New York Ripper

K. Daniels

at 8:20 am

NEW YORK RIPPER (1982; Lucio Fulci)

This 1982 slasher is one of Fulci’s most famous horror films (beside his truly fantastic zombie films) and one of my favourites. Fulci uses many different filmic techniques to create a very frightening (and occasionally beautiful) atmosphere. The lighting is used to great effect especially the blood-like red light which washes over the XXX cinema scene and the use of green lighting after this scene – in which the ‘XXX woman’ is brutally killed – which creates an extremely eerie feeling. The brilliant musical score (by Francesco De Masi) is at times very energetic and ‘funky’, making you want to get up and start dancing to it! This adds a lot to the film and makes it feel more action-packed than it actually is.

There have also been many, (many!) claims that this slasher is one of the most mysogynistic and patriarchal horrors of the time. I would have to agree with that statement, as this film OOZES mysogyny (along with “Maniac” (1980; William Lustig) ! From the very obvious such as the guy in the red VW (before entering the ferry) shouting at the girl on the bike, “…women belong at home…” and the very objectifying camera work (lots of shots focus on the womens bodies (none on the men) – so if you haven’t seen this film yet (!) expect quite a few shots of wobbling tits and bums on the screen.). But this mysogyny and patriarchy doesn’t stop there, as I found when I took a closer look at the film. If you apply the theories created by Sigmound Freud, you too will see this; there are many many times in which a long blunt phallic instrument is used to penetrate into the flesh of a female victim, such as the obvious knife and a broken glass bottle which is shoved straight into the woman’s youknowwhat. Again this could be said to be showing masculinity trying to over power femininity. But why? Well, I’d say that this was due to the ‘boom of feminism’ as it were at the time. Like, for example, the first female prime-minister (Thatcher; 1979), equal rights and ofcourse IVF (which obviously made men film less needed). So prehaps at the time, this film would have appealed to men who were feeling threatened by the sudden strength of women. This was not the only film at the time which had simular fears – called the castration anxiety – the most obvious one is ‘Alien’ (1979 [the year of Thatcher]; Ridley Scott) (prehaps I’ll do one of this reviews on that some day soonish) ALSO the chess-playing proffeseur is also seen purchasing a gay porn magazine and hiding it in a newspaper. – Read into that what you want; remember a ‘feminized male’ helped to solve the case!

‘New York Ripper’ stands high above the countless number of slashers that came out during the 1980’s (which started with Hitchcock’s masterpiece ‘Psycho’ (1960), Bob Clarkes incredible “Black Christmas” (1974) and made popular in 1978 by Carpenters ‘Halloween”, this rise in slashers has been blamed on the rise of violence, mass killings, seireal killers (Fred West, Ed Gein) and even the assassination of Kennedy). Fulci uses plenty of great point of view shots which really builds up the tension and suspense.

Overall,”New York Ripper”, In my opinion, is a very very good thriller, and one of the best Shameless realeses (the cover is B-E-A-UTIFUL too!). The only downside really is the voice of the killer being like donald duck which can be unintentionally funny (but this is all explained at the end). The violence is much more realistic than Fulci’s zombie films too, imo. Also look out for Fulci’s cameo!

Do I luv it? You bet I luv it!

I give it 4/5 luvs!
Rating: 4 / 5

Mrs. Patricia Bark

at 10:25 am

You either love it or hate it – but if you are going to buy it you might as well buy it un cut elsewhere. see other reviews for details
Rating: 5 / 5