I picked this one up because of its rep as a big cult classic and I heard it was a "so bad it's good" movie, but overall it treaded the line between being an actual "good" movie and a "so bad its good" movie. So overall I would say it's just a "bad" movie, but one did have some entertainment value to it. The film is about exactly what it sounds like, a "maniac cop" that goes around killing innocent people, but what's interesting is that the killer may or may not be an undead former police officer (that is what attracted me to this film). The film has somewhat of a traditional 80s slasher feel to it, but it tries to hard to be an intelligent mystery with a twist (which it's not), the twist and overall "mystery" are pretty predictable and have easily found solutions (they actually show you the name tag on the uniform of the killer in the movie's opening sequence). Tom Atkins plays the cop who is on the trail of the maniac cop throughout most of the film, and Bruce Campbell (who appeared in this film and it's 1st sequel in between filming Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness) plays the prime suspect who claims he's innocent. I loved Tom Atkins in The Fog, Halloween III, and of course Night of the Creeps, he's still good in this film but I think the writing was a little hokey overall for everyone in this film. Bruce Campbell really shines with his typical slapstick style towards the end of the film, and that quite frankly is the best part of this movie. In the last 15-20 minutes or so is when the most action occurs, Bruce Campbell starts being Bruce Campbell, the maniac cop is revealed and all the good stuff happens, the rest of the film is not as entertaining as the ending. Also another problem with the film is when they finally do reveal the killer's face the makeup is so bad and actors face is so bizarre that all the ominous scary atmosphere of the film and persona of the killer gets washed away with the first glimpse of the killer's face, which needless to say is a big let down. The titular cop is played by cult and B-movie veteran Robert Z'dar (along with his inhumanly large jaw, which is all natural by the way), and he went on to reprise his role in the film's following two sequels. The film itself is directed by William Lustig who aside from this film and its sequels is most known for the infamously gorey 80s slasher Maniac. Overall the film was alright but it could've been so much better if it made up its mind and went with full on seriousness, or full on wackiness, it was too in-between for me so I give it a 3/5. It did have a great tag-line though: "You have the right to remain silent...forever!" You can watch the trailer below:
Every summer I like to watch a summer camp movie, I always like watching movies during the season in which they take place. This movie is famous for its "twist" ending, and it spawned several sequels. This movie is similar to the first two Friday the 13th films and The Burning, and in my opinion is better than the Friday films, but not as good as The Burning. The acting is pretty bad at parts, what makes this film interesting is its exploration of sexuality that you normally didn't see in films much around this time, let alone low budget teen horror movies (I speak of sexuality here as more of a gender/sexuality issue than just showing everybody sleeping around, which is what is more usually common in these types of films). All this being said the "twist" at the end while interesting and different, didn't really affect or change the incidents that occurred during the plot, in other words it's not hard to figure out who the killer is and the whole film makes you think the mystery and "twist" will change who you think it is, it doesn't and is a let down because of it. I give the film a 3/5; You can watch the whole film on Youtube here, and you can watch the trailer below:
