Der Exterminator

I love Synapse films. Along with Blue Underground, these guys are pretty much Criterion for fans of horror and exploitation, with movies like "Thriller: A Cruel Picture", "Frankenhooker" and "Maniac Cop" under their belt. So it makes perfect sense that they would release the vigilante movie favorite "The Exterminator" on a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. This is a mixed bag for me, as I don't have a Blu-Ray player, but I do have a DVD player, so I can watch the movie but not judge the two discs. I can however, judge the movie.

John Eastland (Robert Ginty) is a Vietnam vet whose war buddy and long time best friend Michael Jefferson (Steve James.) When Michael is fatally wounded by thugs, Eastland decides that not only those responsible should pay: the pimps, pushers and filth of the streets must be exterminated. Thing is, this is bad for the mayor, whose got an election coming up, so it's up to Detective James Dalton (Christopher George) to stop the man known to the city of New York as "The Exterminator."

While there are flaws in this movie (the relationship between Dalton and a nurse played by Samantha Eggar feels unnecessary), this is a prime example of early 80's exploitation. While gore-hounds will be let down (only a gnarly decapitation in a Vietnam flashback), the violence here is vicious and unrelenting-in fact, largely skimping on splatter actually helps enhance the brutality on display-and boy is it a vicious little movie. Eastland is not a man who plays around, setting people ablaze, dropping them in meat-grinders, shooting them with mercury laced bullets-he means business. Also, exploitation fans will more than likely enjoy this, as this is the type of movie that shows you New York before it was cleaned up. This is a world of drug pushers, murderers, and more-the scum of the Earth, and The Exterminator has had enough of them.

It also helps that this is a well directed and mostly well acted movie. James Glickenhouse* films the whole thing in a matter of fact style-no flashy editing or tricks here, just the worst the city has to offer and ugly violence pushed into your face, which aids the already gritty tone of the movie. Meanwhile, Ginty (who most may remember from the MST3K movie "Warriors of the Lost World") has a kind of Charles Bronson like quality-not as good of an actor, but he doesn't really look like an action star. He just looks like a regular guy, and the actor thankfully manages to make Eastland human but not too sympathetic. If anything, he's a psychopath. George meanwhile, plays the guy who may be the most likable character. He doesn't want The Exterminator killing people, but he understands why he's doing it, and doesn't seem to care much for the corrupt political and police establishment around him.

For fans of revenge movies and exploitation, "The Exterminator" is something that must be seen. Is it a perfect movie? No, but it get's the job done without any added bulls#!t.

*Glickenhouse also wrote this movie, and directed the Christopher Walken action movie "McBain", Jackie Chan's ill-advised U.S. debut "The Protector" and the Peter Weller/Sam Elliot cop movie "Shakedown." He also produced "Basket Case 2", "Frankenhooker", "Maniac Cop" and the Joe Don Baker vehicle "Ring of Steel."

In New York John Eastland an Vietnam Veteran turns vigilante when his best friend/Vietnam buddy is attacked by a group of thugs and left paralysed. Since his buddy saved his life in Vietnam, he thought he should do him a favour. So John becomes a one-man show and goes out and gives some of his own justice to these lowlifes. After taking care of that gang, he sets his sights higher, by trying to bring down the city's seedy and dark underground. He calls himself the Exterminator, but police see him as nothing than a psychopathic killer, but the CIA and Government officials see him more as a threat because they believe he could undermine an entire government administration. The media and public, see him as a (anti) hero and these corrupt officials don't want that.

This is one of the many vigilante/exploitation films that flooded the screens within 70's and 80's period… thanks to "Death Wish", which were only meant to shock you with relentless violence and grit. Well, this supposedly DVD I watch claims to be the director's cut, but some sequences definitely feel like they were trimmed… unless that was the director's choice, but I doubt it because they felt odd and was mostly around the violence.

Anyway what we got here is a remotely entertaining low-budget vigilante piece, but really it's nothing we haven't seen before. If your expecting a whole lotta' graphic violence, you might be disappointed as it was rather tame in spots where it could have been grisly to watch. But saying that it does have a couple of shocking moments, but really not enough to make it stand out from the rest of its field. It was rather comic book style violence, with it being more nasty than bloody. What makes it a little tiresome is that a lot of time it skews away from our vigilante doing his work, in favour for a budding romance between a cop and doctor, it just didn't add anything, well not for me. It could have scrap that idea and delve more into the Exterminator's psyche, or please more gripping action. Yes action, the film just lacked something big… I was hoping for more. Especially when we are thrown right into the action when the film begins, but I was sorely disappointed and the exploitative nature was just uneven and what was the deal with the wrenching images. Sometimes the material tries too hard to be moving and have a softer side. It just didn't work for me. You just think, oh this going to be great, with some promising torture scenes and tussles, but honestly you feel short changed with the outcome of most, as there seems to be more of a focus on the aftermath. What didn't help was that some moments are actually unintentionally humorous. But on the other hand there are some nice ideas in the bunch, but it just could've been executed in a better fashion. The plot tries to cover some social discussions involving the Vietnam War, Cheap labour, street crime, media, child prostitution corrupt officials and plenty of wry humour mixed in. Although, there's nothing about these messages that are exceptional or haven't been handled better.

What blew me away was that director James Glickenhaus pulls you into the seedy and dirty streets of New York. He truly makes the raw environment an unpleasant experience to view, along with the scum who walk it. Camera work was potent with some well established shots, with plenty of close ups and fast moving shooting. Also the director loved his slow-mow! Soundtrack was very 70's. A sample of the decade indeed. But there are some odd song choices in certain parts of the film, but they were reasonably groovy and swinging in mood. Although, the editing was annoying at times, it was real choppy and because of that there's several incoherent sequences and stuff left up in the air. Just like the unthinkable ending (that took me by the blue), which is messily put together. Performances are fair, even if Robert Ginty is bland as the crusader and Christopher George makes the most of his character. Though, those people playing the CIA agents really hammed it up with inane dialogue and hilarious appearances.

Mediocre at best, with some heart pounding moments and clever touches, but I just thought it could've been far better. Maybe I was expecting too much? Nonetheless, it did its job by keeping me entertained for the odd 90 minutes or so. That's good enough for me.

When Vietnam veteran John Eastman's (Robert Ginty) best friend Michael Jefferson (Steve James) is brutally attacked by street gang the Ghetto Ghouls leaving Michael paralyzed, John takes it upon himself to clear the streets of crime under the alias The Exterminator. As NYPD Detective Dalton (Christopher George) tracks down The Exterminator, elements of the CIA take an interest in John's crusade against crime believing it threatens their interests.

The Exterminator is the second film of filmmaker James Glickenhaus and arguably the one that cements his style as a director. After the experience of making an releasing The Astrologer (aka The Suicide Cult), Glcikenhaus decided his next film would be written with as little dialogue as possible which lead to him developing and financing The Exterminator. While the movie was made with the intention of distributing it through the international market, the film proved a sizable hit within the United States making $6 million in the New York alone and would make both star Robert Ginty and writer/director James Glickenhaus staples of B-movies throughout the 80s. While The Exterminator doesn't break far from the tropes of the genre established by Death Wish and its contemporaries, it doesn't pretend to be anymore than it actually is and sidesteps the pseudo discussions and some of the crypto racism inherent to the genre.

Robert Ginty is really well cast as John Eastman and according to Glickenhaus he chose because not only did he find him a good actor, but also thought he brought an approachable everyman quality to the character Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson couldn't. Ginty and Steve James have terrific chemistry in the film and from the opening scene where Michael saves John's life in Vietnam you buy them as friends and do get invested in their relationship. But despite Ginty portraying a likable personality, he also brings a simmering intensity to the scenes where he's taking on the city's criminal elements from low level street thugs to mid-level gangsters with some scenes involving a meat grinder or a flamethrower being particularly memorable. The movie also gives us another fun turn in Christopher George as Detective Dalton who's investigating The Exterminator and while he does fill the requisite for the character type in a movie like this, he also adds a certain level of humor and humanity such as his love story with Samantha Eggar's Dr. Megan Stewart or some unique little quirks he has such as cooking a hot dog with two forks wired to his desk lamp. Now I'm not going to act like the movie is flawless because at the end of the day it is still a violent and slightly stupid wish fulfillment fantasy, but there's also some other issues at play such as the rather choppy feeling of the editing with some parts such as Michael Jefferson's family feeling really underdeveloped, or the soundtrack which features a lot of slow emotional acoustic guitar backed ballads that feels like it's trying to copy the San Anton song from Rolling Thunder. Pretty much any vigilante movie that tries to ape Paul Schrader is doomed to fail because only Paul Schrader can add that little extra something to a movie like this (Hardcore, Rolling Thunder, Taxi Driver, etc.). The movie didn't need to be Paul Schrader, we have one of those, just be The Exterminator and own it.

The Exterminator is unapologetically b-movie trash but it's fun b-movie trash especially in comparison to stuff like Death Wish II or Fighting Back. If you like this kind of movie there's plenty to appreciate here.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited the 104 mins version recently. This film is a solid vigilante stuff with good effects, specially the decapitation scene by Stan Winston.

The meat grinder scene made me squirm. The sub plot of the love story between the detective n the nurse wasn't required n that is the only stuff which slowed the movie.

This is not a great film, in fact it can't even be considered a "good film," when you take into account the poor, confusing editing, ugly cinematography and some bad acting. What makes "The Exterminator" a valuable movie, is it's "grindhouse credibility. This is one of the few movies of it's kind that actually makes me a little sick when I watch it, and similar films like "Death Wish" and "Vigilante" don't succeed in doing that. Yes, they are both way superior films, but they don't pack the punch that this sleazy movie from 1980 achieves in spades. You have the Vietnam Vet, still feeling the effects of one jungle, when he is thrust into another jungle, the urban jungle of New York city at the very end of the 1970's. The film's anti-hero is hunting the true filth of the Earth, mafioso, child molesters and murdering gang members. At the heart of the story is an ongoing struggle between him and "The Ghetto Ghouls," a hyper violent gang that is terrorizing New York. Offering some great, vintage location scenes of New York landmarks, like the West Side's meat packing district, the crime ridden Central Park, and the slime ridden Times Square. For these qualities the movie has value. It's a rough movie, but this one should be appreciated by fans of violent revenge movies from back in the day. The version I saw on Bluray appeared kind of choppy, like some scenes were missing. If there is an even nastier version of this one in existence, I can't even imagine what they cut..