It was 1987 when Robocop directed by Paul Verhoeven was released in cinemas where an honest Detroit policeman was killed by a gang of criminals and then "resurrected" in the form of a cyborg by the multinational OCP to vanquish the rampant crime of a hypothetical future.
Given the success, the film will have 2 more sequels (1990 Robocop 2 directed by Irvin Kershner and 1993 Robocop 3 directed by Fred Dekker) and a remake in 2014.
An animated series was also created in 1988 consisting of 12 episodes.
In 1993, a 22-episode one-season TV series was released, simply titled Robocop: The Series.
Given the target audience of both series for children, violence was abolished unlike in the first film.
All three Robocop and the remake are available on DVD and bluray.
The bluray of the first was released in a director's cut edition which contains about thirty seconds longer than the old versions.
However, it is useless to dwell too much on such famous films that you will surely know all.
Only some time later Larry Cohen and William Lustig were having lunch together and chatting about this and that.
Larry Cohen had a brilliant idea: why not create a maniac cop, a kind of zombie-cop?
And here in 1988 the first Maniac cop was released directed by William Lustig and starring the actor Robert Z'Dar who after graduating will work for a while as a policeman (and in 1987 he will star in the film J.J. Stryker directed by Max Kleven as a serial killer).
A mysterious and fearsome policeman is committing bloody crimes in New York.
It will later turn out to be Matt Cordell, an incorruptible policeman killed during a riot in the Sing Sing prison and "resurrected" by Doctor Gruber through a complicated organ transplant.
Of note is the presence of Bruce Campbell (fresh from the success of Evil Dead) as an actor.
The film will have 2 sequels.
Maniac Cop 2 of 1990 also directed by William Lustig and Maniac Cop 3 the badge of silence of 1992 directed by William Lustig (who abandoned the film before the conclusion due to artistic differences) and Joel Soisson.
There is also a television version for the Japanese market which contains some additional scenes (mostly dialogues).
A few years later, in 1989, probably driven by the success of Maniac cop, Psycho cop was released, directed by Wallace Potts and starring Robert R. Shafer (who in my opinion looks a bit like Michael Madsen).
During a relaxing weekend in an isolated house, six university students are humiliated and killed one by one by a terrible Satanist psychopathic policeman who punishes the boys for their immoral behavior.
There is a sequel Psycho cop returns of 1993 directed by Adam Rifkin more fun than the first.
It has more pace and blood and the decor of the Psycho Cop car is worth the viewing alone.
Do you think the adventure started with Robocop ended here?
We've just begun!
Let's move away from the U.S.A. and take a trip to Hong Kong.
In 1990, Magic cop (a.k.a. Mr Vampire 5, original title Qu mo jing cha) was released, directed by Wei Tung and starring actor Ching-Ying Lam.
An ex-Hong Kong policeman skilled in witchcraft and wizardry returns to the city
to stop the leader of a drug gang who appears to be an evil witch.
A decently successful blend of horror, comedy and martial arts straight from the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema.
Again in 1990, Demon cop directed by Rocco Karega comes out.
An ex-cop who escaped from an insane asylum roams the city in search of victims whose blood can cure the disease that has turned him into a monster / demon / werewolf.
One of the last films starring Cameron Mitchell.
Also 1990 continues with Vampire cop directed by Donald Farmer.
Ed Cannon plays Lucas, the hero of the film.
He's a vamp cop (a vampire cop) who kills bad guys.
Among the actors in the film there is Mal Arnold who played Fuad Ramses in the 1963 cult Blood feast by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Curiosity: in 1993 the director directed an ignoble sequel to Meir Zarchi's Don't rape Jennifer (1978) entitled Savage vengeance with the same leading actress of the first film who undertook a pseudonym.
We continue with Omega cop directed by Paul Kyriazi in 1990.
Set in a hypothetical future after an atomic conflict where some of the survivors have become mutant killers.
However, normal survivors can count on the Omega cops.
It also had a sequel in 1991 entitled Karate cop directed by Alan Roberts.
In 1991 we have Zombie Cop directed by J.R. Bookwalter, a director who directed and produced numerous horror films, among which we recall at least the interesting The dead next door from 1989.
During a drug raid narcotics agent Robert Gill confronts a strange voodoo priest named Dr. Death and both die in the shootout.
But just before dying, the priest recites a strange voodoo spell that will lead the two to rise from their graves and return to the land of the living as zombies.
Dr. Death has risen with a new mission in mind: to conquer the world.
And it will be up to the Zombie cop to stop him.
In 1993 the first film of the Cyborg cop trilogy directed by Sam Firstenberg was released.
Jack Ryan ex-dea policeman (the American federal drug agency) receives a message for help from his brother Philip from St. Keith Island, in the Caribbean.
He decides to go there to find it and discovers that a mad scientist, Kessel, is turning men into murderous cyborgs to sell them on the black market.
The sequels are Cyborg Cop II of 1994 directed by Sam Firstenberg and Cyborg Cop III of 1995 directed by Yossi Wein.
Let's go to 1994 when Lunarcop directed by Boaz Davidson comes out.
Year 2050.
The earth has dried up due to the sun's rays which the ozone layer is no longer able to filter.
A few isolated communities try to survive and defend food and water supplies from motorized gangs.
While the richest have taken refuge on the moon where scientists have discovered a way to stop the atmospheric collapse: Amaranth 3.
A terrorist commando raids the laboratories and takes possession of the formula which is transferred to Earth.
In an attempt to recover it, agent Joe Brody the Lunar cop will be sent.
Also in 1994, the first Scanner cop directed by Pierre David was released.
The little scanner Samuel Staziak (I hope you all know what a scanner is and have seen Scanners by David Cronenberg from 1981) lives peacefully with his father who teaches him to control his power.
One day, however, the father is killed by a policeman right under the eyes of Samuel.
A kind-hearted cop who witnessed his father's death decides to adopt Samuel.
Once he grows up, the boy enlists in the police and investigates a case of strange deaths due to a mad scientist.
Good special effects with a head explosion at the end in the best Scanner tradition.
Of note in the successful part of the villain Richard Lynch, actor of many horror films and the like, among which I want to at least mention the little-known but valid film Mysteria (1976) directed by Robert Allen Schnitzer.
The film will have a sequel in 1995 entitled Scanner cop 2 directed by Steve Barnett where in the part of the bad scanner we find Patrick Kilpatrick, an actor present in many b movies.
Wolfcop was also released in 2014 a splatter horror comedy directed by Lowell Dean.
An alcoholic cop realizes that he's been turned into a werewolf as part of a larger plan, so he investigates with the help of his colleague and a friend.
There is a sequel of 2017 called Another WolfCop directed by Lowell Dean.
I left out the most famous films such as Beverly hills cop and those films that had little to do with horror or science fiction such as Samurai cop (1989) directed by Amir Shervan (which is more of a thriller/police/martial arts film) where playing the villain is Maniac cop Robert Z'Dar.
In 1987, the same director also directed Hollywood cop.
Then Psychedelic Cop (2002), Crazed Cop (1986), Vigilante Cop (1991), Gladiator cop (1995), Timecop (1994) which I didn't want to include for Van Damme, Twilight Zone Cops: My Spirited Wife (2001) and Twilight Zone Cops: Ghost Driven (2002) which I haven't seen yet and Vampire cop Ricky (2006) which is a comedy.
Well, as we have seen there are cops in all guises: Zombies, Maniacs, Demons, Cyborgs, Vampires, Scanners, Omegas and so on and so forth.
Not the cop in the title but in the movie Full Eclipse (1994, directed by Anthony Hickox) a group of policemen, thanks to the help of a drug, can be transformed into werewolves.
However, a Mummy Cop is missing, strange that no one has thought of it.
Next time a cop stops you make sure it's not one of them or you'll have a hard time.
