A brutal killer is stalking the streets of New York City; a man dressed as a police officer. He lures victims in with a false sense of security, traps them with the authority an officer of the law commands, and he murders them, whether they’re guilty or innocent. It took a couple of genre icons to get this idea into production and more icons to deal with the threat on the screen. This is the story of Maniac Cop, and we’re going to find out what happened to this horror movie.

It all began with the 1980 slasher Maniac. The mainstream feature directorial debut of William Lustig, the film caught a lot of attention when it was released, especially for the shocking moments of violence, featuring Tom Savini gore effects. Lustig followed that up with the 1982 action thriller Vigilante, which gained a cult following, but wasn’t a financial success at first.