The Plot;
The film opens with a Voodoo priest practicing Voodoo on a severed head, this then miraculously brings back Cordell, it then shows the same shot (previously shown in Maniac Cop 2) of Cordell smashing his hand through the coffin. We are then shown a firing range where we see the return of Detective Lieutenant Sean McKinney played by Robert Davi with police officer Katie Sullivan played by Gretchen Becker. They shoot a few targets and talk about Katie's nickname she has been given "maniac". She then leaves to go on duty. This is one of many scenes that is described by director William Lustig as "filler" because of his rough cut that only reached 51 minutes they had to add scenes to pad out the running time.
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| Mckinney and Sullivan have a quiet chat. |
McKinney arrives at a crime scene where a body is beheaded and has a chicken crammed down his throat. McKinney then realizes out of nowhere that it is a voodoo ritual and the chicken signifies the soul to take flight from the body.
Meanwhile police officer Katie Sullivan is trying to stop a hostage situation, two cameramen film the events taking place. Officer Katie Sullivan shoots the robber and goes to help the hostage only to be shot in the head. The cameramen then decide to air the footage edited, which looks as if officer Katie is helping the robber only to get shot. She is now then named the new "Maniac Cop". She is then rushed to the hospital and by this time she is brain dead. Detective Lieutenant Sean McKinney sees the news report and doesn't believe officer Sullivan did it, so he decides to try and clear her name. The robber played by Jackie Earle Haley is now on life support.
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| Crazy aim! |
Now Cordell (Robert Z'Dar) walks the streets in search of the person who resurrected him he finally meets the voodoo priest. The priest said his soul was restless and the only way he could have brought him back was if he wanted to return. Cordell then sets out to get officer Katie from the hospital and return her to the voodoo priest to resurrect her. Detective Sean Mckinney now knows Cordell is alive, he sets out to take him down once again for one last time.
Cordell goes into the hospital and breaks out Katie with the help of the robber. McKinney while in the hospital starts to see the bodies Cordell is leaving behind. This then leads to McKinney having a relationship with Doctor Susan Fowler, both of them team up to stop Cordell.
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| Cordell helps a crook. |
The next scene and best scene in the whole film in my opinion is when McKinney is on a gurney and it slowing rolls across the hallway towards the robber and his goon friends then suddenly bullets blast through the covers. Cordell then gets a hold of Officer Katie and brings her to the Voodoo priest. McKinney then asks doctor Susan Fowler if she can survive without the oxygen tubes, she replies she cannot.
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| John Woo style. |
McKinney and the doctor then track down Cordell and the Voodoo priest, the voodoo priest admits to resurrecting Cordell. Cordell then forces the priest to attempt to resurrect her by saying his one line in the film, "finish it" but with no luck due to her soul being at peace. Cordell then kills the priest and the entire church goes up into flames, McKinney and the doctor struggle to get out while Cordell grabs Officer Katie's body while in flames. They then escape and the church explodes into a fireball.
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| Their love burns externally! |
Both now think Cordell is dead and not coming back but they are wrong, while they are in the ambulance Cordell drives up to the right side of them and starts to ram the car while he is still on fire. He then grabs hold of the car door and doesn't allow them to escape, McKinney then gets an oxygen tank from the back and throws it through the back window of the car. He shakes Cordell off the car and speeds off while Cordell gives chase literally pushing cars out of the way with his bare hands!
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| A chase to the death. |
Both cars eventually crash at the docks and just as Cordell is about to kill both McKinney and the doctor in the car, the Oxygen tank ignites from the flames and it explodes. McKinney and the doctor get out, McKinney slowly walks up to the car. He picks up Cordell's arm and while it is still on fire lights his cigarette with it, they both walk away.
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| Need a light? |
The final scene is Cordell lying in a bodybag on a gurney, the camera pans in and his arm moves. This is obviously hinting at another sequel.
Just as maniac Cop 2, this film is given the best possible treatment on Blu-ray by creator William Lustig's film label Blue Underground.
Blu-ray extras;
The Blu-ray comes with a 25 minute making of documentary mostly the director, writer and producer bad mouthing it. Also it comes with a bunch of deleted and extended scenes.
4/5
Blu-ray Picture Quality;
The original negatives have been scanned at 4K and downgraded to 2K for Blu-ray. Just as Maniac Cop 2 the film looks as if it was filmed just yesterday, perfect.
5/5
Blu-ray Audio Quality;
Blue Underground has given the film a 5.1 dts hd master audio. I did notice some scenes were slightly hard to hear and muffled but other than that it sounded great.
4/5
This film is truly a mess but not as bad as you would think. Most of the stunts and action scenes are well executed but the story is just scraping the bottom of the barrel by this point they just made a film for the sake of making money. As shown in the Blu-ray extras the film is literally Bride of Maniac Cop. Without the return of Robert Davi as McKinney the film would not be as nearly enjoyable.
Recommended to fans only
"That wraps up the Maniac Cop series!"
Andrew
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