The Bottom Shelf #107

As technology has progressed, more and more of the scenes in which gore are employed are done with the aid of CGI, guaranteeing that the actors never have to get as dirty as they did back in the day. What we’ve ended up doing is desensitizing ourselves to the violence in current, large-budget flicks, looking more for the gaps in the special effects than covering our eyes and shivering like we would when we were impressionable youth, sneaking viewings on late night TV during sleepovers. In 1982 when this movie was first released, filmmakers had to work with fake blood and actors who weren’t paid a premium, therefore leaving them to the mercy of actually having to get mussed up. Personally, if I really want to be grossed out these days, I go looking for a film that was made back when I never would have been allowed to watch it.

This film revolves around a serial killer slashing his way through New York, leaving a trail of mutilated beauties in his wake. The cops are stumped as to where to start, other than the strange phone calls that the lead detective receives from someone who sounds more like Donald Duck than Ted Bundy. Some cat and mouse chasing, a few bucketfuls of blood and a healthy heaping of ’80’s style nudity and sex combined with some lousy dubbing (the film was actually made by an Italian director and cast and while it is apparent that the actors are speaking English in certain scenes, they’re still dubbed over with that lovely clunky vocal track that permeates foreign films) give us a movie that should be laughable and instead has a decent punch to it.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of problems with the film. The sex angle really is pushed too hard for the sake of being shocking. However, the scenes where the focus is more on discovering what the killer’s motivation is as well as the scenes with the gorgeous Suska as the tough athlete and only woman to escape the killer’s wrath provide some depth and appropriate tension. My biggest complaint with the movie is that it takes the cop-out ending and left me slapping my forehead and thinking, “Well, that didn’t ruin it at all!” Still, I stand by my assertion that this movie is far more interesting and worth your dollars than a certain sequel coming out this summer which will surely be packed full of Chinese gore. As in you’ll be hungry for more a couple hours later. THE NEW YORK RIPPER gives you enough of a gore meal to keep you satisfied for much longer.

Favorite Scene:

Let’s just say that it had me grabbing my tits the way that watching a winning entry from America’s Home Videos has men grabbing their crotches.

Favorite Line:

“Quack! Quack! Quack!”

Trivia Tidbit:

It’s taken over 20 years for the film to pass censorship issues within the UK, having famously been rejected for release back in 1984 and the reels escorted out of the country by police officials.

See if you liked:

THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, HOSTEL

HIGH TENSION, SECRET THINGS, BAISE MOI

While I can’t claim to be much more than an ethnic mutt, my last name is Italian. But I promise you’re safe around me. As long as you don’t criticize my review choices. If you do…. *quacking*