Maniac Cop reboot appears as dead as its main character
By Aaron Posey
The reported reboot of Maniac Cop seems to have breathed its last breath, and the project is just as dead as the Maniac Cop himself.
I have a soft spot for the original 1988 film Maniac Cop and have seen it probably too many times. So when it was announced that this overlooked cult classic was getting the reboot treatment I was less than thrilled. A few days ago the horror news wire lit up with stories that the reboot was probably dead in the water.
The 1987 film tells the story of a crazed New York City Police Officer slashing and hacking his way through the city. Hot on his trail is detective Frank McCray played by the always amazing Tom Atkins. 1428 Elm’s favorite star Bruce Campbell also stars as Police Officer Jack Forrest. Forrest finds himself the prime suspect in the investigation. He must stop the Maniac Cop and clear his name.
The Maniac Cop reboot has a long history. I have sifted through the countless articles to condense what was actually known about the film and the production. Below is the abridged version of this complicated saga.
From what I have gathered this project has been in the works since 2012. An article that appeared in Variety in 2015 announced that John Hyams of Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) was set to direct with original Maniac Cop director William Lustig and Nicholas Refn director of The Neon Demon (2016) attached as producers. The film was scheduled to begin filming in New York City in the from a script written by Ed Brubaker.
Still with me? Okay good. In November of 2015, Bloody Disgusting was able to get their hands on promotional art for the film at the American Film Market show.
Via Bloody Disgusting
So we have our producers, our writer, our director, and a filming scheduled for spring in New York City. That is what is known around 2014-2016. In March of 2017, once again Variety, ran an article that the film had been officially greenlit. The company Wild Bunch would be handing word wide sales. Variety tells us the film is scheduled to begin shooting in summer, not in New York as previously reported. But now in sunny Los Angeles, California.
Variety also gave a small peak at the new plot. The film would tell the story of a Los Angeles Police Officer who sets out on the trail to solve a series of brutal murders involving innocent bystanders by one of her fellow cops. The article still listed Lusting and Refn as producers. The script still written by Brubaker and directing still going to Hyams. According to sources the film has been stalled due to difficulties securing the rights to the film.
Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment
The original Maniac Cop doing what he does best… kill!
Fast forward to September 2017. Original Maniac Cop writer Larry Cohen slammed the reboot to Birth.Movies.Death during an interview. Cohen told BMD “As far as I know, that’s not happening anymore, and if it is, they might be trying to keep it a secret, as they’d owe me $250,000″.
Cohen continued saying “Ed Brubaker wrote the script, and I’ve read the script and it’s not very good. Ed Brubaker is a very good writer of comic books, I think. But if he’s written a good script for a movie, I haven’t read it.”
According to Cohen did some revisions on the script and according to him wrote six new scenes for the film. Cohen also stated that if he had written the whole script the film would still be in the process of getting made as his script would be good.
Not content to just slam Brubaker, Cohen also had some things to say about producer Refn. Cohen said “…as far as I know, he was the one trying to get the money raised to make the picture, and he didn’t get it, so now it’s not happeneing. If it is, I would like to be paid, or I’m going to call my lawyer, and it’s getting shut down.”
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So there you have it folks. The long, interesting and congested road that the Maniac Cop reboot has taken from 2012 until now. It appears that the reboot is in fact dead and no more. Which I for one am fine with. With the unfortunate passing of Robert Z’Dar , the man who truly made Maniac Cop come to life, maybe we should just let this cult classic stand on its own merit and not muddy it with an unnecessary Hollywood reboot.