Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence

 

 

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Love it or hate it 'Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence' is here on DVD. The last DVD release was by a company named platinum back in 1999 I believe.
Well this new DVD release has out done the last one, the picture quality is much more clearer and sharper than before and this is also in widescreen and with a trailer!
This is the first official DVD by the original company that released this film back in 1993 so the quality is very good but the front cover artwork is horrible-what were they smoking?
Also William Lustig has been placed back into the credits as the only director (there used to be 2 directors now this states only 1 in both the film credits and the box art).
If you liked the first two Maniac Cop films give this one a try!

Don't let the supremely entertaining Cop 2 build your expectations. The original producer/director team of Larry Cohen and William Lustig were bumped mid-production and replaced by hack extraordinaire Joel Soisson. Consequently, the film suffers from anemic visuals, highly diffused lighting, claustrophobic set pieces, a bright and sunny Los Angeles futily masquerading for gritty NYC, and a synth score that pales in comparison to original composer Jay Chattaway's moody, orchestral music cues (which by eliminating Maniac Cop's signature bittersweet "whistle theme" has committed a cinematic faux pas comparable to changing the Halloween score). The film is not all bad; Cohen's off-beat script still shines through in several places. However, it's an ugly stepchild to the wildly inventive action horror of Maniac Cop 2, the quintissential B movie.
The basic story is a simple, creative coda to the resolution of the second film: after being vindicated by Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi), Maniac Cop Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar) is ressurected by voodoo magic to help exhonerate comatose cop "Maniac Kate" (Gretchen Becker), who is similarly framed and ostracized when two greedy freelance tabloid reporters (Bobby DiCiccio; and Frank Pesce who gets killed for the second time in the series)doctor a tape of her shooting a drug store clerk. The films lower budget doesn't allow for Cop 2's jaw-dropping stunt work, authentic NYC location shooting, or talented and quirky supporting cast (Cop 2 featered a veritable "who's who" of character performers). Still, Cop 3 is a cut above your average late night cable fare; and Laserlight's low resolution disc is comparable to above average vhs.
Ironically, the Maniac Cop franchise resembles a far loftier trilogy: The Godfather. The series started strong with a raw film that revealed more potential than pay-off (Cop 1), graduated to a grander, more textured sequel that delivered on the promises of the previous installment (Cop 2), but ultimately faltered with a denoument that was rushed and plagued with production problems (Cop 3). And much like Godfather 3, Maniac Cop 3 is better than your average potboiler, yet suffers in comparison to its predecessor. Now, if only someone would give Cohen and Lustig the money Coppolla had...............

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