manage to throw an oxygen tank into the burning car before both crash. However, before Cordell can back up on the other disabled vehicle, the canister goes off, blowing up the car. Later, the charred corpse of Katie is rolled into a morgue, next to the burned remains of Cordell. While the lone coroner, who rolled Katie into the morgue, is busy with his computer, the camera pans to the bodies, which shows Cordell's hand moving over to hold Katie's hand. Cast Robert Z'Dar as Officer Matt Cordell / The Maniac Cop Robert Davi as Detective Lieutenant Sean McKinney Caitlin Dulany as Dr. Susan Fowler Gretchen Becker as Officer Katie Sullivan Paul Gleason as Hank Cooney Jackie Earle Haley as Frank Jessup Julius Harris as Houngan Malfaiteur Grand L. Bush as William Doug Savant as Dr. Peter Myerson Robert Forster as Dr. Powell Bobby Di Cicco as Bishop Frank Pesce as Tribble Lou Diaz as Lieutenant Leon Brenda Varda as Gina Lindsey Vanessa Marquez as Terry Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter as Janitor Jophery Brown as Degrazia Vinnie Curto as Kenyon Production The original script featured a Black detective investigating a series of murders in a hospital in Harlem, New York. As the film was already in pre-production, and Lustig had started scouting location and casting actors, the pre-sale to Japan had not come through. According to Lustig, the Japanese distributor did not want a Black lead in the film, and sought Robert Davi instead. Lustig pleaded against it, but eventually Davi was cast. "Suddenly, we had a script that didn't make any sense", said Lustig in a 2019 interview. Larry Cohen refused to rewrite the script, unless he was paid for the additional work. The producers declined to pay him. As a result, Lustig had to improvise and cut scenes from the script. "We got to a point where we shot all the scenes we could shoot, after cutting all the other stuff out of the script, and it came out to be like an hour long movie", said Lustig. "So they had to go out and shoot scenes that were just filler." At that point, Lustig walked away from the film. The film is credited to Alan Smithee. Release Home media Maniac Cop III was rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America and upheld on appeal. It was released on home video in the United States by Academy Releasing.