Film Review: MANIAC COP 2 (1990, William Lustig)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 90 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Written by Larry Cohen. Music by Jay Chattaway. Starring Robert Z'Dar (Face in TANGO & CASH), Robert Davi (THE GOONIES), Clarence Williams III (52 PICK-UP, TWIN PEAKS), Charles Napier (SOMETHING WILD, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), Bruce Campbell, Danny Trejo, Michael Lerner (BARTON FINK, THE CANDIDATE), Claudia Christian (A GNOME NAMED GNORM), and Leo Rossi (RIVER'S EDGE, LEONARD PT. 6).

Tag-line: "You Have The Right To Remain Silent...Forever!"
Best one-liner: "There's a piece of Cordell in every cop. Every time arresting some mutt isn't enough, because we know they'll be back on the streets before we even do the paperwork. Every time we pull a trigger and it feels good, because no lawyers can reverse that. It all comes down to justice and pressure. There's only that much difference between a cop and a maniac cop."

I had fairly low expectations for MANIAC COP 2, but somehow ended up liking it better than the first. Though parts of it lag, writer Larry Cohen (ITS ALIVE, Q) and director Bill Lustig (VIGILANTE, MANIAC) punctuate the film with visually inventive and darkly humorous setpieces. The main title is accompanied by a cacophony of slice n' dice sound effects, and the opening involves a bodega robbery where a psycho, upon learning there's no cash, forces the clerk to start scratching off instant lotto tickets. The sequence is played for frenetic laughs, but the genuine deranged quality of the robber and some effective mood lighting make the scene quite eerie and artistic, and far better than it ought to be- a sentiment that could be applied to the film as a whole.

The Maniac Cop teams up with a Times Square slasher (who was meant to be played by Joe Spinell, R.I.P., the original MANIAC) and protagonist duties fall upon the bland but serviceable Claudia Christian (THE HIDDEN) and Robert Davi (THE GOONIES, DIE HARD), who delivers another excellent method performance as Robert Davi.


Jaw-dropping highlights include the Maniac Cop's TERMINATOR-style assault on a police station, which begins with a shooting range (that shoots back!) and ends with the truly macabre imagery of the Cop casually walking through layers of plate glass as if they were cobwebs.

There're amusing bit parts by Danny Trejo and Clarence Williams III as incredulous prisoners, and it leads to a ludicrous asbestos suit finale at the Maniac Cop's former penitentiary.

Now, Lustig is a true aficionado of bodies flung from buildings (he included THE STONE KILLER in one of his annual 'Bill Lustig presents' NYC screening series!), and the mind-blowing sight he posits here (two flaming bodies spiraling downward in slow mo) may just take the cake!


It all ends with a rap that's somehow a cross between the verse of 'Rico Suave' and the whistling melodies of Ennio Morricone. "Set 'im on fire, or shoot 'im with an Uzi/ But he'll still show up in your Jacuzzi. They killed him once/ but he came back/ he's the m-m-m-m-m-m-maniac! I know it sounds like jive/ we're not sure if he's dead or alive." Bravo.

-Sean Gill

Film Review: VIGILANTE (1983, William Lustig)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 90 minutes.
Tag-line: "You're not safe anymore..."
Notable Cast or Crew: Robert Forster (ALLIGATOR, JACKIE BROWN, MEDIUM COOL), Fred Williamson (1990: BRONX WARRIORS, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS), Richard Bright (MARATHON MAN, THE GODFATHER), Joe Spinell (MANIAC!, BIG WEDNESDAY), Steve James (THE DELTA FORCE, AMERICAN NINJA), Woody Strode (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, KEOMA).

The instant VIGILANTE begins, you know you're in for something special. Right off the bat: "Magnum Motion Pictures, Inc. presents..." Gets you thinkin' about malt liquor, condoms, handguns. Hold that thought. Then, we got a group of people in a dimly lit, grimy classroom. Fred "the Hammer" Williamson is doin' his thing, giving an inspiration speech. We see them prepping for target practice.

The Hammer works the crowd- we're not gonna be victims anymore, it's time to take back the city- "THIS IS OUR WATERLOO, BABY!"

BLAM!! All the vigilantes shoot in unison. Blackout. The movie could end right here and still get five stars, and we're only 2 minutes in. And there's so much more great shit to come.

Watching this movie is akin to running a medieval gauntlet: basically, it's a nonstop assault of hoods abusing good citizens, and then vigilantes puttin' the hurt on the hoods. And it's extraordinarily artistic. Lustig is a scholar of Italian film, and he's been taking notes.


Argento, Castellari, Fulci, Leone- you can see them all, but VIGILANTE's strong enough to stand on its own. There is a LOT going on here: Kickass creepy syths and powerful electric Spanish guitar courtesy of Jay Chattaway and Willie Colon. Asscracks bathed in moody blue lighting. A crisp, tangible "New York in Autumn" atmosphere that conjures the twilight of society. Joe Spinell as perhaps the sleaziest lawyer in all of cinema:

Woody Strode as an elderly prison inmate with fists of steel and a heart of gold.

Robert Forster as a regular Joe whose life's been transformed into a waking nightmare:

Legendary hardass and provocateur Richard Bright with a ball bat. A pimp complains about the recession. A corrupt prison guard tells rapists in the shower to go ahead and "have a party." I really don't see how this could be any better.

A bunch of it was filmed in Greenpoint (in Brooklyn) too, which makes it extra special for me, because I used to live there.

I used to do my shopping at that Key Foods!

But back to The Hammer: beard neatly trimmed and eyes ablaze, he leaps off of buildings, does karate, and practically reaches through the screen to throttle you.

And I highly recommend the experience.

-Sean Gill

Film Review: MANIAC! (1980, William Lustig)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 87 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Joe Spinell (everything from STARCRASH to CRUISING to ROCKY to TAXI DRIVER to THE GODFATHER to THE SEVEN-UPS– damn!), Caroline Munro (everything from DR. PHIBES to CAPTAIN KRONOS to SINBAD to THE SPY WHO LOVED ME to TO DIE FOR to STARCRASH), Abigail Clayton (HOT COOKIES, SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SEX), makeup and acting by Tom Savini, and was supposed to star Argento's then-squeeze Daria Nicolodi, but there were scheduling complications of some kind- stock footage from Argento's INFERNO was used, however.
Tag-lines: "I warned you not to go out tonight."
Best multi-liner: "Now you tell me what I should do. I heard about it, I always do. I can't go out for a minute. It's impossible. Fancy girls, in their fancy dresses and lipstick, laughing and dancing. Should you stop them? I can't stop them. But you do, don't you? And they can't laugh and they can't dance anymore. You've got to stop, or they'll take you away from me. I will never, ever, let them take you away from me. You're mine now forever. And, I'm so happy."
Fun fact: Michael Sembello's "Maniac," later toned down and used in FLASHDANCE, was originally composed for this film!

MANIAC. Before I begin- let's talk about the director. Bill Lustig, is a pretty damned interesting guy. Like another underground NYC auteur, Abel Ferrara, he started off directing blue pictures, and his first 'mainstream' feature was a Manhattan slasher with the killer as the protagonist (like Ferrara’s DRILLER KILLER). Lustig’s also Jake LaMotta's nephew, a friend and collaborator of Larry Cohen, and currently runs Blue Underground, a grand purveyor of paracinema and ridiculous Italian gems.

Also, I’ve really gotta hand it to him for having the word "Maniac" in the title of about half of his directorial output. Anyway, on to the MANIAC at hand: it's good.

It's got that classic 70's NYC gritty realism, Tom Savini gore (and a cameo as "Disco Boy"),


lots o' hookers, the legendary Caroline Munro,

and an amazing fashion montage set to some rockin' 80's tunes. Joe Spinell (he’s kind of like Ron Jeremy meets Vincent Price)

is damned scary, and there’s something about his delivery that is consistently, terrifyingly believable. The film is a love letter to the Italian slashers that Lustig adored (black-gloved killer, female victims, over-the-top kills, visuals that pop, and childhood traumas like Bava and Argento, mannequin madness like Lenzi's SPASMO) and as that, it succeeds. (I'd also say that it was probably the direct precursor to HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER.) Overall, a very solid underground slasher, and, in my opinion, it’s far better and more personal than the other Savini effort of 1980, the original FRIDAY THE 13TH. Four stars.

-Sean Gill