Night Ripper!

Night Ripper is a blast! A guy who does glamour shots for models and the like gets mixed up in a series of mutilation killings. The murders bare a resemblance to those committed by Jack the Ripper, and the victims are all models. Naturally, the photographer becomes a suspect. He also falls for one of his models and must try to protect her from the true killer.

Shot on video, this film looks better and less amateurish than some of the SOV films I've seen. Perhaps it's just me, but I find that SOV can actually make a film more endearing in certain cases. This is one of them. But anyway, to get back to the gist of things, Night Ripper is heavy on the cheese factor. The so-called love story between the lead and his new squeeze makes for some solid amusement. We also get a pair of cops who are way past being past their prime, yet they give chase to a fleeing suspect anyway. Then there's the other photographer, himself a suspect, who mugs for the camera on a nonstop basis.

The killer's identity is kept a secret until the climax, though I managed to accurately guess who it was from the character's very first scene. As if I wasn't sure enough already, there's also a later scene that's a dead giveaway if you've been paying attention. The climax takes place in a mannequin factory, and the final death scene of the film is something to see. Not because of gore, mind you, but the way in which it happens.

A cheesy delight, Night Ripper is entertaining SOV slasher goodness. It seems to be quite rare, but if you come across a copy, don't hesitate to snag it.

Somewhere between the alpine heights of Video Violence and the filler sucking swamp of Blood Lake lies the gentle pasture of Night Ripper. Middle of the road for an SOV slasher, but it handles pretty well and offers a few delights to the connoisseur. Plotwise we have a photographer hero falling for one of his subjects despite being engaged, and a string of gruesome murders. Apparently the killer mutilates the heck out of his victims, practically hollowing them out. I say apparently because we never actually get to see this, but we do get a few cheapskate bloody murders that muster a surprising effectiveness. The plotting and pacing is all pretty standard and even competent, which may put off strange seekers, but the acting and writing tries its hardest to rectify the competent construction. Basically the acting isn't there, recitation of lines is about the greatest effort that any of the cast stretch to, with one note delivery and blank, staring expressions the performers do a great job in rendering the film a sort of weird, clueless vacuum, populated by people that simply aren't real. The film doesn't actually identify who plays who in its credits, so I'm just going to guess that April Anne deserves a special bewilderment award as the love interest of the piece and Larry Thomas has a good weird look as the heroes oddball co-worker. The writing throws a counter-action to its performers, with splashes of barmy dialogue that the most accomplished thespians would struggle to deliver with credulity. A synth laden and often stressed out score shoots a bit of emotion into the piece as well, at times doing the actors emoting for them. Perhaps they were all really tired, or maybe under the influence of hypnosis? Direction here generally lacks any kind of dynamism, with a fair amount of static shots, and some really dull driving scenes, visually among the most tedious I've come across (and I'm a fan of driving scenes in b movies). That said, the climax is actually rather fun and effective and the film by and large isn't dull. Altogether this is fair stuff really. It looks pretty decent for an SOV flick, it strives for general competence and works fine as a no count slasher for genre completists. It does have rather a blip in interest around the halfway mark where it loses quite a bit of steam, but rallies for a sweet finale (mannequin factory fans take note!) with an inspired final kill. Worth a watch if it sounds like your kettle of piranhas, but I wouldn't exactly recommend straining yourself to track down a copy.

Shot-on-Video horror, SOV, was an annoying film-making technique during the 1980's and early 90s. I say annoying because it gave literally everyone, including the most incompetent hacks and amateurs, the opportunity to make their own horror movie and unleash it upon genre-loving audiences.

The SOV-flicks I've seen (usually try to avoid them, in fact) are rated, almost without exception, 1/10. Not because I don't want people to realize their life-long career dreams, but simply because they are unendurable. The plots are hopelessly unoriginal, the quality levels of acting and directing are painfully inexistent, the gore & make-up effects are over-enthusiast but laughably bad, and for some bizarre reason the running time of each and every single SOV film is endlessly stretched with dull padding footage.

Jeff Hathcock's "Night Ripper!" sits in this same bucket, and all of the above boxes are ticked. A homicidal maniac targets fashion models. Check. None of the cast members has even a notion of talent. Check. Larry Thomas, as the prime suspect who obviously isn't the killer although the 'script' wants you to believe so, obtained his fifteen minutes of fame in 90s when he appeared as the Soup Nazi in "Seinfeld", but here he's just as terrible as everyone else. We don't get to see any actual murders, only messy images of knives stuck in ladies' throats or chests. Check. Last but not least, the film easily could have 15-20 minutes shorter if it wasn't for all the "driving through the city at night" footage. Double check!

And yet, for some incomprehensible reason, I didn't hate "Night Ripper!". Maybe I was in an exceptionally good mood, maybe because Jeff Hathcock already made some minor improvements since his previous film "Victims!", or maybe just because I finally settled with the wisdom that everything was acceptable in the 1980s.

A super cheap shot on video slasher from the 80s with crappy music. The story is about a killer who is referred to as the "ripper"(very original) who stalks and kills female fashion models.

The story is very basic but It could be good. Unfortunately its not, there's a sub plot about a photographer and his love troubles which takes way too much time and the film is mostly just boring mush.

Even the kills aren't that good. Sure there's some blood but they seem to screw up every kill with either some kind of silly gimmick(like using still shots only or some really weird filters and such) and of course there's a 'twist' at the end but its very predictable.

The movie is really dated and some people like myself like that but I don't think that even the most hardcore 80s slasher fans would like this. Its boring and as mediocre as it gets.

If someone could make a video on youtube of just the gory bits then that's all you would need, there entertaining with all there quick corny edits and all. As for the movie as a whole, it feels more like an episode of a soap opera. They do a good job of plodding it out to 92 minutes only to then rush the final in true amatuer fashion. Far from the best SOV I've seen, but, then again giving it some credit its far from the worst.