Compared to the first two movies, this one is certainly a bit of a disappointment. It's not as fun and also not as action packed as any of the two previous movies. Perhaps the fact that director William Lustig walked off the set, for some reason, is the reason for this.You can tell that this movie had some really good ideas in it but it just doesn't work out quite well enough all.It sounds strange but even Cordell just comes across as a totally pointless character in this movie, even though he is the titular maniac cop of the movie. Seems like the movie really had a hard time putting its emphasis on the right elements and persons within this movie. It was true that in the previous movie the Robert Davi got pushed to the background too much, even though he was supposed to be the main hero of the movie. This time its perhaps more the other way around, with the movie focusing more on the 'human' characters and not the evil villainous Matt Cordell. it makes everything that he does in this movie come across as just silly and pointless. No, the movie just doesn't work out that very well.But the thing that was perhaps still missing most from this movie was the fact that it just didn't managed to become fun or entertaining to watch. Of course all of the previous Maniac Cop movies are silly ones but at least the know to be fun and don't become ever very serious and instead goes more often over-the-top.Oh well, it at least still has Robert Davi and Jackie Earle Haley in it, who still keep the movie somewhat interesting and fun to watch, avoiding it from becoming a completely unwatchable one.Not hard to see why they decided on leaving the series at 3 movies.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Maniac Cop 3 (1993) ** (out of 4) Third and final film in the series is without question the weakest. A female officer (Gretchen Becker) goes to a hostage situation where she is shot countless times while also shooting the crack head robber (Jackie Earle Haley). The robber, in return, decides to sue the police force, which awakens our maniac cop (Robert Z'Dar) with the help of a voodoo priest. Robert Davi is back as the detective trying to figure everything out. Third third film in the series also has a screenplay written by Larry Cohen but he has very little to offer here. Obviously the main focus of the film are those bad guys who manage to sue and get money but the screenplay does nothing smart with it and in the end everything here is pretty much by the books. The direction by Lustig and performance by Haley, Z'Dar and Davi are the main reasons to watch the film. Not only doesn't the screenplay deliver on the moral lesson but it also lacks in any reasoning for bringing the character back. The voodoo angle doesn't work nor does the relationship between Davi and the nurse. The death scenes, in their uncut form, are pretty weak and one wonders why the movie was originally given a NC-17 rating. In the end, after a couple good entries this series really goes out on a rather bland note. The movie isn't bad but one can't help but feel disappointed that this is all they could come up with to close the series.

I am at a distinct disadvantage here. I have not seen the first two movies in this series, although I have seen a lot of Larry Cohen films. Fans of the series seem to think this is a good film. Judging it on it's own, it was pretty boring.You never get a real good look at the maniac cop's (Robert Z'Dar) face, but what I did see was pretty grim. The death scenes seem to be staged to eat up the most film, not to give any thrills. Maybe if I saw the NC-17 Director's Cut, I may be more impressed.The ending with the car chase with Z'Dar, Caitlin Dulany, and Robert Davi was pretty intense. best part of the movie.

Matt Cordell's(..the formidable Robert Z'Dar, under heavy prosthetic make-up)restless soul is conjured by a voodoo priest, with the resurrected zombie seeking a mate, which is provided when he hears about a shoot-out at a pharmacy between a female cop, Katie Sullivan(Gretchen Becker)and a sadistic junkie, Jessup(Jackie Earle Haley). Katie doesn't know that the employee working in the pharmacy is Jessup's gal who picks up a revolver willing to kill the cop who had "saved her." A couple of corrupt news clowns falsify the story, by deleting certain material which proves Katie's innocence, depicting her as a rogue cop using illegal weaponry, not allowed by the force to carry. In a vegetative state, Katie's brain seems dead, and her "guardian", Detective Sean McKinney(Robert Davi, returning from the previous film as the chain-smoking, reliable, street-wise cop whose seen it all and then some)is disgruntled with how his best friend is being treated in the press. Despite his decomposing state, Cordell still understands how he himself was treated by those he considered allies, and begins murdering those who offer Katie harm, hoping to clear her..while also planning to betroth her in unholy matrimony, with assistance of the voodoo priest who brought him back to life! Dr. Susan Fowler(Caitlin Dulany), the on-call physician over Jessup, who somehow survived multiple gun shot wounds from Katie's firearm, will assist McKinney while also falling in love with him during the process.Despite Larry Cohen's sloppy, incoherent mess of a script, director William Lustig and Joel Soisson(..Soisson, I'm guessing, was probably more associated with the stunt-work)unload plenty of action sequences which impress such as the final car chase between a burning Cordell trying to drive McKinney and Fowler off the road, or bloody shoot-outs where a heavy supply of squibs were utilized to show bullet-riddled bodies. There's a thrilling shoot-out in the hospital when Cordell releases criminals from their handcuffs, with McKinney getting to show out his skills of evading gunfire.Beside Haley's psychotic junkie, many familiar faces make appearances such as Robert Forster as a happy-go-lucky doctor who plans, faithfully, to carry out a plan to remove Katie off of life support so that the police department could save face with the public as the image of the force has been dealt a serious blow, becoming one of many Cordell victims, thanks to the nasty use of an X-ray machine. Paul Gleason(..with his typical slimy charm, always portraying those kind of characters you love to hate) plays an unapologetic lawyer for the police department who wishes for Katie to be taken off of life support so that they wouldn't have to forfeit millions to Jessup. His demise, along with Jessup's grinning lawyer who sees future engagements(..such as television shows)for her client regarding Katie's supposed mishap, will probably elicit applause from the audience..Cohen's screenplays always seem to have these appalling suits attempting to screw over unfortunates unable to defend themselves, meeting grim fates in crowd-pleasing fashion. I thought Dulany was fine as Davi's love interest, she's the kind of dependable female support Davi's cop needs when the stack is decked against him. Davi, as always, brings his usual grit to the role of a city detective..looking the part of a cop whose been through the rigors of such a job, only helps sell his character. The whole sub-plot regarding Cordell's desire to marry Katie didn't really work for me, but maybe it will you. It does provide a memorable sequence in the voodoo priest's church where Cordell, on fire, carries Katie's corpse in his arms walking towards a trapped McKinney and Fowler. I'm not really sure why the priest resurrected him unless he felt that Cordell's reign of terror over those who betrayed him, wasn't finished, and that he needed further vengeance for how others wronged him. There seems to be a theme of anger towards the police force and their methods of justice, while also hammering the message home that the streets are a difficult place for the men and women in blue trying to halt crime.