Overview: When Officer Kate Sullivan storms a hostage situation, the whole incident is captured on tape by an unscrupulous media crew who edit the footage to show Kate killing a helpless victim.

Now in a coma, Kate’s only hope is Detective Sean McKinney, who desperately tries to clear her name. But unbeknownst to him, Maniac Cop Matt Cordell takes it upon himself to exact revenge upon those responsible for smearing her name.

4K Blu-ray Verdict: The first Maniac Cop film is one of the supreme trash classics from the eighties; and its sequel, the (un) imaginatively titled Maniac Cop 2 is about as good as a sequel could have been.

However, in true sequel fashion; this third outing is extremely disappointing. The film is subtitled Badge of Silence, but perhaps Bride of Maniac Cop would be more appropriate, since that’s the road that the second sequel has chosen to go down.

Once again, we have William Lustig directing a script written by Larry Cohen; this team worked so well on the first two films, but something hasn’t clicked this time around. The entire movie feels like it just cannot really be bothered, with the plot serving only in dishing up the relevant elements for Matt Cordell; the so-named Maniac Cop to go on another killing spree.

We see a voodoo priest resurrect the mental copper shortly before witnessing police officer Kate Sullivan gets killed during an armed robbery. For some, largely unexplained reason, Matt Cordell decides that he wants to make Kate his bride. It’s not long before Sean McKinney (the hard-bitten detective from Maniac Cop 2) begins to suspect that Cordell may be back on the scene.

One of the main problems with this film is the scenes with the maniac cop. There aren’t enough of them for a start, and the ones there are merely show him powering his way through people, and this fails to capture the creepiness of the original.

Robert Z’Dar is still imposing in the only role that his name is associated with, but his presence was much better handled in the previous two films. I quite like Robert Davi for he’s no Bruce Campbell or Tom Atkins, but he looks the part as the experienced policeman, and definitely fits this sort of film well.

The atmosphere is well created again, with a foreboding New York feel accompanying most of the street scenes, which is a shame since most of the film takes place in a hospital! The police force itself isn’t portrayed very well, and there isn’t a single scene that is really convincing there either sorry.

The film has a very direct to video feel throughout also and no attempt is ever made to mask the fact that you’re watching a series withering on the vine. The violence is fairly heavy, although there isn’t a lot of blood, and the final car chase goes on far too long, and even manages to drain the last bit of energy from an already frail film.

That all said, if you loved the first two, which I think by now you know I personally did, you will still be able to find a love for this third venture. But, well, then again, you might not, I guess. But, and as the aforementioned fan of the original pairing, and now with this third outing presented here as an excellent 4K UHD presentation, this second sequel satisfactorily satisfied me just enough (given all the years that have passed since its release) and therefore I recommend this to anyone that is also a fan of the original two. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.35:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

• Killer restoration NOW IN TRUE 4K ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION with DOLBY VISION HDR and a new DOLBY ATMOS audio mix
• Ultra HD Blu-ray (2160p) and HD Blu-ray (1080p) Widescreen 2.35:1 Feature Presentation
• Audio: English: Dolby Atmos; English: 2.0 DTS-HD
• Subtitles: English SDH, Français, Español, Português, Deutsch, Italiano, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Russian
• NEW! Audio Commentary with Director Alan Smithee
• Wrong Arm Of The Law - The Making Of MANIAC COP 3
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Poster & Still Gallery
• Original Synopsis
• Limited Edition embossed slipcover (First Pressing Only)

Blue Underground Purchase Link