“Maniac Cop” is a 1988 movie directed by William Lustig. Bruce Campbell headlines the movie as Jack Forrest, Tom Atkins as McCrae, Laurene Landon as Mallory, Richard Roundtree as Pike, Robert Z’Dar as Mathew Cordell, Sheree North as Sally, and more. “Maniac Cop” tells the story of Mathew Cordell, who goes on a killing spree to exact vengeance for what happened to him many years ago.
Maniac Cop (1988) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Who is Maniac Cop?
The episode opens on a dark night. A girl named Casey walks alone when two men start harassing her. She manages to break free and runs into a park, calling for help. Spotting a police officer, she thinks she’d be safe, but the moment she reaches him, the cop lifts her up and snaps her neck like it’s nothing. The two harassers witness the whole thing, terrified, and flee in fear they’ll be next.
By morning, they’re arrested under suspicion of her murder. The coroner later reveals that Casey died from a crushed larynx. Meanwhile, the same cop is back on patrol. He kills a man who had stopped at a red light, while the victim’s girlfriend barely escapes. The killing spree doesn’t stop there, and the “maniac cop” keeps claiming innocent lives one after another over the course of two days.
The police quickly figure out that the “maniac cop” isn’t done and he’s going to kill again. They believe the killer is either a cop himself or someone with a deep grudge against the force, trying to ruin their reputation. To avoid panic, the higher-ups order Detective McCrae to keep quiet about the killer wearing a police uniform.
They don’t want the public to lose trust in the police, but McCrae doesn’t agree. Wanting to protect the people of New York, he secretly tips off his journalist friend to publish a warning. This infuriates the commissioner and the mayor, but they can’t really punish McCrae without making themselves look worse in the media. Things spiral out of control when one terrified woman even shoots an innocent cop in the head, thinking he was the “maniac cop” coming to kill her.
Why is Jack Forrest arrested?
The pressure on the police force keeps growing, not just to protect civilians, but also to keep their own officers safe. For leads, they ask the public to come forward with any information about the “maniac cop. Ellen Forrest, trapped in a failing marriage, begins to suspect her husband, Officer Jack Forrest, might be the killer everyone is talking about. One night, she secretly follows him to a motel. Instead of catching him killing someone, she discovers him with another cop in bed. She runs out, but before she can escape, the real maniac cop ambushes her. To make things worse, he plants her body back in the motel room.
By morning, Jack is arrested for Ellen’s murder. The mayor wastes no time declaring him the “maniac killer” in front of the press. Ellen’s diary, where she wrote about her growing suspicions of Jack, only makes his case look worse. With the news spreading, the public turns against the police, accusing them of thinking they’re above the law and enjoying the fear they spread among ordinary people.
However, McCrae doesn’t believe Jack is the maniac killer. Moreover, the real killer might have a source in the New York City police department. Jack also tells McCrae about Mallory, the woman he was in a motel with. The maniac cop tries to kill her, but thanks to McCrae, she is saved. This proves McCrae’s suspicion that the “maniac cop” indeed has a friend in the police department, because how else would he have known about Mallory, and where she is working undercover?
Who is Mathew Cordell? What happened to him?
Detective McCrae pays a visit to Sally Noland, who already knows about Jack’s affair with Mallory. He quickly senses she’s hiding something and decides to follow her. His suspicions are confirmed when she sneaks off to an abandoned park to meet the real “maniac cop” named Matthew Cordell. From their brief exchange, McCrae realizes Matthew was betrayed by the city and is now out for revenge.
Cordell wasn’t always a monster. He used to be a legendary “super cop,” famous for locking up criminals but also notorious for his brutal methods, shooting first and asking questions later. Eventually, his violent approach got him arrested, thrown into the same prison with the criminals he’d put away. But in reality, Cordell had been going after a powerful mafia boss, so the mayor framed him with bogus charges to shut him down.
Inside prison, Cordell was brutally attacked and presumed dead. The news devastated Sally, his girlfriend at the time, who jumped out of a window in despair. She survived, but was left disabled. Later, as McCrae visits Jack in prison along with Mallory, Cordell storms the place, slaughtering dozens of police officers, including McCrae himself and Sally. As for Jack and Mallory, they manage to escape. When word of the killings reaches the mayor, he starts to panic. He knows it’s only a matter of time before Matthew Cordell comes for him.
Even after all these years, the mayor can’t shake the memory of the vengeful stare Cordell gave him the day he was sentenced. Meanwhile, Jack and Mallory track down the coroner who once performed Cordell’s autopsy. At first, he resists. But under pressure, he finally confesses that when Cordell’s mutilated body was brought in, he wasn’t dead. He was still breathing. The coroner found him brain-dead, incapable of functioning like a normal human. Instead of letting him return to prison, the coroner faked Cordell’s death certificate and secretly handed him over to Sally.
Maniac Cop (1988) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Mathew Cordell Take His Revenge?
Jack realizes that Cordell won’t stop until he gets his revenge on Commissioner Pike and the mayor. Mallory tries to warn Pike that Cordell is still alive and behind the murders. However, Pike ignores her and asks his officers to book her for murder. Moments later, as Pike leaves the building, Cordell ambushes him and stabs him to death. Cordell also comes after Mallory, but she manages to escape and pursues him all the way to Pier 14, the same spot where McCrae once tracked Sally.
In the final scene, Cordell loses control during his escape. He’s impaled by a pipe, causing his truck to spin out of control and crash into the river. Everyone assumes he is dead. At City Hall, the mayor breathes a sigh of relief after hearing the news. He pours himself a Scotch, dismisses his assistant, only for Cordell to suddenly appear from behind the curtain and kill him on the spot.
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