6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
In New York, a man in a cop's uniform starts killing people for no apparent reason.
Starring: Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith (I)Horror | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
This isn't about romance...it's about murder.
Duh. That quote pretty much sums up Director William Lustig's Maniac Cop, as if a movie with such a title (and reputation) needed that
clarification in the first place. Maniac Cop is just as the title suggests: it's a dark and ultra-violent but not necessarily disturbing or even all
that entertaining little venture into the Slasher movie genre that was so prevalent in both big-studio and small-outfit cinema in the 1980s. Both
the smaller pictures like Maniac Cop and the bigger, more widely popular multi-entry big moneymakers both play out basically the same
way, with a killer lurking in the shadows and offing a handful of victims while some hero character(s) tries to piece together the mystery and stop
the killer before he/she/it can strike again. The formula does differ slightly between the Freddy and Jason sort of supernatural movies and the reality-driven Slashers. Maniac
Cop, The Prowler, and other, similar films prefer to work more in a grimy
and gritty real-world rather than exist in what is clearly more of a fantasy realm. The boogeymen in Maniac Cop and The Prowler
seem more menacing because the movie plays in such a way that it could happen anytime, anywhere, and to anyone, eschewing the fantastical and
unbelievable
escapist sort of Horror entertainment in favor of something that hits far closer to home. It's a different kind of terror to be sure. It should be more
effective, but in the case of Maniac Cop, the experience is lessened by an inescapable sense of repetitiveness; the movie just doesn't do
anything to separate itself from its like-minded peers.
The Maniac Cop: out of the shadows and into your hearts -- his knife, that is!
Maniac Cop's 1080p Blu-ray transfer isn't perfect, but this is nevertheless a sturdy, stable image that should highly satisfy longtime fans. Fine object detail is only fair, but the boost in resolution allows for slightly more revealing textures on complex surfaces such as faces, police uniforms, and odds and ends around the city, inside the police station, and elsewhere. Bright daytime shots fare best in terms of delivering more vibrant and sharply-detailed imagery, whereas dark nighttime scenes feature slightly crushing blacks that see backgrounds and dark foreground objects appear to melt together. The color palette is stable; balance is fine, bleeding is absent, and brighter and duller shades alike appear natural and well-defined. Though the image often looks flat, it's accentuated by a nice-looking grain field that's neither too heavy nor too sharp. A few speckles creep in from time to time, but there's no excessive print damage. Best of all, compression artifacts and other uglies are largely absent. This isn't the prettiest image out there, but it's a quality presentation of an older lower-budget Slasher.
Maniac Cop's DTS-HD MA 6.1 lossless soundtrack mirrors its video counterpart in terms of its high definition presentation. It's solid yet unspectacular but nevertheless quite good given the film's circumstances. It's crisp but not infinitely clear; musical delivery takes advantage of the power and spacing provided to it by the 6.1 offering. The surrounds carry a fair amount of activity, both atmospheric and heavier elements during action scenes. The track truly excels in its ability to create an involved and natural ambience. Music drifting from a closed-door bar, distant honking horns, and blaring background sirens all create a realistic sense of a city winding down after a long, active night. The low end is potent, whether delivering a crack of thunder early in the movie or the heavy thud of an echoing hammer strike in a dreamlike sequence in chapter eleven. Dialogue is clear and crisp, flowing evenly from the middle-front section of the soundstage and never lost under surrounding audible elements. This is an all-around solid track.
Maniac Cop's supplemental section is great in number, but rather small in terms of critical content. Most obviously lacking is an audio
commentary track and an interview piece with Bruce Campbell.
Movies like Maniac Cop exist because the slasher genre is a guaranteed moneymaker. Audiences just seem to eat this kind of stuff up, perhaps as some macabre form of escapist entertainment, or perhaps because everyone's life needs a good scare every now and then. Whatever the reason, Maniac Cop and other, similar films seem to each have lives of their own and live on as cult favorites, even the most modest and measly of them somehow enchanting audiences with abhorrent acts of violence despite repetitive plots, incredibly loose structures, and a broad range of technical filmmaking prowess on display. It seems a phenomena for which there just isn't -- and probably never will be -- a real scientific explanation. Maybe it is as simple as a romance after all, a romance between audience and Slasher film, in a strange sort of way making them indeed one and the same? After all, love is the one thing that defies all reason and logic. Synapse Films's Blu-ray release of Maniac Cop is sure to satisfy fans. The movie looks and sounds quite good all things considered. A long list of extras is slightly negated by the "quantity over quality" factor, but they're all nice to have. Synapse is working hard to move up the cult movie home video food chain currently dominated by Blue Underground; a few more releases like Maniac Cop and they'll be right there with Lustig's own studio. Recommended.
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