Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence

Plot synopsis:
Houngan, a voodoo-esque priest, recites a chant while surrounded by candles. As he stabs a decapitated human head, Matt Cordell, the so-called 'Maniac Cop', is lying dead in his coffin when he opens his eyes and punches though the casket.The next day, Detective Sean McKinney talks to Officer Kate Sullivan on a shooting range. She complains about being in trouble with her stiff superiors for using excessive force (she has been dubbed "Maniac Kate") Since it is her birthday, McKinney gives Kate a wristwatch and she thanks him since he is one of the few cops whom is casually nice to her.McKinney goes to a crime scene where a headless corpse is found with a dead chicken stuffed inside. The detective talks about Palamayumbe, a ritual which uses heads; the chicken is left inside the body to let the soul "take flight".That evening, Kate and her partner are at a scene where a crazy man named Frank is inside a store, shooting anyone who enters. Reporters Bishop and Tribble are nearby and listening to the police scanner for stories and they are exited to hear that the notoriously aggressive Kate Sullivan is at the scene. After Kate's partner is killed by Frank, she runs inside with an automatic rifle and shoots at Frank until he runs into the pharmacy (with bullet-proof glass) for refuge.At the same time, McKinney describes to Houngan (standing by a barrel of fire) a symbol resting next to the corpse, and Houngan says that it is the symbol of "anti-justice".Back at the pharmacy, Kate runs to the roof, loads hollow-point bullets into her revolver, and jumps through the roof and into the pharmacy. Frank holds the girl from the pharmacy as a shield, and Kate shoots him without hesitating. The girl says: "You shot Frankie!" Kate realizes that she had buzzed Frank into the pharmacy and they are both involved with the shooting spree. They both open fire and the girl is hit in the head and Kate is also hit as the two reporters are filming everything.Meanwhile, Cordell goes to see Houngan and the man tells the undead cop that he allowed himself to bring him back to life because his spirit is not at rest. Cordell hears the news of Kate on the radio (the video of the incident at the pharmacy has been edited by the dirty reporters to make it believe that Kate killed the pharmacist's assistant in cold blood and that the woman was innocent). Cordell is angry and leaves.At the hospital, McKinney asks Dr. Myerson about Kate and he tells the detective that Kate is brain head due to being in a coma from the shooting. Outside the hospital, a man says uncomplimentary things about Kate when Cordell arrives and throws him and shoots the man in the air.The next day, McKinney talks to his friend, Willie, and learns that the pharmacist Frank is using the police due to Kate using illegal weapons. Frank has been giving a six-month suspended sentence in exchange for dropping the lawsuit. McKinney goes to the hospital and asks Dr. Susan Fowler if he can talk to Frank. The detective tries to help Frank remember more about the shooting at the pharmacy by cutting off some of his oxygen.A comatose Kate dreams of walking down a church aisle to meet an ugly and decomposing Cordell at the altar. She opens her eyes and grabs a nearby McKinney when she sees Cordell behind him. The detective tells Susan about her movement and her heart monitor speeding up, but the doctor sees no change in Kate's physical being. Regardless, Susan tells Myerson what has happened and asks for another brain scan, but Myerson think that it would be a waste of time and money.Later, Myerson is enjoying some time with a woman in the doctor's lounge, and Cordell knocks on the door. When the doctor comes out, Cordell shocks him with defibrillator pads. He chases Myerson to the roof, where he places the pads on the doctor's face, killing him. Afterwards, Susan sees Cordell lurking around the hallways and follows him to the basement, but he disappears. Later, after the police discover the body of Myerson, Susan tells McKinney about seeing a cop leave Kate's room. McKinney goes to the basement and finds the old church altar with Houngang, who talks to the detective about resurrection. He says that McKinney and Cordell walk the "same path".Hank Cooney, a local police official, goes to the hospital to see Dr. Powell and tells him that by cutting off Kate's life support would save the city some trouble. Cooney shows that he has a letter of consent, signed by Kate's mother. Powell says that he can take care of it later that afternoon. A little later, Powell hears glass break in the X-ray room where Cordell grabs him and straps him underneath the X-ray machine for a fatal treatment with repeated blasts with high-powered X-rays. Cordell takes the letter of consent and crumples it.That evening, the dirty reporters, Bishop and Tribble, go to the scene of a drive by shooting (which sounds intriguing since it was reportedly a child shot). At the scene, Bishop callously interviews the brother of the young victim. He then looks for Tribble, finding him dead inside an ambulance with two dead attendants. Bishop is stabbed through the back by Cordell.The next day, McKinney watches the unedited version of the pharmacy shooting and sees that the girl killed by Kate had buzzed Frank in.Back at the hospital, Cordell places a gun by Frank's pillow, uncuffs him and leaves him the keys. As Cooney and Gina Lindey, Frank's lawyer, discuss clearing Frank's long criminal records (so he can get the benefits of film or literary rights), Frank and his two hospitalized criminal roommates escape and shoot and kill Cooney, Lindsey and the guard on the floor. Cordell then goes back to Kate's room where he picks her up and carries her away. McKinney arrives back at the hospital and seeing the dead bodies, hides under a hospital gurney and shoots and kills Frank's two criminal associates. He follows Frank to the women's restroom where he kicks a stall door, and is grazed by a bullet from Frank (hiding behind a woman on the toilet), and finally kills the trigger happy criminal.Susan bandages McKinney's arm and they kiss. The detective is told that Kate has been taken away. McKinney and Susan run to the basement church were Houngan is standing over Kate's comatose body and Cordell is standing behind him with a shotgun. Houngan says that Cordell has ordered him to resurrect Kate, but McKinney tells Cordell that Kate is now at peace since all the people responsible for her condition are dead and to "let her go". Cordell tells Houngan to "finish it". Houngan says that he cannot "recover" Kate because Kate will not allow him, and Cordell shoots Houngan, knocking over some candles which set fire to Kate's body. Cordell picks up Kate's flaming body and they burn together as McKinney and Susan run outside and avoid an explosion.McKinney and Susan get into an ambulance to get away as the whole building begins to burn. But as they are driving down a road, a flaming Cordell follows them in another car. The ambulance driver jumps out and McKinney gets behind the wheel as the burning Cordell tries to reach his hand inside and literally pushes cars out of the way. McKinney tosses an oxygen take in the backseat of Cordell's car, but the maniac cop latches his arm onto the passenger's side door. The detective drives by a road sign, slicing Cordell's arm off and the ambulance flips over. Cordell stops the car, turns around and slams it into drive, but the car explodes when the oxygen tank explodes. McKinney lights a cigarette with Cordell's flaming severed arm.In the final scene, the burned-to-a-crisp bodies of Cordell and Kate lie side by side on tables in the morgue, and Cordell lovingly touches Kate's still body.

Tags: cult, violence

Review:
"Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence" is yet another solid sequel that is just as good as the previous two movies in the series.
Former killer cop, officer Cordell is resurrected to take care of some unfinished business and exact revenge on those who have disgraced a policewoman shot in the line of duty.Despite being made in 1993 Badge of Silence reeks of the 80s farmore than Cordells rotten flesh, basically it's part slasher flick, part cop shoot 'em up.
With a hint of the Bride of Frankenstein and a more blatant supernatural overtone Robert Z'Dar is reduced to a zombie with a bigger chin than Bruce Campbell as wronged cop Matt Cordell.
Top character actors Robert Forster and Paul Gleason have welcomed bit parts with Ted Raimi putting in cameo.Where as part one shocked because of its daylight surprise setting, two because of its dark tone, grit and seediness, part three is most notable for being the darkest looking instalment lacking it's own identity - it feels like an episode of the Equalizer starring The Terminator in places.
Nevertheless, to director William Lustig's credit and writer Cohen part 3 manages to mix a voodoo element on the gritty police backdrop successfully unlike for example Halloween 6 which followed two years later.Overall, while not as entertaining nor as well executed as its predecessor it's worth seeing if only for Caitlin Dulany and Davi's performances and also to hear Joel Goldsmith overlooked score..
Officer Matt Cordell (Robert D'Zar) returns yet again in this, the apparent final sequel to William Lustwigs 1988 original movie.Far from being laid to everlasting rest after having his name cleared in the previous entry, our undead psycho slayer is resurrected here once more, this time by a voodoo priest (for reasons that are never actually explained) However it seems that beneath all that rotting flesh is a lonely heart as evidenced when he takes an amorous interest in a female police officer after she is gunned down during a drug store robbery.
Before this, he resolves to bring about the violent dissolution of all those people who contributed to her comatose state and in addition those who would aggravate it (including in the later category the always excellent Robert Forster!)Returning once more is the welcome face of Robert Davi who ironically shares a similar agenda to Cordell i.e. to punish those responsible, but who is none too compliant with the undead marriage plans.It has to be said straight out that the film in question is not a patch on its two predecessors in terms of either story, script, action scenes or gore content.
However, having said this and despite the hokey plot, the film does contain a few great set pieces including a cool scene where Davi rolls down a hospital corridor on a bed towards the bad guys and jumps out from under the covers with guns blazing.Overall then, for fans of the series this is well worth a watch.
With Maniac Cop 2, director William Lustig and screenwriter Larry Cohen imagined a mixture of bloody slasher and crime thriller The French Connection, and delivered just about the most satisfying sequel imaginable to an original that was hardly great.
Having clear Matt Cordell's name and buried him with honours in tact, Detective Sean McKinney (Robert Davi) had hoped to have seen the last of the 'Maniac Cop'.
After being resurrected by a Voodoo priest, Cordell sees Sullivan as an equally tortured and unfairly disgraced soul, and sets about claiming her for his own.It's hard to know where to start with Maniac Cop 3, as the film is so lacking in ideas and structure that it barely has a beginning, middle and end.
Cordell, again played by Robert Z'Dar, is relegated to little more than a glorified cameo in his own movie, appearing ever now and then to carry out a bloody deed seemingly for Voodoo priest Houngan (Julius Harris), whose motives are still unclear when the credits roll.
As a fan of the first two Maniac Cop movies, it's easy to feel as cheated as Lustig did as he stormed off set..
Wounded following a routine robbery, a female officer is abducted by the Maniac Cop Matt Cordell forcing an officer with previous encounters against him to race to save her before he makes her like him.This here was actually an incredibly enjoyable film.
What is really fun and enjoyable in this kind of film is there's a lot of action in this one, starting with the opening as the voodoo ceremony over the casket followed by the resurrection in the cemetery is rather chilling and makes for some good atmosphere to open the film with, and the drug-store shootout here is just as nice.
The film is subtitled 'Badge of Silence', but 'Bride of Maniac Cop' would be more appropriate, since that's the road that the second sequel has chosen to go down.
The entire movie feels like it cant really be bothered, with the plot serving only in dishing up the relevant elements for Matt Cordell; the 'maniac cop' to go on another killing spree.
As a matter of fact, even if Larry Cohen's script has been modified and rewroten many times in order to fit a bit more with common production standarts (by that I mean for example the whole love story stuff...) Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence delivers in many many ways!
I truly andfully admit having been mesmerised by this wonderful gripping conclusion to Matt Cordel's (the Maniac Cop, still played by Robert Z'Dar) epic journey through nightmarish urban violence!
The overall here just feels like a series of random shots had been put together for a movie, as if they had given different directors free reigns to just do whatever they wanted and then patches their individual products together at the end during production.The story line in "Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence" was laughable at best.
It didn't really feel like there was any heart and soul added to this movie.I have now watched this third movie, and with it I will let Matt Cordell rest, because it was definitely much needed after strained two sequels..
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is my second favorite Action Horror flick from the 90's.
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993) is very underrated and it might be the worst one in the series but is my second favorite Action horror flick from the 90's and I still love it.
I know that this film is different from the first film that started all and I still think the director and cast crew did a great job in this final installment of Maniac Cop franchise.
Like I mentioned I love Action horror flicks and this one did delivered because it had some great action sequences and shootings that I did liked and I thought it was much better film than Maniac Cop 2 because Robert Davi's character Det. Sean McKinney had something to do than he did in the second film because wounded one criminal and through the rest of the film he didn't do anything except talking here he at least did something.The end of the film when Matt Cordell was in flame again and he died caring his bride Kate and Sean didn't do anything I was mad because I thought the film ended without Matt burning to death again and that's it?
I am glad Joel Soisson took over the direction when the original series director William Lustig just left the film project and refused to shoot the additional scenes the producers wanted and quit the project.Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence is a 1993 action horror film written by Larry Cohen and directed by William Lustig, and an uncredited Joel Soisson.
A voodoo priest resurrect Matt Cordell from dead once again to get revenge on the people for framing fellow officer Katie Sullivan in hostage rescue attempt.
Killing an insider the store clerk was Jessup's accomplice when she fired on Katie and Katie shooting her in the head was awesome, I love this scene.Jackie Earle Haley as Frank Jessup did a good terrific job as the villain in this film and Julius Harris also did a good job as a voodoo priest.
Robert Z'Dar as Matt Cordell did a good job performing his character not that good as he did in the first two films but I still like his performance in here.
The plot apparently was not the main consideration of the people who decided to make this, the second sequel to the 1988 surprise hit; that's the only way to explain why there are so many gaps in it (like "Who is that voodoo master?", "Why did he choose to resurrect the Maniac Cop" and "Why does the Maniac Cop kill / help good AND bad guys so arbitrarily?").
Matt Cordell, the "maniac cop" (Robert Z'Dar) is resurrected by a priest (Julius Harris, one of the stars of 1970s blaxploitation classics 'Black Caesar' and 'Superfly').
Meanwhile McKinney (Robert Davi), the cop who cleared Cordell's name in the previous movie, is outraged when his friend and fellow cop Katie Sullivan (Gretchen Becker), is seriously wounded in a robbery and accused of wrongfully shooting two "victims".
Though this film does have some competently staged action, MANIAC COP 3: BADGE OF SILENCE is unsettling and even tepid at times.The plot revolves around a rookie police officer, Kate Sullivan (Caitlin Dulany) who is currently in a coma after being injured in the line of duty.
He is obsessed with revenge on the corrupt officials who have wrongly accused and convicted Sullivan.It's up to Lt. Sean McKinney (Robert Davi, also a veteran of the MANIAC COP series) to stop Cordell before he precipitates yet another one of his own patented killing sprees, but frankly, it is too late...MANIAC COP 3: BADGE OF SILENCE was definitely the most pretentious entry in the truly well made MANIAC COP series.
Matt Cordell aka Maniac Cop is brought back from the dead by some voodoo priest and he tries to help out a female police officer that was gunned down and now on life support.
One of the few recommendation's is that Robert Davi returns as Det. Sean McKinney and also Robert Z'Dar is back as the horribly disfigured cop from the grave Matt Cordell.
The robber, in return, decides to sue the police force, which awakens our maniac cop (Robert Z'Dar) with the help of a voodoo priest.
Perhaps the fact that director William Lustig walked off the set, for some reason, is the reason for this.You can tell that this movie had some really good ideas in it but it just doesn't work out quite well enough all.It sounds strange but even Cordell just comes across as a totally pointless character in this movie, even though he is the titular maniac cop of the movie.
This time its perhaps more the other way around, with the movie focusing more on the 'human' characters and not the evil villainous Matt Cordell.
Of course all of the previous Maniac Cop movies are silly ones but at least the know to be fun and don't become ever very serious and instead goes more often over-the-top.Oh well, it at least still has Robert Davi and Jackie Earle Haley in it, who still keep the movie somewhat interesting and fun to watch, avoiding it from becoming a completely unwatchable one.Not hard to see why they decided on leaving the series at 3 movies.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence is a pretty good sequel to Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2.Written by Larry Cohen who wrote the previous two Maniac Cops and directed by William Lustig who directed the previous two Maniac Cops also some scenes was directed by Joel Soisson, Robert Devi returns as Sean McKinney and Robert Z'Dar returns as Matt Cordell.The film sees Matt Cordell returning from where Maniac Cop 2 finished off, this time he's after a female cop named Kate that was gunned down and is framed for killing a civilian.
The Maniac Cop shows up in the hospital killing people getting in his way and the staff that are not trying to help Kate Properly.Matt wants Kate for his wife since Houngan, a man that used magic to bring him to life again can return her soul into her body making her live again then she can be Matt's bride.But Sean McKinney is out to stop Matt again and save Kate's soul from Matt Cordell.
For instance, an early sequence in which Cordell (the titular Maniac Cop) throws a man up in the air then shoots him several times on the way down was very exciting, but then nothing like that happens for the rest of the movie.From the script and direction point of view, this movie is pretty interesting, involving a blacklisted cop in a coma that Cordell is trying to clear by killing everyone involved in her framing, and a lot of similar cop-thriller style direction from Lustig, but the movie just lacks any real spark.Don't get me wrong, Badge of Silence is still a reasonably fun watch.
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence starts where Maniac Cop 2 (1990) ended with the funeral of the Maniac Cop himself Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar).
The Maniac Cop Matt Cordell takes an interest in Kate & starts to kill those wanting to switch off her life support...The third, & thus far the last, entry in the Maniac Cop series of films Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence was originally going to be directed by William Lustig but was completed by co-producer Joel Soisson after Lustig walked out, apparently even scriptwriter Larry Cohen voiced a dissatisfaction at how the film ended up.
While parts of the film don't work as well as they could have I still think Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is a really good horror film.
It moves along at a nice pace, is never boring & entertains from start to finish.Director's Lustig & Soisson give the film a nice look & special mention goes to cinematographer Jacques Haitkin (who has worked on over 75 films) as Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence looks fabulous throughout, from the candle lit Voodoo rituals to the cold, clinical & sterile Hospital interiors this is one great looking, atmospheric & moody film.
There is a really cool car chase at the end with a burning Matt Cordell behind the wheel of a police car trying to catch McKinney.Technically Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence is very good, the stunts at the end are great, the photography is great, I really liked the music & it's generally well made.
The acting is pretty strong by all involved & Caitlin Dulany as Dr. Fowler is a bit of a babe & easy on the eye's.I really liked Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, it lacks a bit of logic but it tries to raise a few issues & have some twisted fun with them.
So after the dissapointment of 2 I wasn't exactly thrilled to see a 3rd installment, but after hearing so many good reviews, I bought it, and let me tell you it was worth every penny.!!!POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!A voodoo priest resurrects the corpse of officer Matt Cordell.
But to be precise, this 3rd entry in this popular horror series is not that gruesome at all, mostly downplaying the gore in favor of the stunt-filled action sequences.The Maniac Cop himself, Matt Cordell does not have much of a part in the story-line until the final act.
Matt Cordell's(..the formidable Robert Z'Dar, under heavy prosthetic make-up)restless soul is conjured by a voodoo priest, with the resurrected zombie seeking a mate, which is provided when he hears about a shoot-out at a pharmacy between a female cop, Katie Sullivan(Gretchen Becker)and a sadistic junkie, Jessup(Jackie Earle Haley).
Dr. Susan Fowler(Caitlin Dulany), the on-call physician over Jessup, who somehow survived multiple gun shot wounds from Katie's firearm, will assist McKinney while also falling in love with him during the process.Despite Larry Cohen's sloppy, incoherent mess of a script, director William Lustig and Joel Soisson(..Soisson, I'm guessing, was probably more associated with the stunt-work)unload plenty of action sequences which impress such as the final car chase between a burning Cordell trying to drive McKinney and Fowler off the road, or bloody shoot-outs where a heavy supply of squibs were utilized to show bullet-riddled bodies.
And "Maniac Cop" wasn't good enough to warrant the second installment, so you know it's even worse.
**MAJOR SPOILERS** Exonerated of the crimes he was framed for not the dozens, most of them cops, of innocent persons that he wipe out in the previous two "Maniac Cop" flicks Officer Matt Cordell, Robert Z'Dar, was finally laid to rest in a lavish inspectors funeral courtesy of the NYPD; Or was he!It just happens that this Voodoo priest, Henry Pensen, for reasons known only to himself has resurrected Cordell to go out on the streets and do his thing; Killing cops or anyone else who has the misfortune of getting in his way.
Cordell starts things off by killing everyone who, rightly or wrongly, was responsible from framing Katie, like they did to him, and hanging her out to dry!The film has Katie's former police partner Det. Sean McKinney, Robert Davi, try to get Jessup, who's been hospitalized, to come clean and tell the truth about why Katie shot both him and Terry but Cordell beats him to it.
Which includes himself and his bride to be the equally dead Katie Sullivan.With both officer McKinney and the now late Frank Jessup's, who was killed in a shootout at the hospital, doctor Susan Fowler, Caitlin Dulany, coming to Katie's rescue, thinking that she's still alive, Cordell literally explodes!
He was dead but she was deader!The least effective of the "Manaic Cop" film trilogy "Badge of Silence" was only saved by Cordells actions in the film that again lead to some two dozen people getting murdered by him including the man who brought him back from the dead Voodoo Priest Henry Pensen.