UK Blu-Ray Review: New York Ripper
New York Ripper (L’Eventreuer De New York) (1982)
Distributor: Shameless Screen Entertainment
Blu-Ray Release Date (UK): 27 June 2011
Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Starring: Jack Hedley, Almanta Keller, Alexandra Delli Colli
Review by: Nia Edwards-Behi
A maniac terrorises New York City, slicing up attractive young women and taunting the police with bizarre phone calls. The killer has two fingers missing from his right hand, and the voice of a duck. Its combination of mean-spirited violence and gratuitous sex has ensured it a special place in sleaze-cinema history. This new edition of one of the nastiest of Lucio Fulci’s films is preceded by an opening scroll, courtesy distributor Shameless Screen Entertainment. It outlines that this is still a cut version of the film, despite their negotiations with the BBFC. They’ve made great attempts to mask the cut best that they can, and, according to Shameless, this is the most complete version of New York Ripper available in the world. The still-offensive scene that the BBFC refuses to budge on – the death of the prostitute Kitty – is fairly apparent, but Shameless has done an admirable job in editing it so that it doesn’t stand out too sorely from the rest of the film.
The most unwatchable part of New York Ripper, for me? All the close ups of Jane’s mouth– when she watches the sex show, when she’s molested at the bar. I don’t know why, but something about the way her mouth twitches repulses me. Of course, pretty much every single scene to feature Jane (Alexandra Delli Colli) is repulsive, her character more or less existing in the film for the sole purpose of various scenes of sexual degradation, masked as character back story, prior to a protracted murder sequence. It’s her character that makes the film most troublesome for me, and it’s certainly the film’s treatment of women that has made it so enduringly infamous. An interesting discussion emerges in the interviews on the disc with writer Dardano Sacchetti and Antonella Fulci as to whether or not the film is misogynistic. Sacchetti recalls pissing off Fulci’s daughter by suggesting her father was a misogynist himself, a claim she evidently disagrees with, as she claims that New York Ripper isn’t a film that hates women. Personally, it’s incredibly difficult to defend the film as not misogynistic, but I’d also struggle to accuse Fulci himself of being a misogynist in light of his earlier work.
It’s easy to focus on the film’s treatment of women, given as that it’s the most remarkable aspect of it. As a police procedural the film is prosaic, no twist or turn emerging that, by 1982, would be unfamiliar to giallo fans. The acting is passable enough, though the dialogue is trite at best (having said that, my favourite line is a corker: ‘I’m a prostitute, not your wife!’ as a response to a request for a cup of coffee). Some bravura sequences see an apartment searched entirely from the point of view of one of the police officers, and throat slicing shot from, er, inside the throat; but stylistically New York Ripper can’t match Fulci’s early gialli, and nor does it have the same narrative charm as his supernatural films.
Of course, as far as sleaze cinema goes, New York Ripper is quite the paragon. The high-definition transfer provided by Shameless is great to look at and the choice of English dub or Italian dub is a great feature, even though the subtitles provided for the Italian dub are a little imperfect, insofar as they’re badly punctuated. The film isn’t without its defenders; the booklet provided by Shameless is adapted from Stephen Thrower’s book on Fulci, in which he declares New York Ripper as one of his ‘best’. Thrower mounts a compelling defence of the film as a nihilistic vision of modern humanity, but it doesn’t quite convince me that the film is superior to Fulci’s other work. As far as I’m concerned, the value of New York Ripper lies strictly in its paracinematic qualities, and as part of Fulci’s broader canon of work.
8 comments
Definitively nasty, the camera carves up women into parts as much as the Ripper does, but for me it’s the end sequence which really cements this as one of his best for me. Such an utterly bleak conclusion!
I’d also highly recommend Thrower’s book, it’s great.
I think I struggle to get past the ‘egad, this is sleazy’ aspect of it, to be honest! I think I generally prefer Fulci’s supernatural/more strict horror stuff, though, House by the Cemetary being my absolute fave of what I’ve seen by him!
Without a sleazy piece of work. Is this getting a new DVD release or just the BR? Either way I enjoyed your review.
I meant “Without a doubt”
Hey Jude – (no pun intended I swear) – Shameless are releasing a DVD as well.
I find it nothing short of awesome that while Fulci never may have been any match for Argento in the class department, he easily manages to outsleaze Jess Franco with NY Ripper. Of course, D’Amato’s Beyond The Darkness is still the sleaze standard.
One aspect that has always made a part of my heart melt is the “nostalgic” look at New York City of the 70’s and 80’s that a lot of those films provide. New York Ripper, Black Emanuelle and so many others function almost like documentaries of the city in that era. It’s somewhat silly, but my heart skips a beat when i see the city’s skyline with the Twin Towers still there for example. I personally arrived in NYC in mid 89 right before the city started to turn, and i remember Time Square in all its sleazy grandeur before it was transformed (or disfigured).
Besides that though, i do find New York Ripper to be amongst Fulci’s best films. It has a visual, shock and narrative quality that doesn’t have many equals.
I understand the argument about misogyny because at the end of the day, it’s hard to argue that women are not objectified as the subject of complete destruction at the hands of the murderer. The murderer certainly has deep misogynistic impulses. But so what? I mean, can’t a movie be about a deeply misogynist psychopath? And if the film turns out so shockingly effective, doesn’t it say more about the director’s talent?
Thanks Ben