Rating: 
Summary: Shockingly sadistic, but not without its merits...
Review: "The New York Ripper" is indeed Fulci's most cruel and sadistic film. While his previous gothic horror outings may outdo this film in sheer volume of escapist blood and gore, "Ripper" is much more intense and perverted. The sleazy and adult tone to the film gives the inevitable Fulci violence that much more of a jolt, and can be painful to watch. But this wonderfully intense and unrelenting aproach to the tired giallo formula is nearly fatally flawed by the terrifically lame motivations for the killer (even by giallo standards), and some embarrasing acting and dubbing. Nothing takes the steam out of a suspenseful giallo faster than unintentionally hilarious dubbing, which quickly throws what little credibility there is to the winds. Also, the killer himself simply cannot be taken seriously. Honesly, how can the viewer be terrified by a killer who quacks like a duck when he is slashing up his victims? This nearly kills the film. But thankfully, the rest of the film is surprisingly well made. Actually, this is one of Fulci's best shot films. The use of dramatic colored lighting in some key scenes (in the cinema, the sex show) highten the drama a thousandfold, and provide a nice tribute/update to Bava's style and use of colors. Also, Fulci doesn't over-indulge in his infatuation with his zoom lens, which definetely cuts down on viewer frustrations. Nope, snazzy camera work is not overused here, and when it is, it genuinely hightens the tension. Also, the film's sleazy attitude make it even more disturbing, and it IS quite a different theme for Fulci (although he did venture into sex and perversion in such films as THE DEVIL'S HONEY). It is an interesting wrinkle in the plot to see people's deep, dark obssessions come to light. It is also quite interesting to note that Fulci was a devoted Catholic, and you can almost taste the moral ambiguity he is trying to project to his audience in this film. But the flaws of the film cannot be discarded. Flat acting, atrocious dubbing (although not Fulci's fault) and of course the "duck-like" killer bring an otherwise great and disturbing horror/thriller down considerably. As it stands, "New York Ripper" is a very well directed film with some riveting scenes (especially the stalk n' kill sequences) with some unfortunate shortcomings that nearly ruin the experience.
Rating:
Summary: a classic gore movie, By one of the great master's
Review: A great film to add to your horror collection, destined to have a cult collectible status like its now deleted private release laser disc counterpart. By Fulci a great horror master. The story follows a sick serial killers who speaks like a duck, in order to keep an alias, his victims are women who he savages with very sharp blade's starting at there groin and folowing up through there torso. A very sick film, but a must for any horror fan...
Rating:
Summary: The New York Ripper
Review: A psychopath is killing women in New York and the police are looking for him... that's the plot. Add to that some semierotic scenes, a killer who talks like Donald Duck, some gore and a quite cool (at least so I thought) psychological explanation in the end, and you get a flawed but quite entertaining horror-thriller by Lucio Fulci.The plot is quite ordinary, but the movie has a somewhat eerie feeling about it. The only other Fulci movie I've seen so far, "The House by the Cemetery", had more of the same eerie feeling, which was one of the best things about that movie. A killer that sounds like Donald Duck may sound silly, but it's actually good, and a bit spooky. I don't need for horror movies to be very gory, and the breast/eyeball scene in this movie wasn't very nice, but those who like gore will love it. Like The House by the Cemetery, this movie has some flaws, but not too much. Here is no annoying character, like the little boy in "The House...". This is an entertaining and sometimes scary horror-thriller (some would prefer calling it a slasher). It has a good ending. It also has quite good cinematography.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspenseful, and it could have been more without the sleaze.
Review: A serial killer who quacks like Donald Duck (!) is prowling the streets of New York and is violently murdering the city's most attractive women. Very sleazy film from director Lucio Fulci has the requistite bad acting, as well as a LOT of sex/nudity and general unpleasantness, which is a pretty big distraction from an otherwise suspenseful and even quite frightening Italian giallo. There are an abundance of heart-pounding segments and the twist ending is pretty clever, which makes it one of the few mysteries that surprised me with the killer's identity! Definitely recommended to giallo and suspense buffs, so long as you can stand an extreme amount of bloody, sleazy death scenes.
*** 1/2 out of *****
Rating:
Summary: Fulci's darkest moment
Review: Anchor Bay, still with their goal of releasing the most wanted films in horror history, have finally brought out their version of the classic Lucio Fulci film, 'The New York Ripper'. To say that this film re-defines the giallo is an understatement. It completely renews the killer genre, with long, lingering looks at how life in the big city can affect, influence and ultimately destroy its inhabitants. Originally titled 'The Beauty Killer', this film is relentless in its depiction of the frailty of the human form. It contains perhaps the most violent and repulsive images put on film, and will for certain make anyone cringe. Even the most rigid Lucio Fulci fanatic will question the maestro's intent when watching this film. Was Lucio Fulci really trying to make a point about modern urban existance, or was he simply out to make the most disgustingly violent film ever made? You decide. As far as the DVD goes, it's a beautiful transfer, in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack is perfectly acceptable, and nicely highlights the pseudo-disco score by Franscisco de Masi. The disc's menus capture the spirit of the film, and are accompanied by the score, in stereo. Also included on the disc is a short Lucio Fulci biography, and a theatrical trailer, which due to its supposed international appeal, contains no voice-over, only dialogue. However, one word of warning. This DVD is not uncut. The trailer contains a scene of a razor being sliced through "Fay's" hand, which is NOT included in the actual film. Having said that though, the film DOES contain the nipple slicing, and the close-up eye slitting that has made this film so notorious. So, the final verdict? Not a great film (the killer's final identity is so far-fetched as to be nonsensical), but a definite classic from a world of Italian cinema that sadly exists no more.
Rating: 
Summary: Not 'depraved', just a bit dull.
Review: And badly dubbed. This was my first Fulci movie, and I know they're SUPPOSED to be badly dubbed, but I found I couldn't even enjoy this one according to the 'so bad it's good' idea. I became concious as I watched that I was wasting precious minutes of my life, and began reaching for the fast forward button. The level of the film is pitched so low that it's really not worth bothering about arguments of depravity of misogyny - I just simply could never take it that seriously. Maybe it's an acquired taste - but in order to acquire it I would have to spend even more time watching this stuff, and life's just too short. For real film about the gutters of New York, with luscious cinamatography, I'd still rather watch Taxi Driver.
Rating:
Summary: Start Spreading The News.......
Review: As you'll read numerous times over, this is Fulci's most unpleasant , sleazy and ugly film. I think there's two reasons for this: 1) It's all centered in the real world as opposed to the supernatural world Fulci is known for, thus losing the fantasy element. 2) Alot of sex. If someone's not having sex or prancing around naked, there's always some sexual undercurrent going on, making this quite sleazy. In my opinion, the most disgusting scene being, not one of violence, but a game of "footsie" that seems to go on for ten minutes. This part is really bizarre, surreal, and just plain yucky. Yeah, we all know the plot: A sadistic serial killer(is there any other kind?) slices women up into olive loaf, taunts hard boiled detective, tra-la, tra-la. The plot's nothing new, but this is Fulci, people! Which means you get all the trademark gore from his supernatural horrors transplanted to a slasher flick. You also get all the bad dubbing, acting and funky tunes translated too. Basically, if you like his other stuff, you'll like this coz it's still a gory Fulci horror flick-it's certainly not gonna appeal to anyone else! There's a pretty crazy scene when our "duck" killer is slicing up a woman tied to a bed. This is pretty whack! Does Fulci shy away from the carnage and let your mind fill in the gaps? Nosiree, Bob! He just lets you sit back and watch the killer drag a razor blade across the poor girl's eye! Yikes! Sure it looks fake as hell, but it's what it represents that counts. I'm willing to bet by the feel of this film that Fulci's girlfriend must have left him around this time or something, coz he doesn't seem to like women too much here. This film comes across as a way of lashing out or something. Sure it's very juvenile and Type O Negative-ish, but it does make for an entertaining movie.
Rating:
Summary: Start Spreading The News.......
Review: As you'll read numerous times over, this is Fulci's most unpleasant , sleazy and ugly film. I think there's two reasons for this: 1) It's all centered in the real world as opposed to the supernatural world Fulci is known for, thus losing the fantasy element. 2) Alot of sex. If someone's not having sex or prancing around naked, there's always some sexual undercurrent going on, making this quite sleazy. In my opinion, the most disgusting scene being, not one of violence, but a game of "footsie" that seems to go on for ten minutes. This part is really bizarre, surreal, and just plain yucky. Yeah, we all know the plot: A sadistic serial killer(is there any other kind?) slices women up into olive loaf, taunts hard boiled detective, tra-la, tra-la. The plot's nothing new, but this is Fulci, people! Which means you get all the trademark gore from his supernatural horrors transplanted to a slasher flick. You also get all the bad dubbing, acting and funky tunes translated too. Basically, if you like his other stuff, you'll like this coz it's still a gory Fulci horror flick-it's certainly not gonna appeal to anyone else! There's a pretty crazy scene when our "duck" killer is slicing up a woman tied to a bed. This is pretty whack! Does Fulci shy away from the carnage and let your mind fill in the gaps? Nosiree, Bob! He just lets you sit back and watch the killer drag a razor blade across the poor girl's eye! Yikes! Sure it looks fake as hell, but it's what it represents that counts. I'm willing to bet by the feel of this film that Fulci's girlfriend must have left him around this time or something, coz he doesn't seem to like women too much here. This film comes across as a way of lashing out or something. Sure it's very juvenile and Type O Negative-ish, but it does make for an entertaining movie.
Rating:
Summary: Crapola
Review: Even gore hounds will be disappointed with this boring, laughable flick from the ultimate Italian hack, Lucio Fulci, who bears the full responsibility for this mess since he wrote it as well. If you can watch the murder scenes without laughing from the duckman's voice, your are stronger than I. It's just downright awful this film, and it's obvious that Fulci had some major problems with women.
Rating:
Summary: NY RIPPER - Grrrreat slasher flick!
Review: Hmmm... I can sum up this review in one word regarding this hellish slasher flick! "BRUTALITY" & lots & lots of it! This is a bloody movie about a sadistic killer that loves butchering young-pretty looking babes. This movie does NOT slow down at all... I was mesmerized from the beginning to the very bizarre end! Nice line up of characters as well... The death scenes are pretty graphic and are NOT for the faint-of heart. The nipple scene is pretty sick as well as the eye tearing! This is truly worth purchasing!
|
