Maniac Cop

Had writer/producer Larry Cohen directed this low-budget thriller himself, it might have displayed more vitality and wit. As it is, despite abundant action and a start involving a fistful of murders, the overall effect is sluggish. There's a psycho killer in police colours terrorising New York. Detective McCrae (Atkins) reckons he's a member of the force, but his boss disagrees, until the wife of young officer Jack Forrest (Campbell) is found dead, leaving a diary and cuttings that implicate her faithless spouse. While Forrest and his policewoman girlfriend (Landon) struggle to establish his innonence, subplots snowball, peripheral characters proliferate, and the killings culminate in a none too imaginatively staged car chase. Only the odd line of dialogue and occasional bizarre detail hint at Cohen's quirky signature; performances and camerawork are solid enough, but both cutting and direction are formulary and flabby.