History Film / ManiacCop

[[caption-width-right:300:[[JustForPun The wrong arm of the law.]]]]

** He also [[spoiler:screams at the very end of the first film when he's impaled by a suspended pipe]]. Though considering how much this clashes with the rest of the film, it might count as {{Discontinuity}}.

* MurderIntoMalevolence: Subverted. The eponymous character was LawfulGood before being framed, sent to jail, and subsequently attacked in prison. In this case, it's implied that he's a RevenantZombie (which the sequel confirms and runs with), but his more brutal behavior is down to brain damage changing his personality rather than being undead.

* AdultFear: The very people you trust to protect you? They turn out to be the very people you need protection from.

** Fowler, the officer assigned to guard Mallory, spends his brief screen time flirting with her and insulting her. Thus, its hard to feel bad when Cordell kills him.

* BungledSuicide: [[spoiler:Cordell's girlfriend Sally Noland attempted to kill herself when he was sent to prison. She failed, and now she wears legbraces because of it.]]

* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Ripley]] tries to fight Cordell hand to hand when he corners him. [[NoSell It doesn’t work]].

* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Cordell was already pretty badass, since he managed to single-handedly fight his attackers in the shower when they were armed and he ... [[FullFrontalAssault was in the shower]]. After coming back to life, not only is he immensely strong, but completely impervious to bullets and almost all weapons.
* TheEndOrIsIt?: [[spoiler:The film ends with Cordell ambushing Mayor Killium In his office.]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: For being a brain damaged walking corpse, Cordell is a crack shot on the few occasions he uses his revolver, getting six for six headshots at the start of his police station massacre (before he switches to a bigger gun and [[MoreDakka another trope]] kicks in) and throwing his first victim in the third film high into the air and plugging him repeatedly before he hits the ground.

* {{Jerkass}}: Lieutenant Ripley and Commissioner Pike are total dicks to everyone, do absolutely nothing about Cordell and are content to sit on their asses while the killings continue, and imply that [=McRae=] could be the killer when he suggests doing something about it.

* OffscreenTeleportation: After Cordell unsuccesfully tries to kill Officer Mallory, she and [=McRae=] empty their revolvers at him. He disappears between cuts after this happens.

* SanitySlippage: Ellen Forrest, thanks to constant harassment from [[spoiler:Sally Noland]] and marital troubles comes to believe her husband is the killer. It turns out that he’s cheating on her instead.

** He also [[spoiler: screams at the very end of the first film when he's impaled by a suspended pipe]]. Though considering how much this clashes with the rest of the film, it might count as {{Discontinuity}}.
* WholePlotReference: The concept of a uniformed KillerCop committing serial killings harkens back to the ''Film/DirtyHarry'' installment ''Film/MagnumForce'' where the BigBad ringleader of {{Killer Cop}}s was played by Creator/HalHolbrook, who co-starred with Tom Atkins, who plays DecoyProtagonist Frank [=McRae=], in ''Film/TheFog1980'' and ''Film/{{Creepshow}}''. Furthermore, the character of Jack Forrest during the first half is basically fulfilling the role of Charlie [=McCoy=] (who was played by Mitch Ryan, who co-starred with Atkins in ''Film/LethalWeapon'' a year earlier before this movie's release) as a troubled cop with marriage problems who is initially suspected for the killings.

* WholePlotReference: The concept of a uniformed KillerCop committing serial killings harkens back to the ''Film/DirtyHarry'' installment ''Film/MagnumForce'' where the BigBad ringleader of {{Killer Cop}}s was played by Creator/HalHolbrook, who co-starred with Tom Atkins, who plays DecoyProtagonist Frank [=McRae=], in ''Film/TheFog'' and ''Film/{{Creepshow}}''. Furthermore, the character of Jack Forrest during the first half is basically fulfilling the role of Charlie [=McCoy=] (who was played by Mitch Ryan, who co-starred with Atkins in ''Film/LethalWeapon'' a year earlier before this movie's release) as a troubled cop with marriage problems who is initially suspected for the killings.

* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:Sally Noland, who was Cordell's girlfriend before he was arrested, feeds him information from the inside.]]

* OrphanedPunchline