The New York Ripper (1982)

So beginneth the Fulci rant.....

For the life of me (no pun intended) I have no idea why I rented so many Fulci films. I've seen a lot of his catalog, and this one (along with Cat in the Brain) has to be the worst. It's one of his most "infamous".
It's his most infamous because of a serial killer doing a Donald Duck impression and seeing a lot of women cut up in various gruesome and sick, sick ways. The film has all the usual Fulci ingredients: bad story, atrocious dialogue, bad dubbing (though I'm sure this would be a piece of garbage in Italian as well), crappy camera work, just all around unprofessional, tacky, and a complete waste of time. I kick myself a lot when I decided "I should give this guy a chance", so I saw a lot of his films (too many), and I dread the name Fulci, as it is synonymous with "worst films ever made".

I think the BBFC did the larger viewing public a disservice when they classified this as a "video nasty" (and other Fulci works), because it made many people go out and seek it out. They should have just let it slide through and labeled it "mediocre, preposterously s****y, enormous toilet dropping of a movie". I sometimes think that because Fulci is so reviled by many that people assume he must be a genius that "film snobs" or "elites" don't get. This isn't true at all. He's just a really bad filmmaker who made a couple of decent films (Zombie is his most consistent), and upped the gore quotient in the horror genre. Just because a government body like the BBFC (British Board of Film Censors) ban stuff like this doesn't make it art, you know.

The Fulci rant continueth on House by the Cemetery... September 26, 2008

Solid 80's horror from Fulci

If you're viewing this product you most likely know who Lucio Fulci is and what type of films he is famous for, so we'll skip the history lesson and the usual paragraph of unconditional fawning that would normally start a review of one of his movies.

Fulci takes a little break from super natural/fantasy type of horror with The New York Ripper and gives us an attempt at a more realistic story about a serial killer in the Big Apple. That's not to say the gore that he's known for isn't present, the guts are in abundance here and the sleaze factor runs at an all time high! Ripper tells the story of a NY detective on the trail of a killer who seemingly targets young promiscuous women and disposes of them in some exceptionally brutal ways. Oh, and he talks like Donald Duck too.

The main premise of the story is pretty straight forward, however during the segments in between murder scenes it gets pretty dull and becomes difficult to follow with its ill-timed introductions to new characters half way through the movie. The ending and identity of the killer should come as a surprise as vital details of the story clumsily emerge in the final minutes. With a lack of any truly likable or interesting characters, I'd have to say The New York Ripper was just okay for me. Obviously commenting on plot points in a Fulci flick is rather pointless, but even with the heavy gore I felt the movie was just a few notches above mediocre. I recommend it to hardcore Fulci/gore fans. September 23, 2008

Lucio Fulci at his best!!!!

I am a fan of the Giallo films and love Dario Argento's films so I wanted to expand and see what other directors take on it. So I was recomended to check out films on Lucio Fulci and my first choice was to see THE NEW YORK RIPPER. I mean this film has what a Giallo film needs (a mysterious black gloved killer,tons of blood/kills, and loads of Female Nudity) Sounds like my time of movie!!! This film is really SLEEZY, wich I don't mind and love about it.

Other than that it delivers and what you expect from Fulci. Women are being turned up dead left and right and it's up to a detective to solve the crime. The killer talks like Donald Duck and that was disturbing. I will never look at Donald Duck the same way again.

Bottom line a 10/10

I also Recomend:
LIZARD IN A WOMEN'S SKIN
DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING
DELIRIUM: PHOTO OF GLORIA
YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY
THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH September 17, 2008

A good one out of the Fulci collection

While I am not a Fulci inconditional, I am a fan of horror flicks. Among the Italian giallo style, this one is a pretty good -Fulci substyle- one. For instance, it is way superior to Sergio Martino's Torso and some others alike. The dialogs and acting are descent, and the main story is well conducted so you have several suspects for the Donald Duck voiced maniac. Lots of gore, nudity, sleaze, and soft core scenes. As usual you will se the "maestro" showing up during some brief not bad acting. I own an Another World Entertainment (AWE) PAL copy that looks comparable to this Underground NTSC version. It comes under a nice widescreen and a crisp clear picture transfer. While the feature lenght indicates 92 min, the actual movie is about 89 min. August 30, 2008

Fulci's most brutal movie ever!

In the seedy streets of New York City, a savage killer who talks like a cartoon duck is the loose at night stalking innocent women and slaughtering them in horrific ways you can't imagine. Detective Williams and the rest of the cops are on the verge to find this sick demented killer who keeps spilling entrails on the streets leaving them horrific clues to find, they will need to find him on whoever is next on the list of htis maniac.

A horrifying, nasty, sleazy and unpleasant Italian slasher crime flick is Lucio Fulci's most controversial yet! the film has been notorious for being sexist with it's depiction of women being killed in terrible ways even in the private areas, the film is as shocking as they say. It's difficult to watch at times with the violence and torture such as a woman getting her nipple sliced off in a way that tops the one from "Ichi The Killer", the acting isn't too bad and the music score is quite groovy yet it even enhances the mood of this trashy little film.

This DVD is the re-issue of Anchor Bay's excellent release with good sound and picture quality with two extras which are a trailer and a bio on the infamous Italian director, this movie isn't for everyone and definitely not for the faint of heart but for those brave enough to stomach this quite good gore and sleaze-o-rama then this is a must see for gorehounrds and Italian horror fans.

Also recommended: "Ichi The Killer", "The Untold Story", "Maniac (1980)", "Demons", "City of the Living Dead (a.k.a. Gates of Hell)", "Zombie (a.k.a. Zombi 2)", "Se7en", "Saw Series", "Severance", "House By The Cemetery", "Driller Killer", "Untracable", "Hostel 1 & 2", "Men Behind The Sun", "The Hills Have Eyes (1977 and 2006)", "High Tension", "Bloodsucking Freaks", "Last House on The Left", "The Toxic Avenger", "Opera", "Inferno", "Suspiria", "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", "Wolf Creek", "Silence of the Lambs", "Manhunter", "Hannibal", "Stage Fright (1987)", "Silent Hill", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Perfect Blue", "Tenebre", "Angel Heart", "House of 1000 Corpses", "The Devil's Rejects", "Captivity", "Borderland", "Frontier(s)", "Wrong Turn", "Cat O'Nine Tails", "Re-Animator", "Blood Feast", "Blood Diner", "Lizard in a Woman's Skin", "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage", "Deep Red", "Don't Torture a Duckling", "Cannibal Ferox", "Man Bites Dog", "Pieces", "Cat in The Brain", "An American Werewolf in London", "Freddy Vs. Jason", "Friday The 13th Series", "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2", "Jungle Holocaust", "Cannibal Holocaust", "From Hell", "Inside (2007)", "Hellraiser 1 & 2", "Cannibal Apocalypse", "Halloween (1978 and 2007)", "Candyman", "Mother of Tears", "Sweeny Todd (2007)", "American Psycho", "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky", "Nightmare (1981)", "Phenomena" and "The Beyond". August 20, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...