Now here’s a nasty little movie. Anyone who is familiar with the work of Lucio Fulci (THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, ZOMBIE 2 and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD) knows pretty much what they’re going to get themselves into with a film like this. Which is, needless to say, lots of blood and guts! THE NEW YORK RIPPER takes the idea of Jack The Ripper and puts a very 1980’s spin on it. The end result is nothing like the “Whitechapel Killings” outside of the similar ways the women died. Which isn’t a bad thing if your a fan of early 1980’s Horror movies.

THE NEW YORK RIPPER is the perfect Horror movie if your a fan of such films as C.H.U.D and FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII : JASON TAKES MANHATTAN. Anyone who grew up in the 80’s knows what I’m talking about. Every generation of Horror fan loves the one they grew up watching. There are those individuals who love the classics such as DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN. The black and white “old school” in other words. Same thing goes for those who grew up in the late 60’s and early 70’s, watching the rise of Hammer Horror movies like THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA. I myself am from the 1980’s, thus I love most Horror films from that time period. Don’t get me wrong, I love Horror movies from all time periods, I just prefer the rockin’ 80’s!

This movie doesn’t dissappoint in those regards. Almost every scene is dripping, positively oozing, with 1980’s gusto! Subway cars are covered in spray paint, the city streets look grimey and the clothing styles are amazingly outdated! Production wise, this movie is everything I could have hoped for. Few Horror movies can capture the true sleazy and nightmarish nature of the 1980’s like THE NEW YORK RIPPER does.

Plot wise, it’s a little strange and I mean that in a positive way. A murderer is stalking and slashing women all over New York City, using a knife and killing them in similar ways as Jack The Ripper. For those of you that don’t know his killing methods, let’s just say that he “thinks outside of the box”, if you’ll pardon the bad pun. To make matters all the more creepy, the killer talks like Donald Duck when he does his victims in. This aspect of the film has been make or break for some people. I personally loved the cartoon voice. It just made things all the more weird.

As the plot unfolds, the killers motives become more clear by the end. I won’t go into details at the risk of spoiling it for some viewers. Over all I found it to be a rather strange reason for why the The Ripper kills women, but once again, it’s all part of this movie’s charm. THE NEW YORK RIPPER is a perfect example of sleazy 1980’s “Grindhouse” Horror. This is probably Lucio Fulci’s most sexual film he’s ever made, in a “down and dirty” kind of way. The sex scenes are long, the gore scenes are in your face (kinda’ like a porno) and everything is just about over the top in a good way. This here is a true party movie, no doubt about it.

Gore Hounds, stop what your doing and check this out if you haven’t already! Some of these death scenes are almost too painful to watch! What they lack in originality they make up in sheer excess. Horror fans who are more accustomed to subtle scary movies might want to steer clear of this one. THE NEW YORK RIPPER isn’t the type of movie that you pop on during Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house, while they carve the turkey. Unless Granny is into this type of stuff! That’s an entirely different scenario all together!

Over and out.

How can one best describe Lucio Fulci’s prime cut of perversion, also known as “The New York Ripper”? Sick? Disgusting? Crude? Tasteless? Senseless?

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. NYR is a brutally violent masterwork by the master of brutal violence. The plot doesn’t always make sense, but I couldn’t care less. As a catalogue of human perversions, it’s a de Sade classic. As a portrait of grindhouse-era New York City, it’s a Rembrandt. As exploitation cinema at its most exploitative, it simply can’t be beat.