Maniac Cop remake to be directed by Universal Soldier: DOR’s John Hyams!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Now this is a remake I can get behind! We’ve know for years that Nicolas Winding Refn has been put in charge of bringing a remake of William Lustig’s MANIAC COP to the screen, but now we know who will helm it: John Hyams, the director of the explosive UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING, as well as UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION. The script was penned by Ed Brubaker (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER).

Now, it’s easy for all of us to climb aboard the “remakes suck” train at every stop, but this one I’m in favor of. For starters, the original MANIAC COP is far from untouchable; yes, it’s fun, but in my mind it has never been a “classic” of any kind. (Not unlike Lustig’s MANIAC, which was remade effectively by Franck Khalfoun.) Secondly, Hyams’ DAY OF RECKONING is a fairly powerful and disturbing flick; not high art at all, but a frequently mesmerizing piece of exploitation. And violent, my lord, that is a punishingly violent movie.

This news has just broken out of Fantastic Fest in Austin (according to Twitch, Refn revealed the news himself), so we’ll await further details. But I’m kind of excited for this one, call me a maniac.

Here’s the original film’s synopsis:

Innocent people are brutally killed on the streets of New York by a uniformed police officer. A young cop, Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) finds himself marked as the chief suspect after his wife is murdered. As Lieutenant Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins) investigates, the death toll rises and he suspects a mysterious police cover-up. This “maniac” cop must be stopped, but it might not be so easy. He seems inhuman, and ready to take on the entire police force, hell-bent on revenge!