Duck Hunt

The New York Ripper (Lucio Fulci, 1982)

Got to hand it to director Lucio Fulci in finding a new lease of life in what was certainly looking like the tail end of his film making career. It all stemmed from his success with his ultra gory 1979 horror movie Zombi 2 (AKA Zombie Flesh Eaters), a film shamelessly sold as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). He also seemed to have inherited Herschell Gordon Lewis' moniker as The Godfather of Gore with his Gates of Hell trilogy: City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981). Ironically, the troubled production history and negative reception of his next film, with the working title of The Beauty Killer would also happen to be a personal favourite of mine in his entire filmography. Fulci took a leave of absence from his fantastical lovecraftian horror that had marked his renaissance and returned to familiar giallo territory. Being an early eighties giallo, this entry exhibited strong influences of its American offspring - the slasher, which was in its golden era. Being a fan of both genres, the mix of the two is what makes The New York Ripper so damn appealing to me. 

"Welcome to the cheap seats

Welcome to the cheap seats"

The film revolves around a sadistic serial killer with a penchant for slashing and slaying beautiful women all around New York City. Our killer is a cocky fella, since he toys with the NYPD, particularly the man on the case Lt. Fred Williams (Jack Hedley), by phoning and taunting him with his bizarre duck voice. The rest of the cast are mostly recognisable from either other Fulci flicks or some other Italian genre movie: Howard Ross from Mario Bava's stylishly sardonic giallo Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970); Zora Kerova from Umberto Lenzi's utterly depraved, late-game jungle horror Cannibal Ferox (1981); Paolo Malco from The House by the Cemetery (1981); Cosimo Cinieri from Fulci's Fame inspired giallo Murder-Rock (1984); Andrea Occhippinti from Fulci's vaseline lensed fantasy movie, Conquest (1983); Barbara Cupisti from my favourite bork slasher Stagefright (1987); and, last but not least Alexandra Delli Colli from the unforgettably trashy Zombie Holocaust (1980). Ironically, the odd one out is Jack Hedley himself, a veteran British actor dubbed with a weary American accent, who I recognised from an old episode of classic sitcom Only Fools And Horses above any of his other film work.

What's particularly fascinating about this film is there really are no good guys in it - with the exception of an innocent young girl featured towards the end of the film. That's one of the reasons why the film receives such a bad rep by critics and viewers alike, as some kind of terribly misogynistic film. That also happened to be the reason why Fulci regular Catriona MacColl turned down the prominent role of Fay and why it was offered to a complete unknown like Almanta Suska (credited as Keller in the film). The film's antagonist most certainly is a misogynist, but I don't personally see the actual film itself as being one. The rest of the characters appear to be corrupt and amoral people, regardless of gender. In some cases, some of the characters even become secondary villains; intentionally disrupting or delaying the pursuit of the duck-voiced killer, for their own selfish reasons. As for Fulci's motives, much of the people who worked with him, were nothing but incredibly positive about him. He also addressed and mocked this criticism of him with his quasi-greatest hits meta film Cat in the Brain (1990), AKA Nightmare Concert.

"I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle, yeah"

Fulci makes effective use of filming in New York City - especially the sleazy neon lit locations of Times Square and The Deuce in the early eighties; a stark contrast as to how they look now. The city could almost be considered a character in itself in some respect, with how it leaves a negative impression upon all characters in the film. Screenplay writer Dardano Sacchetti revealed film permits were already issued prior to the script being completed, so he effectively wrote a bunch of gruesome graphic murder scenes to both fulfil Fulci's instruction to go in an extreme direction and to fit in with the various locations they had permission to film in. We're even blessed by an internal point of view shot from within a neck being sliced open. That's rather unique, to say the least.

Gorehounds tend to get excited over all the visceral blood on offer in this film, but I'm equally appreciative of how Fulci paves the way for these scenes which range from tense buildups and well executed jump scares. Take the plight of Jane, an aristocratic house wife who gets her sexual kicks by throwing herself in potentially dangerous situations. She masturbates at live sex shows, receives toe-jobs in Puerto Rican bars and pays for sex with a three-fingered "42nd Street gigolo" in some seedy hotel room. The thrill of danger is taken to the next level once she hears a deejay on the radio describe the very same bloke she is with, while she's tied to a bed, is the prime suspect of the Ripper slayings.

"Got on the train we're car from car but not too far I started scopin'"

Dialogue and sound are also notable highlights in The New York Ripper, my favourite line has to be Rosie cycling to catch the Staten Island ferry and hilariously crashing into a stationary V.W. Beetle, with the excuse, "I'm sorry, I was thinking of Boston." WTF? The Ripper's switchblade slashing through air making an intense whooshing sound effect or the ding it makes when hitting a brick wall, is truly sublime. That would have been a characteristic from a Shaw Brothers movie, but not something expected in a giallo.

Frequent soundtrack collaborator Fabio Frizzi was absent on this film, instead the reins were handed over to Francesco De Masi. The result, one of the funkier and uptempo themes you'll ever hear in the majority of gialli out there. One major gripe I have however is the new wave song I love that is featured during Zora Kerova's sex show has never been available on any releases of the film's sountrack. It's also impossible to identify even with the aid of Shazaam, probably because of all the sexual moaning in the background.

The New York Ripper was banned outright in the UK and didn't even make it on the hallowed DPP 39 video nasties list, however that all but cemented its legacy in notoriety, making it a must-see curiosity. Over the years, thanks to the uncut Dutch VHS, it made its round in under-the-counter film fair circuits, until it became more readily available during the DVD era. The film managed to get an official national release, albeit a censored version in 2002. Hardly worth bothering - that's like showing off your vegeterian pet piranha to your mates. It's much easier to find uncut now, thanks to the internet; even blessed with a glorious 4K UHD release by Blue Underground. Probably the one film I've copped more times than the O.G. Star Wars trilogy and Robocop (1987) over the decades. 

In summary, I don't really consider The New York Ripper as Fulci's best film; it's not even his best giallo, but I do consider it his most misjudged movie. That partially explains why I often feel the need to defend it whenever negative criticism is directed towards it. The subject matter itself is both dark and ugly, therefore the film shouldn't be denounced for executing it in such an uncomprimising manner. It stands toe to toe against the slashers of the same era, yet still maintains its giallo principles and that's the biggest reason why I love it so much. A personal favourite, for sure.

The New York Ripper (Trailer)

(Lucio Fulci, 1982)