I used to watch Maniac Cop on a loop as a kid and thought it was so much fun in all of its over the top horror glory. The film is a cult classic but definitely a brand I didn’t see making a comeback. Well, color me surprised that not only is Maniac Cop making a comeback but it’s getting a second life as an original HBO series.
The TV series will be a reimagining of the cult classic film franchise from Nicolas Winding Refn and John Hyams. HBO is carrying the event series in North America while Canal+ is taking on the French rights. Maniac Cop will take place in Los Angeles and is told through a kaleidoscope of characters, from cops to common criminals. A killer in uniform has uncaged mayhem upon the streets. Paranoia leads to social disorder as a city wrestles with the mystery of the exterminator in blue – is he a mere mortal or a supernatural force?
The 1988 film was directed by William Lustig and bringing the franchise back has been a long passion project for Refn. It was originally announced as a feature at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. A first-look deal Refn’s Rocket Nation had inked with Vendian Entertainment and Wild Bunch was to provide financing for Space Rocket’s features, starting with Maniac Cop, the initial film in a horror thriller trilogy. Those plans fell through to make a feature film but it eventually morphed into the series that is being picked up by HBO.
1988’s Maniac Cop starred Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z’Dar, and Sheree North. The film wasn’t a box office hit but it became a cult classic that spawned two sequels, Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence (1993).
