10 Most Underrated Slasher Movie Villains

7. Matt Cordell - Maniac Cop

Maniac movie
Shapiro-Glickenhaus

Matt Cordell is the titular villain of the Maniac Cop trilogy - a series of 80s & 90s slasher movies which follow a zombie cop (Robert Z'Dar) murdering crooks and innocents alike on the streets of New York. Wrongly accused of Cordell's crimes, Jack (Bruce Campbell) fights to clear his name, going toe-to-toe with the murderous cop in the first film's finale.

It's mostly downhill from there by the time the series reaches its third instalment - Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence - but the hulking, menacing Matt Cordell is a tremendous horror creation - think Jason Voorhees in a cop uniform.

Recent events have made the film's premise a timely one - what if a cop was a horror villain? - but even shorn of that, Maniac Cop is one of the 80s most unusual slasher movies, with fun action, a great cast (Campbell, Tom Atkins and Richard Roundtree?) and a fantastic villain.

Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.