tomgillespie2002 With Maniac Cop 2, director William Lustig and screenwriter Larry Cohen imagined a mixture of bloody slasher and crime thriller The French Connection, and delivered just about the most satisfying sequel imaginable to an original that was hardly great. It delivered on car chases, action set-pieces and slasher mayhem, backed with a witty, sharp script and an impressive cast. It also delivered a full-body- burn climax that was as exciting as it was technically impressive. While part two looked at William Friedkin's classic thriller for inspiration, just where Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence found inspiration is anyone's guess, other than perhaps the sort of drivel you used to find buried on the bottom shelf of the video store. Lustig and Cohen have both disowned the movie since its release, and it isn't difficult to see why.Citing studio interference, Lustig walked from the set half-way through filming for the movie to be picked up by inexperienced producer Joel Soisson, who is uncredited. The resulting film is less than a half-baked idea: a lumbering mess of a film, primarily made up of filler that is, at times, downright unwatchable. Having clear Matt Cordell's name and buried him with honours in tact, Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi) had hoped to have seen the last of the 'Maniac Cop'. His close father-daughter-like relationship with young police officer Katie Sullivan (Gretchen Becker) is ground to a halt when she is gunned down and placed into a coma by junkie Frank (Jackie Earle Haley), only for two 'nightcrawler' cameramen to smear her name with some edited footage. After being resurrected by a Voodoo priest, Cordell sees Sullivan as an equally tortured and unfairly disgraced soul, and sets about claiming her for his own.It's hard to know where to start with Maniac Cop 3, as the film is so lacking in ideas and structure that it barely has a beginning, middle and end. When it hits a wall, it looks to its predecessor for ideas. So we are treated to another convenience store shootout, another high speed chase, and another finale involving a full body burn. In its defence, the climax mixes both a high speed chase and a full body burn, and while it goes on for a little too long, you have to appreciate the complexity of such an intricate set-piece. Cordell, again played by Robert Z'Dar, is relegated to little more than a glorified cameo in his own movie, appearing ever now and then to carry out a bloody deed seemingly for Voodoo priest Houngan (Julius Harris), whose motives are still unclear when the credits roll. As a fan of the first two Maniac Cop movies, it's easy to feel as cheated as Lustig did as he stormed off set.

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) Out of all the "Maniac Cop" series, this one was a letdown. However, out of due respect, I've always liked the character no matter what. This time, he tends to a policewoman who was gunned down during a stand-off. And Matt Cordell(Robert D'Zar) is enforced to "protect and serve". Since none of the other officers would help her, Det. Sean Kenny(Robert Davi) and Cordell are on the same page. Cordell takes on the usual trash crooked cops to be exact. I liked the part where he puts on guy under several exposures of X-rays. Then there's the scene where Kenny tells Cordell that she's been cleared of all wrongdoing. Somehow, underneath his hulking and ravaged exterior belies a interior that's anything but supernatural, it's human. Both went with the explosion, and covered in white. To me, it goes to show that love never dies, especially when Cordell touches the dead woman's hand from the sheets. I mean good grief, let her be. This version got a little sappy, yet will he continue the fight against crime, or will he settle down? This one got me baffled! 2 out of 5 stars!

HaemovoreRex Officer Matt Cordell (Robert D'Zar) returns yet again in this, the apparent final sequel to William Lustwigs 1988 original movie.Far from being laid to everlasting rest after having his name cleared in the previous entry, our undead psycho slayer is resurrected here once more, this time by a voodoo priest (for reasons that are never actually explained) However it seems that beneath all that rotting flesh is a lonely heart as evidenced when he takes an amorous interest in a female police officer after she is gunned down during a drug store robbery. It seems that our misunderstood anti-hero wants her to join him in his un-death, again to be achieved by voodoo machinations. Before this, he resolves to bring about the violent dissolution of all those people who contributed to her comatose state and in addition those who would aggravate it (including in the later category the always excellent Robert Forster!)Returning once more is the welcome face of Robert Davi who ironically shares a similar agenda to Cordell i.e. to punish those responsible, but who is none too compliant with the undead marriage plans.It has to be said straight out that the film in question is not a patch on its two predecessors in terms of either story, script, action scenes or gore content. However, having said this and despite the hokey plot, the film does contain a few great set pieces including a cool scene where Davi rolls down a hospital corridor on a bed towards the bad guys and jumps out from under the covers with guns blazing.Overall then, for fans of the series this is well worth a watch. Maybe with some luck we'll yet see Matt Cordell rise from the grave once more hopefully sometime soon for a fourth entry in the series….

Paul Andrews Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence starts where Maniac Cop 2 (1990) ended with the funeral of the Maniac Cop himself Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar). However at the same time a Voodoo priest brings him back to life, with the aid of a little bit of black magic & a severed head. It's just another ordinary crime ridden night in New York as Officer Kate Sullivan (Gretchen Becker) responds to a pharmacy robbery where high on drugs junkie Frank Jessup (Jackie Earle Haley) is shooting dead any police that get anywhere near him, Kate manages to shoot Jessup but is shot herself by the crooked shop assistant who organised the robbery & badly injured but also manages to shoot & kill the assistant. Two freelance cameramen Bishop (Bobby Di Cicco) & Tribble (Frank Pesce) capture the incident on film & re-edit it so it appears that Kate shot two unarmed suspects hoping to cause controversy & make lots of money, her close friend Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi) sets out to clear her name. The Maniac Cop Matt Cordell takes an interest in Kate & starts to kill those wanting to switch off her life support...The third, & thus far the last, entry in the Maniac Cop series of films Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence was originally going to be directed by William Lustig but was completed by co-producer Joel Soisson after Lustig walked out, apparently even scriptwriter Larry Cohen voiced a dissatisfaction at how the film ended up. The truth of what actually happened behind the scenes may never be known but it makes you wonder, doesn't it? While parts of the film don't work as well as they could have I still think Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is a really good horror film. First the negative things, the film never really explains why the Voodoo priest guy brings Cordell back from the dead. He doesn't make Cordell do anything or try to control him so why bring him back? The ending is very silly, why does the seat Cordell is sitting in not catch fire? It's not made clear why Cordell takes such an interest in Kate, I think maybe because he sees much of what happened to him in her but the link is somewhat tenuous. Now the positive, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is well written, a bit different, witty, clever while it also tries to say things & in this regard it has a certain amount of success like city corruption, the importance of money over human life, biased edited for TV news coverage, an uncaring medical profession & the legal right's of a criminal over those of the innocent. It moves along at a nice pace, is never boring & entertains from start to finish.Director's Lustig & Soisson give the film a nice look & special mention goes to cinematographer Jacques Haitkin (who has worked on over 75 films) as Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence looks fabulous throughout, from the candle lit Voodoo rituals to the cold, clinical & sterile Hospital interiors this is one great looking, atmospheric & moody film. The gore was disappointing, I have no idea if the version I saw was uncut but apart from a severed head & it's headless body, a few gory gunshot wounds & someone with their face melted there isn't much to speak of. There is a really cool car chase at the end with a burning Matt Cordell behind the wheel of a police car trying to catch McKinney.Technically Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is very good, the stunts at the end are great, the photography is great, I really liked the music & it's generally well made. The acting is pretty strong by all involved & Caitlin Dulany as Dr. Fowler is a bit of a babe & easy on the eye's.I really liked Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, it lacks a bit of logic but it tries to raise a few issues & have some twisted fun with them. Not as good as the first two entry's but still a great film in it's own right, in my humble opinion. Definitely worth a watch.