Though I am starting to come around on horror films lately, as I’ve mentioned in previous columns, horror and slasher films have never really been my thing. Even in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when slasher films seemed to be oversaturating the VHS release market, I never managed to stumble across any that I really loved. I was always more of a comedy or action flick kid myself, and one of my favorites when I was that age was a buddy cop film called Tango & Cash. To this day, I love that film, its stars Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone are both in their prime, fighting a parade of drug kingpins and ex-cons. One of my favorite antagonists from this film was a character named simply Face. He has one memorable scene in which he comes out of the shadows to square off against a trapped Tango and Cash. When he does, it is revealed how aptly named he is. Face, played by character actor Robert Z’Dar, has a tree-trunk neck, atop of which sits the equivalent of a Goodyear tire with a face on it. He’s got the biggest, squarest jaw you’ve ever seen and he is built like a wall made of cinder blocks. Of course, Tango and Cash felled him with one punch and the scene was immediately over, but as a kid, I NEVER forgot that face. I would occasionally see Z’Dar show up in other films (always playing scallywags villains and ne’er-do-wells) and it was always to my sheer delight.
This review is not about Tango & Cash, though. Over a decade after my first cinematic encounter with him, Robert Z’Dar moved to my hometown of Dubuque, Iowa where I would run into him quite often. Over the years, I got to know him pretty well. He was always regaling my friends and I with stories of his time in show business and was never unwilling to answer anyone’s questions about his career or acting in general. He was active in our community and, when his health would allow it, was seemingly always working, acting in new films or producing new films. He was one of the nicest, most pleasant people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and I’m proud to have been able to call him a friend. Sadly, Z’Dar passed away in 2015 while attending a comic book convention in Florida. But his impact is still felt in my hometown to this day and he is dearly missed.
One thing I didn’t know about Z’Dar when I first met him was that his hands-down best-known role was that of Officer Matt Cordell in the 1988 cult classic slasher film Maniac Cop. Come to think of it, I probably missed a lot of awesome horror films over the years because of my abstinence from that particular genre. But again, I am coming around and starting to catch up. That’s neither here nor there. Back to Maniac Cop. I just wasn’t familiar with it. When I finally did see it, I was mad that I hadn’t seen it sooner. It’s since become one of my favorites. Director William Lustig had already established himself deep within the slasher genre with 1982’s Vigilante and 1980’s Maniac. What sets Maniac Cop apart from many of the other slasher films of the era, to me, is that it is also kind of a pulpy police drama. It stars three of exploitation cinema’s most recognizable faces: Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins and Richard Roundtree. Atkins plays veteran detective Frank McCrae, who is investigating a rash of seemingly random murders by an unidentified “boy-in-blue.” McCrae eventually traces the crimes to Officer Matt Cordell, a once clean, uncorrupted cop who was sent to prison on some trumped-up charges. While there, Cordell is jumped by a throng of inmates and was thought to have been murdered. Evidently back from the dead, and with the help of an ex-lover (Sheree North) who works in the police records department, Cordell is not only out for revenge, but out for blood. In his quest for vengeance, Cordell also kills the wife of rookie cop Jack Forrest (Campbell) and sets Forrest up to be the fall guy. McCrae tries to explain his theory to his superior, Commissioner Pike (Roundtree) to no avail, as Pike and just about the rest of the NYC police force, are convinced that Forrest is the maniac cop. Now its up to Forrest, McCrae and fellow officer Therese Mallory (Laurene Landon) to clear Jack’s name and stop Cordell.
If anything, Maniac Cop (and its two sequels) puts a unique spin on a mostly played-out subgenre. Lustig and screenwriter Larry Cohen put the supposed good guys in the antagonist role, creating an air of paranoia for citizens and other police officers alike. Add to this the motive of revenge due to a system that unjustly imprisoned and innocent man and the gritty back drop of 1980s New York and you have the makings for a refreshingly good horror-action flick. R.I.P. Bobby Z.- Jonathan Eagle
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