Maniac Cop (1988)

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:

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

I finally decided to see this one, after years of hearing about it. For those who don't know this film has claimed the title of "worst film ever made" for the last 50+ years. While I personally don't think this is the worst film ever made (or that I've ever seen) it is pretty dang bad. This is the film that would make Ed Wood a star (albeit ironically). Ed Wood made a number of horrible B films throughout the 50s but this is his most famous/infamous. Less than 20 years after his death he would be immortalized in a critically acclaimed film made by Tim Burton, but during his lifetime Ed Wood would never see such positive acceptance of his work. Plan 9 is about aliens that come to earth and plan on taking over the world by raising the dead (don't worry if that doesn't make sense, Ed Wood never makes sense). The film has so many errors that it, Ed Wood, and his other films have all become ironically inspirational, people see his films and think "If somebody can make a piece of crap like that there's hope for me in the film business!" There are continuity errors up the wazoo, wooden acting, horrible sets and lighting (most notably in the airplane scenes) and Cadillac hubcaps on wires posing as flying saucers. The film has one of the biggest cult followings of all time for any film though. The entire genre of "so bad they're good" movies was basically created because of this film, it is still enjoyable to watch and laugh at because of how amazingly bad it is. There are a few things that should be mentioned about the film for those who don't know anything about it: 1). this was Bela Lugosi (the legendary horror actor most famous for playing Dracula [1931])'s last film. Lugosi was one of Wood's heroes growing up and he managed to meet and form a unique friendship with the man, and give him the last few roles of his career. Lugosi died only managed to film about 15 minutes of footage (or less) before he died leaving Wood to find a replacement for him for the rest of the film. His replacement ended up being a 

dead ringer for Lugosi... from the eyes up that is, Wood forced the replacement to walk around the set covering his face with his cape (like classic Dracula) so only his eyes nose and above were exposed. 2). Vampira, a 1950s horror TV host who would introduce B horror movies late at night, (the original Elvira, also think SvenGhouli) makes her most famous film appearance in this film. In my opinion the best scenes of the movie are when Vampira and Tor Johnson ( a 400 pound Swedish professional wrestler with very limited acting ability) are walking through the graveyard together. Both Johnson and Vampira are unusual characters in personality and lifestyle and they are even more unusual in their appearance, seeming practically otherworldly (Vampira pretty much invented the "vamp" look for women, and she had an unusually small waist). 3). Lastly Ed Wood was a master at collecting and using stock footage. Basically anything you see of unusually high quality compared to the rest of the movie is stock footage, which as I mentioned before could 

stand out like a sore thumb, but in other incidents he was extremely creative with it and you wouldn't necessarily know it was stock footage. The worst part of the film however is the last quarter or third of the movie, when the plot just kind of goes out the window, and the dialogue becomes so verbose and lengthy that it's incredibly hard to understand what is going on, and thus it drags and people (like myself and a friend) can tend to dose off at that point. Obviously I have to give the film a very low rating for quality ( I won't even mention how low) but as for pure enjoyment and campy entertainment value, I give it a 3.75/5. The movie is enormously influential, and if you enjoyed it I recommend The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, it's a 2001 film that spoofs 1950s B movies like Plan 9, and it is available to stream on Netflix. You can view the trailer below: