Maniac

Maniac has managed to achieve cult status among horror fans for two reasons: Tom Savini’s special effects and Joe Spinell’s unhinged performance as the titular maniac. Because much the film was shot at night without the proper permits, it presents an eerily spare New York City. Aside from the lovely Caroline Munro, most of the cast is made up of porno actors who had previously worked for the director. Famously, critic Gene Siskel walked out of a screening of the movie after one particularly gory effects sequence.

Rating: 62%

(Image from bloody-disgusting.com)

Maniac Cop

There's a killer on the loose in New York City, but this is no ordinary psycho, this maniac hides behind a badge and a gun. Maniac Cop isn't anything terribly original or outstanding, but it's a really good example of the kind of genre film making that more or less died with the 1980s. The film is set in a grimy, pre-Giuliani New York and all of the stunts and effects work are practical. Maniac Cop also features a number of classic genre vets: Bruce Campbell, Richard Roundtree, the ample-faced Robert Z'Dar, a cameo appearance from director Sam Raimi, and Tom Atkins playing a suicidal cop (where have I seen that before?). The film plays it straight for the most part, though it starts to go over the top in the second half. And judging from some stills I've seen, it looks as though the sequels continued with the over the top tone from the original's latter half.

Rating: Bigger than Robert Z'Dar's face%

(Image from moviecultists.com)