New York Ripper, the (1982)

I've watched and even reviewed some of his work already, mainly his zombie films. Zombi 2 and City of the Living dead both had the perfect vibe, just what I was looking for. But a Giallo might just be a different story. Murder, sex and mystery...Fulci delivers, and he delivers it well.


Excuse me, it's a little more than just 'well'. I'm not the biggest Giallo fan, not that I have seen enough to cross it off my list but they rarely appeal to me. Argento's ''Deep Red'' was intriguing but in the end it felt empty, something was missing...at least to my taste. And my taste is bloody, so this time I came to the right address.

Combining suprisingly well-shot scenes with lots of suspense and a compelling storyline leading to one bloody victim to another, Fulci's approach is exactly what I was craving for. Starting off with a hilarious contrast between joy and horror and continuing with plenty of sex, blood and suspense for you to stay at the edge of your seat.

The New York Ripper is a pretty straight forward flick where the killer can only be guessed at the very end. Along the way you'll encounter 'squeeze-your-buttcheeks' scenes where the female victims are taunted and desperately attempt to escape from death himself. Again, it's suprisingly well done. I was impressed more than once by his stunning cinematography. He has a certain 'trash' status but Squartatore di New York begs to differ.

One of the best things in this film is definitely the killer's voice. It's not clear why he's pretending to be a duck untill the very end. I thought it was very clever. At first you might think it's comedic and should be taken lightely, but it has something unusual and disturbing which fits the film perfectly. Overall I felt overly-satisfied, if that's even possible.

He combines the best of both worlds. The extreme gore effects go hand in hand with an almost surreal vibe constantly delivering a large amount of suspense. Fulci shows his skills and therefor I'm impressed. It's probably the second best film he made, because my heart will always go out to Zombi 2.

Score: 94/100