The New York Ripper: Viewer Comments

Lucio Fulci is a man known for his gory horror films, but this one is without a doubt his grimmest gore feast. This bleak portrayal of early '80s New York, a city rotting from within, is reminiscent of William Lustig's "Maniac". This movie is grindhouse exploitation taken to an enjoyable sleazy extreme. Everything is over the top, the typical gialli-esque killer quacks (no joke, it's like Donald Duck finally snapped and went psycho) to the backdrop of rolling montages of Times Square's peepshows, sex shows, and kung-fu triple features, using cruel methods of dispatching the numerous ladies who become victims of this quacking psycho. The killings are usually criticized for their nasty brutality, but it does go well with the overall misanthropic tone of the film. Definitely not the film you want to start your Lucio Fulci journey on--"Zombi" or "The Beyond" are his best films--but as a gory urban time capsule of late '70s early '80s New York it definitely hits the mark.