‘Maniac Cop’ Remake Director Offers Updates and Teases New Tone

Conflicting reports about a remake of Maniac Cop have emerged over the years, with fans hearing little about the project in recent months. The film’s attached director, John Hyams, recently offered an update on the film’s status and how it will differ from the source material.

“It will be a completely different thing tonally,” Hyams shared with The Movie Crypt podcast. “I think that’s why I was hired. I think the reason why [producer] Nick [Winding Refn] was interested in me was because he saw what I had done with Universal Soldier, in the sense that I took it and made it my own and went completely off the reservation with it. Nick Refn loves exploitation cinema as much as the next guy, but he also is not interested in paying homage to things. He loves Maniac Cop, he loves the idea of it, he loves everything it represents, but he has no intention of making a tribute story.”

The original 1988 film features police officers seeking a killer who is a former officer that was presumed dead and has somehow returned from the grave. That film starred Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, and Robert Z’Dar.

“We’ve spent the last several years now developing this thing and… what we’re trying to do is make something that we’re taking the ideas of Maniac Cop and exploring them in a deep way,” Hyams continued. “Our hope is that this is something that people who are fans of the original will find great pleasure in what we’re doing, because if you’re into genre storytelling you’re going to be into it, but I also think we’re telling a story about something bigger than that, which is really the breakdown of society.… It’s a big story that needed a larger canvas.”

These recent comments are a drastic difference from comments made by the original film’s writer, Larry Cohen, who expressed last fall that the remake was virtually dead.

“As far as I know, that’s not happening anymore, and if it is, they might be trying to keep it a secret, as they’d owe me $250,000,” Cohen reportedly shared at a screening of Maniac Cop 2, according to Birth.Movies.Death.

“As far as I know, [Refn] was the one trying to get the money raised to make the picture, and he didn’t get it, so now it’s not happening,” Cohen added. “If it is, I would like to be paid, or I’m going to call my lawyer, and it’s getting shut down.”

Stay tuned for details on the remake of Maniac Cop.

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[H/T Entertainment Weekly]