentless, Maniac Cop 2 and The Expert) is back holding the reins, so character, tone and eerie vibe is all available. Now many deem this a cult classic, so let's see if it cuts the mustard. Remember, Cordell was set up by his superiors because they were corrupt and he was getting too close to revealing that very fact. Left for dead as a bad cop in prison, he was coma ridden and died in prison...or did he? What did he find out? 

When the news just grips you.

Meanwhile officers Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead, Crimewave, Moontrap, Escape from L.A., Ellen, Bubba Ho-Tep and Burn Notice) and Teresa Mallory (Laurene Landon of Roller Boogie, Full Moon High, Hundra, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance and Death Game) still shaken from this first encounter, what with lopping his hand off with a chainsaw and...dammit. I confused my horror sequels. Ahem, with Jack andTeresa cleared of all outstanding charges, their knob of a Commissioner (Michael Lerner of Strange Invaders, Vibes, Harlem Nights, Barton Fink, No Escape, Godzilla and When Do We Eat?) is sticking with the BS story that Cordell died in Sing Sing (Sing Sing Correctional Facility) and hopes to put the whole killer cop shenanigans to rest.

He demands they see the shrink Susan Riley(Claudia Christian of The Hidden, Clean and Sober, The Dark Backward, Babylon 5, The Chase, The Haunting of Hell House, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Half Past Dead and Fallout 4) to get their heads straightened out. Yeesh.

Oh thank God, she doesn't have a broadsword.

Entering our film is clearly the themed bad ass cop that follows the Dirty Harry code of shoot, shoot some more and then go fill out paperwork. Detective Sean Mckinney (Robert Davi of Die Hard, Licence to Kill, Profiler, Stargate Atlantis, Black Rose and The Expendables 3) definitely gonna get the 80s tropes of the captain chewing his ass out for bodies in the streets, cars smashed into buildings and so on. With his partner gone, McKinney works alone. You know the drill. He'll avenge him yadda yadda

Pulling himself out of the river, Cordell embarks on his killing spree of society that done him wrong. Honestly can you blame him? Reporters made him out to be a monster, the citizens of New York turned their backs on the this highly decorated street cop and the justice system sent him up the river with thugs and skells he put away. Starting up his bloody crusade, he encounters scruffy, religiously driven serial killer Turkell (Leo Rossi of Halloween II, Relentless, Fast Getaway, Where the Day Takes You, Raw Justice, Raw Justice, Analyze This, Crackerjack 3 and Back by Midnight) forming an alliance.

One of my favorite character actors second only to Tom Atkins, the late Charles Napier (The Blues Brothers, Rambo: First Blood Part 2, Silence of the Lambs, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Dinocroc, Lords of Dogtown, Quake 4 and Shadowheart) is grumbly, sour and gives a good performance.

With similar killings like before, city officials are nervous as Hell, the citizens of New York are gonna go to work, pick up the kids and get groceries strapped like it's the Road Warrior. Riley and McKinney each have theories but can scarcely believe them that possibly Cordell is back and the higher ups are trying to corner Teresa, making it seem it's her killing around town. Well I have seen the lady with a broadsword, bow and arrows but she's just not quite the same height and build as Cordell.  That is, until Cordell channels his inner T-800 and goes completely sick house on the station. Whacking cops like he's an overenthusiastic hunter.

Like many Horror sequels, the body count gets higher, the effects gorier and gives a fast pace of an unstoppable killing machine. Feels like the methodical attacks of the Terminator with the zombified staple of Jason Vorhees. The dark humor is still present but not as pronounced as it is for more terror. The original feels closer to a psychological thriller moving into Horror but this sequel is straight up slasher but with more back story and several layers. I can see the appeal and I get why folks are interested in the nearby remake and will it hold up. As for this sequel, not too shabby.

Well, he's no Bogey but not bad.

Reader's Request: Samurai Cop

Okay after a few weeks of prying ideas out of my readers I finally got a request. Let me say offhand I was probably better off reviewing the Barely Legal Zombi Sequel Zombie 7. Yup the turd waffle I have been asked to give the once over was directed by Amir Shervan (The Owner of Hell, Young Rebels, Hollywood Cop, Killing American Style and Gypsy) so clearly if these titles are to go on, we are in good hands. This is Samurai Cop.

Leave my wig alone!!!!!

Meet Joe Marshall (Matt Karedas of American Revenge, Samurai Cop and JAG) a bad ass cop from San Diego brought in especially to rid the streets of the Yakuza in L.A. His partner Frank Washington (Mark Frazer of Another World, Hunter, Samurai Cop and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) who is clearly only two day from retirement working side by side against the Japanese underworld. Our oyabun, Fujuyama (Cranston Komuro of Samurai Cop) feathers his mullet with cocaine distribution, racketeering and protection. And any of you Segal fans out there will love the bad guy discussion/exposition about Joe as apparently he studied under the sword masters (or kengou) in Japan(didn't bother to give a location in Japan so we will say Tokyo for lazy writing's sake) and he is deemed a samurai.  Main henchman or Wakagashira Yamashita (Robert Z'Dar of Maniac Cop, Tango & Cash, Maniac Cop 2, Soultaker, The Final Sanction, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, American Chinatown, Future War and Hollywood Cops) feels threatened by Joe's mere existence and vows to Mullet oyabun he will dispatch Joe.

Being a samurai cop does take it out of you but fortunately Joe is no slacker. With his tactical genius of yelling at his partner to shoot, shoot, shoot and shoot during a high speed chase to his ability to inform anything with a vagina to will herself to “keep it warm” and to wait for him, it is no wonder the ladies love him. Traffic cop/helicopter spotter/patrol cop/love interest Peggy (Melissa Moore of Sorrority House Massacre II, Vice Academy 2, Vampire Cop, Hard to Die, Angelfist, Bikini Drive-In and Hellborn) is...so frickin' one dimensional I think the writer forgot to give her a motivation or back story. I know how she looks topless and in a thong but not much else. Seriously, other than her physical attributes, I know next to nothing about this character.

Uh-oh, that three bean salad is repeating...

Racist to Costa Ricans and Japanese a plenty, with cheeseball lines and music that sounds like it was lifted from Mega Man 2 or Jan Hammer's Miami Vice soundtracks. It varied to a degree. A degree is something our heroes seem to lack, along with procedures, basic Miranda rights and extreme use of violence on the job. Frank just straight clips a guy in the shoulder while Joe lops the arm off another guy holding a gun on them. Who needs pesky crap like search warrants, search and seizure when you can simply apologize for entering a house without just cause. Just on their shots fired forms in less than a week they would still be looking at those stacks.

I kinda got the vibe that Amir rented Lethal Weapon 2, decided to duplicate it and dropped the ball. Paintballs work just as good when you don't have squibs, right? I imagine they hurt about the same. Composer Alan DerMarderosian chimes with a background like: (Hobgoblins,Vice Academy, Mind Trap, Devil Rider, Red Room, High Kicks and Good Girls Don't) so his tunes are...very motley. The dubbing was the most painful as some actors were not able to come in for ADR (automated dialogue replacement) so at least 4 cops had the same voice. Not even a different inflection of the voice or alternative take, just that one voice. As many guys went flying through glass I expected to hear either a Goofy or a Whilhelm scream (stock sound effect used in more than 220 film and TV).   The most painful thing about this movie is the exposure.  Not noticing that lighting looks different throughout the day, this car chase started at 8 in the morning and apparently finished at 5 in the afternoon.  Also our bad guys only operate during the day.  Cause they are nine to fivers or someone didn't have access to some basic portable flood lamps at night.  60 bucks a pop, dude!  Hell borrow my lantern flood lamp, at least you could shoot AT NIGHT!!!!

Matt's line delivery felt awkward until you find out he got called in 6 months later to shoot additional scenes later on with his hideous wig. It turns out he was staring at a couple of lamps, they were not well-synced and he looks like a doofus spouting his dialogue attempting to be suave sounding confused. The lovely lady wig they gave him bounces through several times you can play a drinking game on his wig or real hair shots. I caution you, your liver may get pissed at you.

So this is Lethal Weapon on a nickel and dime budget, with no real retakes, time or money to consider. We are in the barren lands of indy film that paid as they went. The best part of this movie is they are taking it so seriously with the horrific dialogue, locations and car chases. The police department looks like a telemarketing center and the boss's digs looks like a split level house my aunt and uncle bought complete with the thick baize carpeting.   The only legitimate Hollywood stable is Carlos and Charlie's a restaurant on Sunset Blvd.  Ahh, Sunset Boulevard, something else I could be watching.   Remember kids, Katana means Japanese Sword (no it doesn't. That is nihonto).

Not Michael Winslow.

Grindhouse Flicks: Maniac Cop

Howdy readers! Welcome to Day 1 of Grindhouse Flicks. Thought we start off with a horror/ slasher/thriller. A story of a cop that may have been a bit abusive on the streets, tough nosed and hard hitting, his deeds of good intentions caught up with him landing him right smack in prison. This is Maniac Cop.

Freddy Kruger got buff!

Written by Larry Cohen (Black Caesar, It's Alive, It Lives Again, Q, Perfect Strangers, Best Seller, A Return to Salem's Lot and Deadly Illusion) and directed by horror director William Lustig (The Violation of Claudia, Maniac, Vigilante, Maniac Cop, Hit List and Relentless) our film opens on the desolate, crime-ridden streets of New York that just happens to look like L.A. And regions of Culver City California for most of it. Ahem, the rampant street crime is pouring in as a young woman evades a couple of muggers only to find a beat cop in uniform. Pleading for his help, this mammoth sized flat foot snaps her neck like a twig and then tackles her muggers. A tad excessive? Perhaps.

With this rash of homicides Detective McCrae (Tom Atkins of The Rockford Files, The Fog, Escape from New York, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Night of the Creeps, Lethal Weapon, Turn of Faith and My Bloody Valentine) is on the case trying to make heads or tails of this but pieces together from more than a dozen witnesses there is a big man in a cop's uniform dropping people like it is deer season.

The Commissioner (Richard Roundtree of Shaft, Shaft's Big Score, Shaft in Africa, Earthquake, Day of the Assassin, A Time to Die, Roc, Ballistic and Se7en) and the Captain (William Smith of Laredo, Any Which Way You Can, Conan the Barbarian, The Outsiders and Island of Witches) warn McCrae it is his ass on the chopping block if this gets out to the general public.

I said the damn words!...basically.

Meanwhile housewife Ellen Forrest (Victoria Catlin of Ghoulies, Slow Burn, Maid to Order, Maniac Cop, Mutant on the Bounty and Howling V: The Rebirth)thinks since her husband isn't jumping her bones and is acting all weird that maybe hubby Jack (Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead, Crimewave, Intruder, Moontrap, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Ellen, Burn Notice and Ash vs Evil Dead) is taking extra shifts to commit macabre murders and maybe a necklace out of testicles and the like. After following him to a cheesy and sleazy hotel, it turns out Jack is actually just having an affair with another officer Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon of ...All the Marbles, Airplane II: The Sequel, Hundra, Maniac Cop and Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance). Um...yay hubby isn't a psycho, he's an adulterer.

Ellen leaves in a huff screaming lawyer, his ass and the whole ball of wax all the while crying profusely that our "Officer McLarge" takes care of her. Jack goes on patrol only to find out his wife has been bumped off and the rest of the force is looking at Jack as a prime suspect. Yeah, right height guys but nowhere near the build. McCrae and Mallory pool their resources to prove that Jack isn't the killer when a name surfaces, Matt Cordell. A highly decorated street cop who was convicted of brutality while looking into corruption in city hall. A corrupt mayor??!!! Well now that never happens. Cordell got jumped by some prisoners, shanked a few times and allegedly died in Sing Sing. Or did he?

Can McCrae and Mallory prove Cordell is still alive? Can Jack see the "Forrest" from the trees? Can Jake stop doing stupid puns??

 

A few fun facts on the flick.

Director/writer Sam Raimi does a cameo as an ace reporter. Both Bruce Campbell and Robert Z'Dar (Matt Cordell) have been dubbed the title "The Chin". The body count for this slasher was 19 dead. Modest by most horror flick standards.

Umm...maybe he is also a chiropractor?