Blu-ray Review: The New York Ripper (1982)

(aka Quack, Quack, QUACK!)
Release Date: March 4th, 1982.
Country: Italy.
Rating: NR.
Written by: Lucio Fulci, Gianfranco Clerici, Vicenzo Mannino, Dardano Sacchetti, and Gene Luotto.
Directed by: Lucio Fulci.
Starring: Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, Andrea Occhipinti, Paolo Maclo, Alexandra Delli Colli, and Daniela Doria.

Who would have ever thought that one of Fulci's last great films would involve a serial killer that quacked like a duck? Not us, and we went into this one with full knowledge of just how bat-shit crazy most of Fulci's films are.

The mean streets of NYC are under siege by a maniacal killer that has been dubbed the New York Ripper. This ripper is going around and killing beautiful women in terrible ways, all while quacking like a duck, because he's obviously insane. Honestly, if the killer had been revealed to be a duck, we wouldn't have been surprised at all. This is an Italian Horror movie after all, and a Fulci film at that.

EVEN SWEET OLD MEN ARE CREEPY IN FULCI MOVIES.

Grizzled NYC Det. Fred Williams in on the case, and as the body count rises, and the quack-filled phone calls increase, he turns to the thinly-bearded Dr. Davis for help analyzing the psycho. A few games of chess, and a copy of Honcho Magazine later, the two of them come to the decision that the ripper must be insane. Brilliant analysis.

TWO MEN READING HONCHO MAGAZINE TOGETHER CAN ONLY LEAD TO ONE THING...

They receive their first big break on the case when one of the ripper's intended victims, the lovely Fay Majors, escapes his attack, and survives to tell the tale. While Fay's boyfriend, Creepo, nurses her back to health, the ripper kills a few more whores (two of which are literally whores), and taunts Det. Williams all the while with his maniacal prank duck calls.

THE LOVELY FAY MAJORS.

Who is the ripper, and why does he hate whores so much? Can Det. Williams stop him before he kills the lovely Fay Majors? And what's with the girl in the hospital? We won't spoil the many mysteries of The New York Ripper for you here, but suffice it to say that even when we do get the answers to all of those questions, we're still not really sure what the answers are.

IT'S ALL HER FAULT.

The best compliment that we can pay a movie like The New York Ripper is that this is exactly the kind of Horror movie that made trips the the Video Store such a fun thing when we were kids. There really was nothing quite like visiting the Horror section of any Mom & Pop Video Store in the 80's; everything was VHS, and very VHS tape boasted a cover that used fantastic artwork to pull us in, and make us rent them. Looking through those tattered and worn VHS covers to find something terrifying to rent was almost a rite of passage for anyone who grew up in that era.

When we did so, movies like The New York Ripper were usually what we found.

The New York Ripper isn't one of Fulci's best efforts, not even close, but it is certainly his sleaziest, and that alone makes it an enjoyable watch; as incoherent as a lot of this movie is, it's got an odd sort of likability about it. There are elements of his Giallo work present throughout this one, but it really plays more like an exploitational slasher flick than anything else. Of course this being a Fulci movie, it's really hard to categorize it as being only one thing or another. His films usually tend to defy simple description, and The New York Ripper is no exception.

LIKE HE DOESN'T KNOW YOU'RE THERE?

I'm not sure where the idea came from to have the killer quack like a duck throughout this one, but good lord was it ever distracting as hell. Every time the killer speaks, he sounds like Donald Duck gone evil, and even worse, while he's slicing people apart, he quacks maniacally, over and over again.

I'm honestly beginning to think that Lucio Fulci might have enjoyed weed a bit too much. Maybe even acid.

"I'M SORRY SIR, BUT I DON'T SPEAK DUCK!"

Over the years, this film has been derided by many critics and fans alike as a misogynistic movie that hates women. Yes, there's a ton of exploitational nudity and violence in this movie, and yes, at times, a lot of it feels a bit sadomasochistic, but hates women? I don't know.

Just because the women in this film are brutally murdered, tortured, objectified, molested, and told that they should stay at home where they belong, doesn't make it misogynistic.

I'm not sure what possessed Fulci to go the route that he went with New York Ripper, but I can't believe for one minute that misogyny had anything to do with it. If anything, I think that maybe he used that angle to make the movie even more disturbing to watch. For women.

Shit, this movie might be pretty misogynistic.

DANIELA DORIA: VICTIM OF MISOGYNY.

Is this Fulci's most violent film? I don't know, but if it's not, then it's surely at the top of the list. Once again, Fulci's habit of lingering on his kill scenes make this movie an exploitational goldmine that is often times hard to watch. The bottle scene, the razor blade scene, the stabbings, the eye violence... all of them took their time delivering the stomach-churning gore, and somehow it all felt nastier than the director's usual efforts.

There's even a Beyond-esque head-shot in this one that's pretty impressive.

THAT'S... THAT'S JUST A HORRIBLE WAY TO GO.

A live sex show, masturbation, prostitution, bondage, toe rape... There's plenty of sex, nudity, and sexually-charged content in this one.

"STUPID! IS THAT ALL YOU THINK OF?"

This one is full of all sorts of gems, some of them funny, all of them... well, funny.

• "But you won't understand me, you'll never understand me! You're too stupid! Quack! Quack! Quack!"
• "He used a blade. Stuck it up her joy trail, and slit her wide open."
• "When a twat is hot, it's more comfortable."

Much like their House by the Cemetery disc, Blue Underground has done a great job with the transfer on this one. This is the best that we've ever seen this movie look, as all of its previous Home Video incarnations were dark, and looked like shoddy VHS ports. The 1080p transfer here though is bright and smooth, has plenty of grain, and that yellowish skin tone that was present on previous SD releases is long gone.

Unlike the House by the Cemetery disc, The New York Ripper boasts a solid lossless 7.1 sound mix, as well as a mono track.

There aren't many Special Features on this disc, but we're alright with that.

• "I'm an Actress!" - Interview with Zora Kerova (HD, 9 min)
• NYC Locations Then and Now (HD, 4 min)
• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 3 min)

THAT COMPUTER THOUGH...

The New York Ripper is easily Lucio Fulci's most controversial film. It's ultra-violent, hyper-sexual, sleazy, and it's hard to ignore the way that it has this "Get back in the kitchen where you belong, bitch, or you're going to get raped and killed!" vibe about it. It also has a sadistic killer that talks in a Donald Duck voice, which makes the kill scenes hypnotic in an odd way.

If you like Horror movies that make you laugh and cringe in equal measure though, then this one is definitely a keeper.

B-

The New York Ripper is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Here are some more pictures from The New York Ripper, because we had a bunch of screenshots left over.