Horror 2024 Countdown: Maniac Cop 2 (1990)

Maniac Cop 2 (1990), dir. William Lustig, Fadd Enterprises/Medusa Pictures/the Movie House Sales Company/Overseas Film Group

When we last saw the Maniac Cop, Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar) murdered the cops who sent him up the river. He also got a pipe shoved his chest but from the last shot of the film he clearly got over it.

Officers Forrest (Bruce Campbell) and Malloy (Laurene Landon) have finally been cleared by Internal Affairs and are ready to go back to the streets. Forrest is ready to go back to work, but Malloy is convinced Cordell didn't die.

She's proven right when Forrest gets shanked at a newsstand. The police are more concerned with protecting the image of the late Commissioner Pike, so they hush everything up.

Malloy tries to go public, but this backfires. The only person who believes her is Officer Riley (Claudia Christian). This does her no good when Cordell attacks. Riley manages to escape but Malloy isn't as lucky.

In walks Steven Turkell (Leo Rossi), man about town and killer of exotic dancers. He likes the cut of Cordell's jib and soon they're BFFs. 

So when Det. Lt. McKinney (Robert Davi) arrests Turkell, Cordell opts to skip the whole bail thing and busts his new best buddy out. McKinney has an idea though; why not bury Cordell with full honors?

Will that appease Cordell? Will Cordell and Turell unleash all the convicts in Sing Sing as an unstoppable army?

Honestly? Better than one would think. Follows the slasher rules pretty closely, but Cordell makes for a fairly unique killer with a neat hook.