Ripping Up The Streets Of New York

NEW YORK RIPPER (Blu-ray)
Shameless 

Release date: June 27th 2011
Certificate (UK): 18
Running time: 86 minutes

Year of production: 1982

Directors: Lucio Fulci

Cast: Jack Hedley, Alexandra Delli Colli, Paolo Malco, Daniela Doria

As far as movie slashers go, I’ve seen a few in my time. Leatherface with his chainsaw, Jason with his machete, Freddy with his claw and Michael with his kitchen knife. They come in all shapes and sizes, take Chucky for example, the pint sized doll who wreaked havoc in the Child’s Play films.

But never did I imagine there would be one with a voice quite like the New York Ripper!

Directed by Lucio Fulci, this little video nasty was banned in 1984 by the Secretary of the British Board of Classification, James Ferman who ordered all copies to be removed from the UK without it ever being screened. It’s the bizarre story of a killer on the loose with a growing appetite for slicing up sexually active women.

His victims range from a cyclist who gets into the wrong car, a married woman who gets her thrills with random strangers and a peep show performer who walks into a dark room. The murders are gruesome and involve a range of items including a razor blade, a glass bottle and the standard slasher-killer knife as well, but what really sets this killer apart from others is that he taunts his victims with a Donald Duck-like voice which verges on the absurd while still remaining unsettling.

Lieutenant Williams (Jack Hedley) is an aging New York who’s assigned to work on the case, but his leads are limited so he teams up with a gay professor, Dr. Paul Davis (Paolo Malco), to compile a profile that will help in tracking the killer. When one of the victims miraculously survives, they know it’s the break they’ve been looking for and she’s able to give them some clues to help find him.

New York Ripper is littered with bizarre characters who do things for bizarre reasons, like Jane Lodge (Alexandra Delli Colli) who watches a couple of guys playing pool and then lets one of them massage her clit with his toes from beneath a table.

There are much nicer ways for a lonely woman to make friends, but if this isn’t asking for trouble then I don’t know what is! It certainly makes for interesting viewing and by the time we get to prostitute Kitty (Daniela Doria), this is as gory as it gets.

Shameless’ Blu-ray release offers the most complete version of the film ever to be released in the UK and comes with a bright yellow case, fold out poster and booklet.