El descuartizador de Nueva York

The late Italian director Lucio Fulci remains a controversial figure among horror film fans. Some view him merely as a hack exploitation director, who unsuccessfully tried to mimic the ideas and techniques of skilled horror directors such as Dario Argento and George Romero. Others view him as a directorial genius with his own distinctive style. Upon viewing my first Fulci film, THE NEW YORK RIPPER, I am inclined to believe that Fulci has not been given as much credit as he deserves.

THE NEW YORK RIPPER is a good example of an Italian "giallo" film, which blends the graphic gore sequences typically found in "slasher" films with the police investigations typically found in crime dramas. The film's plot is simple: a psychopath who talks like a duck is killing beautiful young women in New York City in vicious ways. Burned-out Lieutenant Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) is assigned to investigate the case, and soon gets taunting calls from the killer. At the same time, the one woman to survive the killer's attack, track star Fay Majors (Almanta Keller), finds that her life remains in peril.

THE NEW YORK RIPPER is unapologetically sleazy. The gore effects are very well done, and will make even the most hardened fans of gore wince at their brutality. There is also plenty of sex, which is quite explicit even by today's standards. In short, THE NEW YORK RIPPER is tasteless. But that doesn't mean it's bad. The film is well paced and there is hardly a dull moment. The murder mystery aspect of the film will keep you guessing until the film's climax. Fulci also delivers stylish direction and the film has some nice atmospheric shots of New York City.

One of the main criticisms of THE NEW YORK RIPPER is that it is brutally misogynistic. On the surface, this appears to be true. The killer's victims are almost all sexually promiscuous young women, who are killed in a brutal, sexual manner. However, in my opinion, the film is not so much anti-woman as it is anti-humanity. Fulci's New York City, much like Martin Scorsese's in TAXI DRIVER, is a seemingly inescapable hell, filled with perverts, sex shows, prostitutes, and "42nd Street gigolos." It should also be noted that the film's one strong and sympathetic character is a woman, Fay Majors.

Also, it is often said that THE NEW YORK RIPPER is Fulci's ripoff of the 1980 film MANIAC (also one of my favorites). This is simply not true: their only similarity is that they concern a psycho killer on the loose in New York City. MANIAC is a character study horror film, while THE NEW YORK RIPPER is a mystery thriller, much like Brian DePalma's DRESSED TO KILL(1980).

Lastly, I must say that the recently released, uncut, widescreen version of THE NEW YORK RIPPER is a major improvement over the old video version. While the dubbing remains shoddy in some parts, this new edition looks beautiful in its widescreen format. Additionally, the old edition chopped up some scenes which contained crucial clues about the killer's identity. With these scenes now intact, the killer's identity is not as totally out of left field as some critics have charged.

*** out of ****

An elderly man is walking his dog one afternoon, he decides to throw a piece of wood and have his canine companion fetch, but when the dog brings back not a piece of wood, but a human hand the owner is reasonably perturbed. Thus begins Lucio Fulci's most notorious film "The New York Ripper", the most misogynistic film this side of William Lustig's "Maniac". Police detective Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) is after one sicko who cuts pretty women up in the cruelest fashion. The killer's Donald Duck voice is ludicrous and annoying, but the rampant nudity, over the top gore, red-herrings and the ultra-sleazy atmosphere make up for that in spades. It doesn't hurt that this is tightly scripted and nicely filmed either. This would be the last film in the second (and starting with "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" best) era of his three part career. The last and worst part would start with his next film "Manhattan Baby"

My Grade: B

Anchor Bay DVD Extras: Uncut version; Theatrical trailer and Lucio Fulci bio

You can say NEW YORK RIPPER is bad, boring, stupid, crap, worthless, mean spirited, vile, etc. Whatever you can say about NEW YORK RIPPER though, you can't say it's not sleazy. It's over-the-top sleazy and misogynistic. It never shies away from it. Personally speaking, it's sleaze par excellence. The misogynistic aspect bothers me but then 90% of horror films out there are misogynistic, so it's not like I'm not used to it. As for the sleaze aspect, well, if you don't like sleaze, don't watch it. If you're fascinated by sleaze, like me, then this is like the CITIZEN KANE of sleaze. What makes this so different than the majority of truly worthless sleaze out there is that Fulci is honest about the sleaze. Compare this to let's say the recent MURDER SET PIECES, which is very sleazy but almost totally worthless. It's so self-conscious about the fact that it's horrific and sleazy, it just doesn't work. It's not real sleaze. NEW YORK RIPPER is real 42nd Ave sleaze.

What makes NEW YORK RIPPER unique among the plethora of sleazy films made then and today is the way it's filmed. In scope, garish colors, grimy settings, very gloomy and harsh. I love the scenes shot in the subway or around other parts of a depressed NY city. The acting is not really good but the level of acting is what you expect from these kind of films. It's remarkably violent towards women. Truly appalling. But then after the stunningly blunt ending, everything is suddenly redeemed. Though most of the violence is directed towards women, the sleaze centers around women and men, including a couple having live sex in front of an audience, horny thugs, a nymphomaniac housewife who tries to sleep around with any guy, including the thugs and a hunky psycho who is thought to be the killer, and there's a gay character who's the most likable character in the whole film.

I can't say that I like this Fulci flick. NEW YORK RIPPER is not something someone likes per se. It's just too harsh to attach any affection to it. But I'm fascinated about it and that's why I give it an 8. There are very few films that can claim to be something that will never be topped and because of our PC times and depending of what's in store in the near future, it's almost guaranteed that NEW YORK RIPPER will never be topped as far as the sleaze factor is concern.

Lt. Fred Williams a new york cop is investigating a number of disturbing killings where the women are to say the least butchered. His first clue is that the killer speaks like Donald Duck, and soon the killer is calling and taunting Williams, so he calls in the help of a local Professor of Psychology to help profile the killer. There are plenty of gruesome killings and seedy set pieces to keep any sleaze fan happy ie.A Latino *beep* a woman with his foot, the same woman masturbating in a live sex porno theatre and taping it to pleasure her husband with later,a girl being butchered with a razor blade ripping open her face right down through her eyeball…pretty gruesome….but wholly enjoyable as only Fulci can do. The dubbed dialogue is poor at times but it didn't take away from my enjoyment…a real video nasty

But I liked it! Obviously not Lucio Fulci´s best ("The Beyond" still holds the top, followed up by "Zombi 2"!), but nevertheless "The New York Ripper" is another gorefest that delights the fans and despairs the censors (Actually this flick is banned in many countries like Australia, the U.K., Germany or Norway...)! Endowed with some nudity (Maybe the sleaziest flick Fulci ever directed...) and elements from Giallo this gem has got some really unforgettable moments: I like the scene when Alexandra Delli Colli (She plays a woman which is permanently on the search for sexual adventures...) gets stimulated by two Latino-boys in a billiard bar and the take where wonderful Zora Kerova ("Cannibal Ferox") was maltreaten by bottle is pretty gut-wrenching! The bloody climax however is when the ripper tortures a prostitute to death with using a razorblade! Really shocking and disturbing!! People who demand a clever story surely will be disappointed, gorehounds however will find a revelation in this! So if you had fun with William Lustig´s "Maniac" (1980) you will also like this effective shocker!!!