It's no surprise that the longer a franchise continues to make sequels, the less they capture people's interest. Especially for types of films that came from a certain decade. The 1980s was the decade known for extreme violence and horror icons to name a couple. While many of those now famous characters popped during the early years, there were some last minute late bloomers to the party. They were characters like Pinhead from Hellraiser (1987), Chucky from Child's Play (1988) and lastly Matt Cordell from Maniac Cop (1988). For the Maniac Cop franchise, while the story itself wasn't anything drastically new, it was given an interesting spin on things allowing it to stand out from the regular hack and slash crazy killer film. The first sequel followed a similar execution but included an unnecessary side character to main antagonist.
This official final installment in the series though would end up being the least popular. Mainly because returning director William Lustig walked off set after he learned the original intended narrative changed focus. The total amount of footage available to use was only 2/3 a standard theatrical film. So the fact that additional footage was shot as just filler is remarkable the movie is able to continue the story from Maniac Cop 2 (1990). Written by Larry Cohen, who also wrote for the previous two films and The Stuff (1985), the story picks up from the last film as some voodoo artist named Houngan (Julius Harris) resurrects Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar). Meanwhile, Sean McKinney (Robert Davi) returns with Katie Sullivan (Gretchen Becker) who end up getting entangled in an incident involving intentionally misreporting newscasters lead by Tribble (Frank Pesce).
The first thing that doesn't work in this sequel is the confusing motives for characters. Aside from a loose tie-in dealing with dishonest media coverage, Matt Cordell doesn't seem to have a clear intention. The first film dealt with the character getting revenge on the precinct that left him for dead. The second film was about getting revenge for fouling up his original plan. Here though, because he's resurrected by someone else he feels more like a vessel. Julius Harris' character explains the reason for Cordell's resurrection but it's all in vague platitudes that won't enlighten any viewer. The next piece to this feature that doesn't help are some typical clichés one would expect from the horror genre. McKinney ends up meeting this young medical worker Dr. Susan Fowler (Caitlin Dulany), want to guess what develops between them? The question is, why? Who cares?
Let's also not forget the dialog. But before that's covered, it must be made apparent that the actors cast in this film are all special in their own way. They all perform well and give good performances. This also includes the likes of Grand L. Bush, Paul Gleason, Jackie Earle Haley, Robert Forster and Doug Savant. However, it's what theirs and other characters say and do that make this entry so over the top. Cops make comments while on scene that are not appropriate, doctors visit lunch tables while wearing soiled aprons, reports using curse words while on a hot microphone. It's safe to say not even the characters from the first movie were that careless. The action and stunts in this movie are well staged. Again, because of the year it was released very little if any CGI was probably used. Therefore, all the action was probably live pyrotechnics.
With that said, visually speaking the film is adequate looking too. The special effects and violence are all practical and executed professionally. Behind the camera was Jacques Haitkin as cinematographer. Prior to this film he also worked on A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985). And later would serve second unit filming in the same role for The Expendables (2010) and Furious 7 (2015). However, the music composed by Jerry Goldsmith's son Joel Goldsmith was a bit of a letdown. Considering the family name, one would think Goldsmith would carry on the original motif composed by Jay Chattaway from the first two films. Unfortunately, he does not and the new one provided doesn't add a whole lot to it. Sadly, there's not even a score to get the full listening experience to see if there are some redeeming qualities. A missed opportunity because there are probably people who'd want to complete the collection of maniac cop scores.
As expect, it's the weakest entry in the series, but it's not unwatchable either. The actors provide some fluff from time to time and the visuals are on point. But the second sequel delves too much in over the top characters and uncertain motives. It doesn't help that the music isn't the same either.
