How highly do you rate the New York Ripper?

[cazzasguy]

I'm openly ashamed to admit that I didn't watch this film until last week. I had taken only the second day off work in ten years because of feeling sh!t and desperately needed some decent entertainment to improve my mood.

I'm amazed at how compelling the film was. Allusions to the killer's identity changed every few minutes and there were so many twists to the general plot, mr fulci must have been dizzy! They continued up to the final few minutes and the scenes in the hospital were quite unnerving. Of course, the Ripper's omnipresence was a bit unrealistic but hey, what horror fan doesn't need to suspend belief for a while?

Acting quality = great. Naked female forms on view = numerous and gorgeous, before unfortunately being violated. Gore = rarely surpassed and expertly done.

I watched the 'not rated' R0 Anchor Bay disc, which is apparently uncut. Video quality good, sound perfectly acceptable, and I would recommend any true horror fan to purchase it.

Be interested to hear whether it ranks amongst your top 10 flicks - the term 'classic' is a bit overused these days but I certainly think New York Ripper deserves that description!

[HAEMORRHAGE]

Man, I haven't watched this since I bought it back in 2001 or so. I remember liking it but I'm sure it needs another viewing. Besides, it's Fulci!

[delicreep]

I've only seen the old VHS version. Someday I'll revisit via the better-regarded DVD out there.

My impression was that NYR is a huge steaming pile of fly-ridden crap. Since I haven't watched it since the early nineties, I won't go into a whole lot of detail. I remember finding the flick laughable, and the killer's duck voice stupid and distracting.

But, maybe an assessment of one of the proper DVD releases might change my perception.

[spawningblue]

I watched it last month for the first time, and I gave it 6.5 out of 10. I liked it, but didn't love it. Good mystery to it though, and I enjoyed the duck voice and the gore. I have a feeling I will like it more on repeat viewings.

[CrazyFatEthel]

Ehh, had too much randome sex for me, but the gore was pretty descent. 5/10

[Myron Breck]

I give it a solid 8. I enjoy the hell out of this movie!!! I sold mine back when it was OOP and seriously miss having it around. God bless BU.

[MadmanMarz]

Sleazy as all hell, but entertaining enough. Some great scenes (girl killed in the car on the ferry), some sexually odd ones ("massage" by foot under the table in a bar).

Worth owning! I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

[X-human]

I probably haven't watched it in almost ten years, but at the time I was rather smitten with it. I remember its sense of humor being especially dark and well toned; pulling off that Donald Duck voice which would sink most any other film.

It's only bested by Zombi 2 because that has a scene where a topless scuba diver is attack by a zombie which then wrestles a shark. Thirty years since and no zombie film maker has even come close to topping that scene.

Take out that scene and New York Ripper is my favorite Fulci. But what do I know, I think City of the Dead is better than The Beyond.

[f.ramses]

It's a pretty good movie, probably one of Fulci's most graphic films. People I know who have seen this film got a kick out of the toe scene but I thought it was kind of stupid. It's been a while and this thread kinda makes me want to watch it again... As for how highly I'd rate it, I'd probably say 5 or 6 out of 10.

[Horrorphilly]

I finally bought this movie,the AWE disc,great gialloesque flick,great gore,great twists.Great Fulci movie in my book.Still nothing beats Zombie.




sean

[Body Boy]

6/10

I don't understand the hype. Yeah, it is sleazy, but it feels like a lump in my throat. I much prefer Maniac = same feeling, different digestion. Plus better made. NYR is not as good as Zombi, House by the Cemetery, City of the Living Dead or The Beyond. It is mediocre as far as 80s slashers go. At the end, I did not care about it in the least.

[vampyr789]

wow, i dont really think i can call myself a Fulci fan if i havent seen this....i really want to

I like it but haven't watched it in a long time. I remember I bought the double pack of NY Ripper and Manhattan Baby (a horrible film) in late September 2002 and later that night went out to eat at the new Thai restaurant in town. Weird the things I remember...

[Paff]

Originally Posted by X-human

It's only bested by Zombi 2 because that has a scene where a topless scuba diver is attack by a zombie which then wrestles a shark. Thirty years since and no zombie film maker has even come close to topping that scene.

Take out that scene and New York Ripper is my favorite Fulci. But what do I know, I think City of the Dead is better than The Beyond.

Completely disagree with the first statement (Zombie vs. shark is still one of my all-time "oh please" moments in cinema)

But also completely agree that City of the Dead is better than the overrated Beyond.

Now, as to New York Ripper, it's not my favorite Fulci by a long shot. But as I've said many times on this forum, I far prefer Fulci when he's bound by the "rules" of the Giallo genre and can manage to fit his over-long graphic effects scenes into the confines of a Giallo film. With Zombie, The Beyond, etc, he was free to do whatever he wanted and all those films suffer with incoherency. (and don't give me that "The Beyond is like a nightmare on film" excuse for its incoherent nature. Lucio was just making it up as he went along, even including a zombie attack just to please the German distributor!).

New York Ripper plays a lot closer to A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and Don't Torture a Duckling, by far my favorite period in Fulci's career. Yet he also included the extreme gratuitous sex and violence that was present in the other films he was making at that time (not that Lizard and Duckling don't contain sex and/or violence....just not to the level Fulci would hit in the 80s). In a lot of ways, it's a blend of Fulci new and old, and can satisfy fans of both periods of his work.

Good movie, glad I own it.

[Erick H.]

I'd say it's mid level Fulci.Sleazy and violent (the eye scene is memorably brutal),it plays along the lines of a giallo crossed with an American police procedural.The woman get treated pretty badly in this,not a very sympathetic picture,nobody comes off looking really good here.Overall it's a decent,nasty little flick,very much of the grindhouse era.Worth a look if you wanna peek back at early 80's era New York City pre Urban Renewal.