Atkins in Maniac Cop (1987)

 No matter how many times I watch Maniac Cop (1987), Tom Atkins' death remains just a bummer that sinks me. I have to recover from it as if a punch in the stomach took the wind out of my sails. This was a case where Campbell, a straight, no-frills performance and character, isn't actually the choice many would prefer to make it by film's end as Atkins, a no-nonsense, grizzled cop who investigates Sheree North after Laureen Landon, an undercover-as-hooker street cop, tips him off to her; this coming after Z'Dar nearly chokes Landon to death. Atkins gets too close to the humongous, undead psycho and is tossed out a second story window into a car below. I remember a member of our IMDb message board community telling me the theater folks attending when he was gasped when Atkins was killed. On In Search of Darkness II, Atkins brought up how weird it was that he was killed off so early in the film. That Lustig went for a big shock to the audience, while he was built as a big star of the film, his name the first in the credits. And I think he's certainly presented by Lustig as the big star of the film, although by the end it was Bruce Campbell combating Z'Dar, discredited cop against discredited cop. I'm just glad Atkins was treated a lot better in Night of the Creeps. Well deserved and done right by Fred Dekker.