HELLHOLE (1985) (Blu-ray Review)

HLLHOLE (1985) 

Label: Scream Factory
Release Date: July 26th 2016
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widesccreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Dyanne Thorne, Edy Williams, Judy Landers, Marjoe Gortner, Mary Woronov, Ray Sharkey, Richard Cox, Robert Z'Dar, Terry Moore
Director: Pierre De Moro

Synopsis: Having witnessed her mother's brutal death, Susan (Judy Landers, Dr. Alien) gets amnesia from a fall while being pursued by the killer, Silk (Ray Sharkey, The Idolmaker). Awakening in Ashland Sanitarium, she is once again terrorized by Silk, disguised as an orderly. To pry an incriminating secret from Susan's brain, Silk forms an uneasy alliance with Dr. Fletcher (Mary Woronov, Rock 'n' Roll High School), a psychotic scientist who has been testing a new lobotomy technique, using helpless inmates as her guinea pigs. These vicious experiments are carried out in the "Hellhole," a torture den awaiting Susan as its next victim.

Hellhole (1985) begins with a leather clad goon named Silk (Ray Sharkey) breaking into a woman's home and shaking her down for some paperwork which might incriminate his nefarious employer. When she refuses to hand over the paperwork the goon strangles her with his red scarf. Her hot blond daughter Susan (Judy Landers) witnesses the murder and the criminal goes after her next, the chase ends with Susan falling from an upper story of the home to the ground below. 

The fall doesn't kill her but she is stricken with memory loss, waking up at the Ashland Sanitarium for Women with no memory of her mother's murder or the criminal who did it. At the sanitarium Susan comes under the care of a nice guy doc named Ron played by Richard Cox (Cruising). Though not everyone at the asylum is so nice as might imagine coming into this slice of exploitation, now the movie kicks into full-on Women In Prison mode as Susan must contend with evil docs and their cronies plus an asylum full of nude inmates who mean her harm. 

The main baddie is Dr. Fletcher played by Mary Woronov (Rock N' Roll High School) who runs a diabolical clinic at the sanitarium that has been dubbed the "hellhole" by the staff and patients, where the more troublesome patients are taken to be experimented on. Apparently Fletcher and her assistant, played by '70s b-movie regular Marjoe Gortner (Food of the Gods) are conducting cruel experiments in hopes of perfecting a chemical lobotomy process, one that is never fully explained or given any proper screen time. The experimentation has not been very successful, those who have undergone the process are either raving lunatics or they're dead, the survivors are kept locked away in the basement, just waiting for someone to release them so they can fuck shit up, which they do. 

That creep Silk from the start of the movie learns that Susan is now at the sanitarium, and he still wants those papers, to which end he disguises himself as an orderly and infiltrates the asylum to hassle her, hoping to jog her memory of where her mom kept the papers through fear and intimidation. In true WIP fashion the movie is crude and sleazy with loads of nude women in showers, crooked docs and menacing orderlies in place of the usual corrupt prison officials and guards, the asylum turns out to be a great setting for a WIP picture. I enjoyed the movie but don't get me wrong, the script is awful even on the typically low WIP scale. A lot of the cast come off as bland, including starlet Judy Landers and Richard Cox, the latter of who is a very capable actor, he just doesn't have much to go with, neither dioes Marjoe Gortner who is criminally underused. Thankfully Ray Sharkey as the creepy goon and Mary Woronov as the evil doc are camping it up to the nth degree, making this cheap exploitation flick a bit more fun than it has any right to be. Sure, we are denied nudity from stars Woronov and Landers, but there are loads of naked women in the shower room, there is plenty of nude cat fighting, and more of the sweet  WIP tropes we have come to expect from the sub genre, it might be dumb movie but it is fun watch. B-movie fans should also keep an eye peeled for an appearance from Rober Z'Dar (Maniac Cop) as one of the sadistic orderlies working for Dr. Fletcher! 

Reading into the movie online I was surprised to find that director Pierre De Moro who directed this also made the kiddie-movie Savannah Smiles (1982) a few years earlier, which is a movie I give credit to as being the first to make me squirt a few tears at when I was young. Not sure that movie would hold up to a watch these days, but I found it interesting that just a few years later De Moro went from kiddie-friendly kidnap movie to making this cheap slice of WIP exploitation, which was his third and final movie. 

Audio/Video: Hellhole arrives in HD from Scream Factory as a release that almost didn't happen. Scream Factory first announced it for release back in 2014 and then promptly scuttled it when suitable film elements could not be found, apparently they had in their possession an interpositive that was a TV cut of the movie minus the scenes of nudity and violence, and did not want to proceed with an incomplete version of the movie, which is understandable, who wants a PG-rated version of a WIP movie? However, they found a theatrical print of the movie with the key missing scenes and were able to marry the two sources to create a complete version of the movie, though from two sources of varying quality. . 

Here's a production note from Scream Factory about the two sources: "As some of you recall, we had to cancel the release in 2014 due to problems we had with the film elements. However, we recently located a decent theatrical print which will now allow us to integrate the sections from the film print into the interpositive we transferred originally. (The IP we had appeared to be a TV cut as all the nudity and violence from the R-rated version was missing.) Please note that since some footage is from a print there will be a minor (but unavoidable) noticeable difference to the eye between the IP and the print."

The results are way better than I would have anticipated, the new widescreen (1.78:1) framed HD transfer looks solid, not rock solid. The marriage of the theatrical print with the interpostive is not seamless by any means but the colors, shadow detail and fine film grain look nice, the spliced scenes of nudity and violence from the theatrical cut while inferior are not ruinous or near as abrupt as I had worried they might be, which is great news. The mono DTS-HD MA audio does the job, nothing too impressive but clean and free of hiss, diologue and the synth score sound just fine, optional English subtitles are included. 

Onto the extras we have a brief trailer for the movie and a new five-minute interview with Mary Woronov who speaks about them crowbarring the lesbian stuff onto her character, and the oddities of the movie which she is surprised anyone even remembers. She recalls working with Ray Sharkie, who she seems to confuse with actor Marjoe Gortner at times, who played her assistant. She comes off as a bit of a fun nut, even speaking about a scene that was deleted, a sand-pool scene which is actually on the Blu-ray version of the movie, something she recalls as "brilliant", which may be a bit too kind, haha. 

Special Features
- NEW Interview With Actress Mary Woronov (5 Mins)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) 

I love it when Scream Factory bring an '80s classic to Blu-ray with new extras and a new HD transfer, but I get even more of a thrill when they rescue one from obscurity that have never had a proper home video release, stuff like Final Warning, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf and You'll Like My Mother, and I love 'em for it. The movie is a cheap slice of WIP trash from the '80s, but Sharkey and Woronov keep it fun. 

Blu-ray Review: MANIAC COP 3: BADGE OF SILENCE (1993)

MANIAC COP 3 - BADGE OF SILENCE  (1993)

Label: Blue Underground

Release Date: November 19th 2013

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 85 Minutes 

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround EX 2.0, Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 with Optional English SDH Subtitles

Video: 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1) 

Director: William Lustig
Cast: Robert Davi, Caitlin Dulany, Gretchen Becker, Paul Gleason, Doug Savant, Robert Z'DAr
Tagline: The Wrong Arm of the Law Is Back!

In the third and final installment of the Maniac Cop series the Maniac Cop Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar, Beastmaster) is resurrected by a voodoo priest named Houngan (Julius Harris, Super Fly) for nefarious reasons. Now, what exactly those reasons were I could not say at this time, even after just having watched the movie, but trust me and just go with it, through whatever contrived means necessary the Maniac Cop is back on the beat with vengeance!

This time out Cordell is preoccupied with NYPD Officer Kate Sullivan (Gretchen Becker) who has earned the nickname "Maniac Kate" from fellow police officers for her brutality against the vermin on the street, one night while responding to a robbery in progress she arrives at a pharmacy where a junkie (a fun Robert Earl Haley, Watchmen) is holding a store clerk hostage, there's a double cross and in the aftermath the store clerk is dead with a bullet to the barin and Kate lays brain-dead in the hospital.

Two unscrupulous tabloid video journalist capture the entire incident on film but edit in a way to make it appear the Officer Sullivan murdered the clerk in cold-blood, the junkie survives and threatens legal action against the city. Crooked politicians fearing legal action conspire with the attending physicians at the hospital to take Kate off life support, but the Maniac Cop has other plans for Maniac Kate. 

This strange third entry in the Maniac Cop series  brings back Robert Davi (Goonies) as the hard-nosed Det. McKinney who teams-up with an attractive physician Dr. Susan Fowler (Caitlin Dulany, Project X) to probe the accusations against Officer Sullivan, it's a pretty forced romantic angle, ugh. The journalist characters are pretty annoying and when the Maniac Cop catches up to them, in one of the most contrived sequences of the film, their deaths are pretty lame, but we do get some fun kills with Maniac Cop 3, at one point the movie detours into a hospital horror entry along the lines of X-Ray (1983) which is quite a bit of fun. At the hospital Maniac Cop turns one doc's brains to jelly with a pair of defibrillator paddles and another is strapped to a gurney and x-rayed to death It's pretty awesome but the strange thing is that these two docs are played by Paul Gleason (Breakfast Club) and Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), they just show up outta nowhere and are gone just as quickly, strange cameos but pretty awesome. 

Maniac Cop 2 was a pretty fantastic action-horror hybrid and some of what we get here is outstanding but you can definitely tell which sequences were directed by William Lustig and which were directed by producer Joel Soisson, he just doesn't have the action-chops of Lustig but he gives it quite a shot with the crazy police cruiser vs. ambulance car chase at the end of the movie, it's completely fucking nuts and the man-on-fire stunt-work rivals what we saw with Maniac Cop 2. 

Blu-ray: Blue Underground bring Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence comes to 1080p Blu-ray with an AVC encode in it's original widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio with a brand-new 4K High Definition transfer from the original uncensored negative. The hi-def image looks excellent with strong saturated colors, deep blacks and some decent depth and fine detail, a very strong presentation all around. 

The 2-disc edition come with choice of English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound EX and Dolby Surround 2.0. with optional subtitles. The DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 does a great job with the Joel Goldsmith score and effects making effective use of the surrounds, the action sequences particularly benefit from the surround mix, very nice. 

Extras on the set include the excellent Wrong Arm Of The Law - The Making Of MANIAC COP 3 (25:05) featurette featuring director William Lustig, writer Larry Cohen and producer turned director Joel Soisson speaking about the movies troubled production which resulted in Lustig walking off set. It's very candid as the two sides speak about the problematic shoot. Actors Robert Davi, Robert Z’dar, Gretchen Becker, Caitlyn Delany and stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos also chime in throughout the doc, it's a great extra and gives you some interesting insight into just what can go wrong with a small budget production. 

We also get a selection of deleted and extended scenes, a theatrical trailer, a poster and still gallery and the original synopsis for the film from writer Larry Cohen which is quite different than what ended up onscreen. This 2-disc set also comes with a standard-def DVD mirroring the same  extras and with a cool embossed slipcover, it should also be noted that his is the Unrated Version, not he R-rated cut of the film. 


Special Features:
- Wrong Arm Of The Law - The Making Of MANIAC COP 3 (25:05)
- Deleted and Extended Scenes (10:20)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:48)
- Poster and Still Gallery
- Original Synopsis
- Enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems

Verdict: Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993) is a pretty ridiculous action-horror hybrid with a weird Bride of Frankenstein subplot, while it's definitely the weakest of the series it's still quite a bit of fun and Blue Underground have done a fantastic job bringing it to Blu-ray. If you can shut your brain off and just enjoy it for the b-movie mess that it is there's some fun to be had. With that said, not a recommend unless you're a huge fan of the series or completest, but this would be a fun Friday night rental with a few brews. Cannot say I would look forward to a continuation of the series but I wouldn't mind if a young, hungry director with vision resurrected Maniac Cop for a new generation of horror fans. 2.5 Outta 5 

Blu-ray Review: MANIAC COP 2 (1990)

MANIAC COP 2 (1990)

Collector's Edition Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack

Label: Blue Underground

Release Date: November 19th 2013

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: R

Duration: 87 Minutes 

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 with Optional English SDH Subtitles

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: William Lustig
Cast: Robert Davi, Claudia Christian, Michael Lerner, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Robert Z'Dar, Leo Rossi
Tagline: You Have The Right To Remain Silent... FOREVER!

Matt Cordell the Maniac Cop returns from his watery grave yet again in this action-packed sequel from director William Lustig (Maniac) and writer Larry Cohen (The Stuff, Q the Winged Serpent). Having somehow survived being impaled through the chest at the end of Maniac Cop (1989) he back on the beat and patrolling the streets of NYC with a vengeance. His first order of business is to interrupt a robbery in progress at a bodega where a junkie with the gnarliest teeth you've ever seen is holding a shotgun to the face of the cashier, when he finds that the cash drawer is empty the junkie directs the cashier to start scratching off lottery tickets looking for an instant winner, the cashier is surprised when one turns out to be a 5K winner, and that's when Cordell arrives on scene. The shopkeeper cannot believe this fortune turns of events, he plans to pocket that winning ticket for himself but then the Maniac Cop blows im away to the surprise of the disbelieving junkie. As cop cars arrive the undead cop disappears leaving the armed junkie trying to explain that one of their own perpetrated the murder, but the NYC cops blast him to pieces. It's a great opener and the film rarely let's up from there, this is quite the sweet slice of brutality.

Also returning from the last film are officers Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell, Mindwarp) and Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon, The Stuff), whom after passing a psych evaluation are placed back on active duty by Commissioner Doyle (Michael Lerner, Barton Fink). Forrest is happy just to be back on the force but Mallory is convinced that Cordell will return again and causes quite a fuss about it, and she's right. For my tastes Campbell and Landon exit the film a bit prematurely, the Maniac Cop definitely holds a grudge, but in their place are cop psychologist Susan Riley (Claudia Christian, The Hidden) and hard-boiled Detective McKinney (Robert Davi, The Goonies). 

Minor spoiler alert, Forrest is taken out by Cordell when the Maniac Cop takes his patented knife-baton and stabs him through the neck, it's pretty brutal but the character deserved better, I wanted more Campbell! Afterward Cordell steals a vintage police cruiser and chases after Mallory and Riley, there's a great chase sequence with bare tire rims sending sparks flying. In the aftermath Maniac Cop snaps Mallory's neck but only after she attacks Cordell with chainsaw! With Mallory out of the way Cordell handcuffs the psychiatrist to the steering wheel of the car before sending her careening out of control down a busy street, the action sequences here are fantastic, with a bit of a larger budget it's great fun to see what Lustig throws up onscreen! 

There's an weird subplot with a serial killer named Turkell (Leo Rossi, Halloween II) who's killing strippers around NYC, Maniac Cop shows up during one of his attacks and the two become fast friends, with the serial killer leading Cordell back to his pad for some bonding between killers, it's the weirdest onscreen team-up ever, but somehow it works, gotta hand it to Larry Cohen for a wacky but awesome script on this one. When Turkell lands in a jail cell soon after he tells the cops that his buddy Cordell is coming to bust him out and he ain't just blowing smoke, Maniac Cop arrives and completely destroys the police station, it's a bloody massacre. Oodles of bloodshed and broken glass, Lustig seemed to really enjoy breaking glass in this film, and setting people on fire, but more on that in a minute.

Somehow all the major players end up back at Sing Sing Prison so that Cordell can have his revenge on the death row inmates who fucked-up his face and killed him in prison years earlier. It's during this killing spree that Maniac Cop is bombarded with Molotov cocktails and engulfed in flames, but that does not deter him in the slightest - he just keeps killing the three inmates who mutilated him! The man-on-fire stunt work during the last 10 minutes of this film are so worth the price of admission on their own, it's awesome! Manic Cop 2 is a bad-ass revenger, and even when it gets a bit silly it never get's too silly for it's own good, I loved it. 

Blu-ray: Blue Underground have gone all out for Maniac Cop 2 (1990) on Blu-ray with a brand-new 4K hi-def transfer from the original camera negative, it's fantastic. Color reproduction is excellent, the darker scenes look pretty crisp and there's some nice depth, clarity and fine detail is strong, no complaints with the video in any way whatsoever, there's even a nice layer of natural film grain with no harmful noise reduction, this is outstanding.

The English language DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 is pretty active, nice use of the surrounds to create an immersive experience, Jay Chattaways creepy and atmospheric score sounds great, fans of the score will enjoy the isolated music track on the disc. 

We get some great extras beginning with an Audio Commentary with Director William Lustig and Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, plus a making-of documentary featuring director William Lustig, writer Larry Cohen, actors Robert Davi, Leo Rossi, Robert Z'Dar, Michael Lerner, Claudia Christian and composer Jay Chattaway. Davi is great fun as he talks about being hoodwinked into taking on the role by Lustig, while Lerner laughs about playing an Irishman. Director Lustig and actress Claudia Christian sorta take a few jabs at each other during their interviews, neither seem enamored with the other. During the Cinefamily Q+A from back in 2012 Lustig let's loose a ton of great anecdotes about Larry Cohen, Joe Spinell, Leo Rossi and Robert Z'Dar plus the great crew who worked on the film and the possibility of a sequel/reboot. 

Finishing-up the special features we have trailers, a deleted scene featuring Sam Raimi (Evil Dead), a gallery of posters and pics plus the aforementioned isolated music track and it's D-Box Motion Code enabled, it's a great set of extras. There's the added bonus of a standard-def DVD disc mirroring the features and supplemental materials of the Blu-ray, and an embossed slipcover, this is a very nice edition from Blue Underground. 

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director William Lustig and Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn

- Back On The Beat - The Making Of MANIAC COP 2 (46:42)
- Cinefamily Q+A with Director William Lustig (28:36)
- Deleted Scene (1:31)
- Theatrical Trailers
- Poster and Still Gallery
- Isolated Music Track (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
- Enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems

Verdict: Maniac Cop 2 (1990) is a pretty kick-ass revenger with supernatural elements, we get some fantastic action set-pieces, brutal deaths and a fantastic finale that's engulfed in flames. it's action-packed from start to finish and a shit-ton of fun, a very worthy sequel to Maniac Cop (1989), this is recommended with extreme prejudice. When the topic of 90's horror comes around I don't think Maniac Cop 2 gets it's due, this was a blast. 3 Outta 5 

BLU-RAY BATTLE! Maniac Cop vs. Maniac Cop

BLU-RAY BATTLE is my attempt to guide genre film fans towards the most complete and proper presentations of our favorite films through comparison of special features and specs. I'll make my decision known and why but take a look at what each release offers and make your own decision based on what's important to you as a buyer. Some go for the commentaries and 5.1, others may take a shine to interviews and artwork. I'm just thankful for region-FREE Blu-rays and the fact that there are niche labels the world around competing for our hard earned dollars because choice is a very good thing.

The third installment of the BLU-RAY BATTLE series once again pits US genre film distributor SYNAPSE FILMS against their venerable UK counterpart ARROW VIDEO. In question are their region FREE Blu-ray editions of William Lustig's MANIAC COP starring Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Robert Z'Dar and Lauren Landon. Let's break 'em down...

VS.

MANIAC COP (1989)

DIRECTOR: William Lustig

CAST: Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Robert Z'Dar, Lauren Landon, Richard Roundtree, Wiliam Smith

TAGLINE: You Have The Right To Remain Silent... Forever.

SYNOPSIS: In William Lustig's MANIAC COP a seven-foot tall disgraced cop named Cordell (Robert Z-Dar, TANGO AND CASH) has seemingly returned from the grave and is stalking the streets of New York City slaying not criminals but innocent folks which sets off a wave of panic and paranoia as everyday citizen's grow to fear the very men sworn to protect them.

 

IN THIS CORNER....

MANIAC COP [Synapse Films]

REGION: Region FREE
RATING: R
DURATION: 85 mins
VIDEO: MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 16x9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
AUDIO: English: 6.1 DTS-HD MA, 4.0 DTS-HD MA, 2.0 DTS-HD MA

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Maniac Cop Memories - Interview with Robert Z'Dar (12:12) 16x9 HD
- Out the Window - Interview with Tom Atkins (10:56) 16x9 HD
- Three Minutes with Danny Hicks Featurette (3:32) 16x9 HD
- Motion Still Gallery (3:07) HD
- French Theatrical Trailer (1:23) 16x9
- TV Spots (3:55) 4x3
- Additional Scenes Filmed for Japanese Television (5:43) 4x3
- Spanish Radio Spot (:31)
 

AND IN THIS CORNER....

MANIAC COP [Arrow Video]

RELEASE DATE: October 31st 2011

REGION CODE: Region FREE

RATING: 18 Certificate
DURATION: 85 mins
VIDEO: MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 16x9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
AUDIO: English DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo

SPECIAL FEATURES

- Exclusive UK introduction to the film from star Tom Atkins

- Doomed Detective: Tom Atkins on Maniac Cop

- Lady of the Night: Laurene Landon remembers Maniac Cop

- Scripting a new Slasher Super-Villain: Larry Cohen on Matt Cordell

- Trailer

- Reversible sleeve with original and new artwork by Rick Melton

- Double-sided fold-out artwork poster

- Collector’s booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by author Troy Howarth and The Original Maniac: An interview with William Lustig, adapted from Calum Waddell's book Taboo Breakers

SYNAPSE FILMS: Synapse's disc offers the film in 16:9 widescreen 1080p with DTS-HD MA 2.0, 4.0 and 5.1. Interviews with actor Robert Z'Dar, Tom Atkins and Danny Hicks, plus trailers, TV spots and additional scenes filmed for Japanese TV.

ARROW VIDEO: Arrow's presentation likewise is 16:9 widescreen 1080p and a DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo mix without the benefit of a surround sound option. The disc also features and introduction and interview with Tom Atkins, Lauren Landon and Larry Cohen, a trailer, collector's booklet, poster and reversible artwork.

VERDICT: With Synapse's BD lacking the group commentary from their DVD release I have to say this is a pretty even match, both featuring interviews with actor Tom Atkins (NIGHT OF THE CREEPS). Arrow's has no Robert Z'Dar interview but does get writer Larry Cohen to comment on the film. So who's the winner here? Well you are, two competing high definition, region-free BD's of MANIAC COP is a win-win in my opinion, but the decision goes to Arrow Video who while lacking a 5.1 surround option come through with collectible packaging with reversible artwork plus a booklet featuring a William Lustig interview. If the Synapse commentary had been included I think I would have leaned the other way but as it is I'm swinging once again toward the UK title, largely because I'm a sucker for packaging and reversible artwork and Arrow are masters of ephemeral. The 5.1 surround really makes a strong argument for the Synapse disc and if they'd been able to port over the commentary I surely would have swung the other way but as it is they're so evenly matched in regard to features Arrow won me over with the packaging. Keep in mind I have not seen the Arrow transfer of the film and my decision is based on specs and special features and not picture qaulity. I received a screener of the Synapse Blu-ray of MANIAC COP and reviewed it HERE and the transfer is pretty spectacular.

Blu-ray Review: MANIAC COP (1988)

MANIAC COP (1988) Blu-ray

LABEL: Synapse Films
STREET DATE: October 11th 2011
REGION: Region FREE
RATING: R
DURATION: 85 mins
VIDEO: MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 16x9 Widescreen 1.85:1
AUDIO: English: 6.1 DTS-HD MA, 4.0 DTS-HD MA, 2.0 DTS-HD MA
DIRECTOR: William Lustig
CAST: Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Robert Z'Dar, Lauren Landon, Richard Roundtree, Wiliam Smith
TAGLINE: You Have The Right To Remain Silent... Forever.

SYNOPSIS: In William Lustig's MANIAC COP a seven-foot tall disgraced cop named Cordell (Robert Z-Dar, TANGO AND CASH) has seemingly returned from the grave and is stalking the streets of New York City slaying not criminals but innocent folks which sets off a wave of panic and paranoia as everyday citizen's grow to fear the very men sworn to protect them.

FILM: Set to some chilling score from composer Jay Chattaway (MANIAC) a waitress walks home from work on a desolate NYC street. Two punks attack her but she's feisty and gets away but the punks give chase leading to a city park. At the far end of the park she spots the figure of a policeman, she calls for help and runs in his direction, it seems safety is within her grasp... nope. The cop grips her neck with over-sized hands lifting her off the ground, snapping her neck with ease and tossing her limp body aside like a child's toy as the punks stare on in disbelief. The punks are nabbed for the murder after being fingered by a witness who saw them hassle the young woman on the street but did little to prevent the attack, they're protests of a maniac cop on the loose fall on deaf ears.

Detective Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins, HALLOWEEN III, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS) is assigned the case and makes a great noir-ish entrance walking down the shadowy corridor of the coroner's office wrapped in a trench coat. McCrae is alone in thinking that the crimes are in fact being perpetrated by one of the NYPD's own, that the young punks just didn't possess the strength to inflict the severe injuries upon the woman. His instincts don't sit well with NYPD's Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree, SHAFT) or Captain Ripley (William Smith, CONAN THE BARBARIAN), the former insinuating that McCrae is unstable, suicidal and that he may be the killer himself. He also notes that he doesn't smile very often to which the veteran detective responds by cracking a bizarre awkward sliver of a grin, funny stuff. If you're a genre film fan I need only tell you once that Tom Atkins is THE fuckin' man with a list of genre film credits that include John Carpenter's THE FOG, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, CREEPSHOW, LETHAL WEAPON and NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. Does it get any more awesome than that? Nope.

It's not long before more citizen's fall prey to the maniac cop. Next up is a young couple making out in a parked car when they are interrupted by a strangely silent officer who puts the young man through a sobriety walk only to unsheathe a blade hidden within the hilt of his billy club then double-slashing the man's throat and tossing his body onto the windshield of the car. To me this had shades of the Son of Sam or Zodiac murders, great stuff. The killing spree grips the city with paranoia which escalates even further when the next victim, a musician, falls prey to the uniformed psycho killer. Handcuffed he escapes only to falls face first into a slab of freshly poured cement as the maniac cop presses his foot into the back of his skull pushing the man's face into the concrete suffocating him, the next scene is a forensics team excavating his corpse. 

When a little old lady blows away a well-meaning officer after she mistakes for the maniac cop the mayor lays the heat on the NYPD commissioner who presses Capt. Ridley to find the culprit. It's then that a philandering young beat cop named Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell, BUBBA HO-TEP) finds himself the main suspect when his unhinged wife Ellen (Victoria Catlin, GHOULIES) turns up dead with her throat in the very same hotel room she confronted him and his new lover Theresa Mallory (Lauren Landon, THE STUFF), a fellow officer, at the very night before. Pike and Ripley feel that he's definitely the guy, particularly when the wife's diary reveals clippings of the maniac cop killings and a journal entry indicating that she figured him for the killer. Campbell's mighty decent here and this is probably an overlooked performance coming just after what I think should have been a star-making turn in Sam Raimi's splatter classic EVIL DEAD II. Speaking of chins, actor Robert Z'Dar's chinly protuberance puts Campbell to shame by comparison, check out the mug on that man - that ain't no prosthetic.

McCrae dismisses Forrest as a suspect right away, perhaps a bit too quickly in my opinion, he figures it's a set-up to distract the authorities from the real killer. McCrae ends up working along side Forrest and Mallory and the trio come to realize the killings seem to be the work of a disgraced former police officer sent to prison for brutal acts of vigilante-style justice. The mystery thickens when it's revealed that Cordel apparently died in a shower room assault at the hands of the very criminals he sent to prison over the years. There's a great flashback to prison murder of Cordell in a steamy homo-erotic shower brawl that's right up there with Cronenberg's EASTERN PROMISES bathhouse brawl, it's well shot and thick with ropey tendrils of blood spewing from painfully broken mouths.

The films comes to a thrilling climax with a fantastic car chase with vehicles spinning wildly outta control, screeching sharp turns, a final showdown between Forest ad Cordel and a paddy wagon tearing up the warehouse district before taking a final plunge into the dirty waters of the Husdon River.

Of the film's I've seen from director William Lustig (MANIAC) this may well be my favorite, possibly inching out MANIAC. It's gritty, violent, stylish and co-written by a man who's a great director his own damn self, Larry Cohen (IT'S ALIVE, GOD TOLD ME TOO), and produced by James Glickenhaus who directed the 'Nam vet vigilante classic THE EXTERMINATOR which I would be remiss not to mention has just this week been released through Synapse Films. It has definite slasher vibe mixed-in with a rogue-cop grittiness and a unique anti-vigilante element, it's well paced and impressively action-packed. While the kills are most certainly  violent, brutal and bloody they do lack the visceral punch of Tom Savini's brilliant work in Lustig's MANIAC.

Not sure what the budget was on this production would be but I don't assume Lustig was working with a Spielberg-ian sum but the film looks fantastic with some great cinematography by James Lemmo (MS. 45, MADMAN) and the previously mentioned atmospheric and eerie score from Jay Chattaway (VIGILANTE).

BLU-RAY: Synapse follow up their meaty BD of James Glickenhaus's THE EXTERMINATOR with a single disc 50GB Blu-ray of William Lustig's MANIAC COP presented in it's original 16x9 enhanced 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a brand new 2K HD restoration of the film remastered from original vault elements. Having just watched Synapse's MANIAC COP DVD I can say it's a pretty definitive upgrade in image quality with finer detail, clearity and deeper blacklevels than I've previously seen. Quite pleased to see that the film's grain structure is wholly intact and free of any unwanted DNR scrubbing. Synapse's HD transfers are some of the best I've seen, right up there with Blue Underground and this is no exception, fantastic stuff. The print used is not pristine but nearly so with precious few instances of print damage. 

Not only a superior video upgraded but the audio gets a fidelity boost as well with a dynamic, newly created 6.1 DTS-HD MA surround sound track plus the 2.0 and 4.0 DTS-HS MA tracks. The 6.1 sounds mighty fine with great use of the directionals and atmospheric surrounds, it's an immersive track with some real depth to it plus Jay Chattaway's score sounds creepier than ever. Dialogue, score and effects are well balanced, crisp, clear and free of distortion. Overall a pretty fantastic presentation well worth the upgrade - but don't trade-in your Synapse DVD edition just yet.

Special features begins with Maniac Cop Memories a interview with Robert Z'Dar ported over from the previous DVD edition. Z'Dar reflects upon his early acting career in film and TV, Lustig bringing him onto the project, his fandom among NYPD police force (which is sorta scary) and working alongside Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbel and Laura Landon whom he hints he may have had a romantic relationship with. New bonus content created this release are the Out the Window featurette with Tom Atkins whom recalls working with Campbell and Sharee North, feeling that his character died too quickly, which I agree with, I definitely could have gone for some more Atkins here and in any film for that matter. Something else I could relate to is his recollection of watching the film for the first time on VHS with a huge "NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION" watermark imposed on the screen. I get a lot of DVD screeners with watermarks that are quite distracting, film is a visual medium so stop obscuring your films. The second new feature is Three Minutes with Danny Hicks which is exactly that, Hick's mostly recalling the joys of throwing pretty boy Bruce Campbell up against the paddy wagon during a scene in the film.

Other features carried over from the DVD are the French theatrical trailer, TV Spots, a Spanish radio spot and six scenes from the Japanese TV version of the film involving a subplot with Mayor Killium (Ken Lerner) that really aren't that interesting but are here for completest just the same.There's also an animated promotional art gallery of various posters, DVD, VHS and soundtrack artwork set to the main title. Earlier I mentioned not tossing the previous Synapse DVD to the wolves quite yet and here's why, that's because the one feature not ported over is the group commentary with director William Lustig, writer Larry Cohen, actor Bruce Campbell and composer Jay Chattaway. Not sure what the reasoning may be for this but I would speculate so as not to invalidate the DVD edition. A few of the Synapse Blu-ray editions have been Blu-ray/DVD combos, the exception seems to be titles that Synapse have released recently on DVD previously so it makes sense from a business perspective though I wish it were included just the same. What else could we want? Perhaps a Bruce Campbell interview but honestly is it worth hearing him promote BURN NOTICE every five minutes? Nah.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- MANIAC COP MEMORIES - Interview with Robert Z'Dar (12:12) 16x9 HD
- OUT THE WINDOW - Interview with Tom Atkins (10:56) 16x9 HD
- THREE MINUTES WITH DANNY HICKS Featurette (3:32) 16x9 HD
- Motion Still Gallery (3:07) HD
- French Theatrical Trailer (1:23) 16x9
- TV Spots (3:55) 4x3
- Additional Scenes Filmed for Japanese Television (5:43) 4x3
- Spanish Radio Spot (:31)

VERDICT: Definitely a film that gets a check mark in the must-own box. Is it worth the upgrade if you own the DVD? I say yes though it's unfortunate that the commentary is absent, so don't post it on SwapaDVD just yet. That said, Synapse continue to release top of the line genre-cinema Blu-rays well-worth your hard earned bucks. OWN IT!