Quack Quack

Certain movies require a certain frame of mind. For example, I owned Taxi Driver on DVD for at least a year before I even attempted to watch it. When the day came when I was in the mood to settle down into Travis Bickle "unique" world view, I knew it had to happen then. Until this past weekend, I lumped Lucio Fulci's controversial slasher THE NEW YORK RIPPER into this bracket. But not any more...

First off, a little background history on my first and only previous encounter with this much-maligned slice of Spaghetti Splatter. In the days before DVD, the only way to get hold of hard-to-find cult movies was via filmfairs on ropey VHS dupes, usually from Laserdisc. And it was one such trip across the pennines to Manchester that enabled me and a fellow cult film enthusiast to pick up uncut versions of Fulci's film and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Now that's a double bill, I can tell you.

My dubious VHS of NYR was a little fuzzy, and something had gone wrong with the sound, all of which added to the scuzzy feel of the film. Entertaining though it was, this was not a film I had planned to revisit anytime soon. Thanks to that same cult-enthusiast who made the trip to buy dodgy videos from dodgier characters, however, revisit it we did.

Our small but perfectly formed film collective took a trip into the seedy side of 1980's New York, and were thoroughly entertained throughout. Some of the more lurid scenes made me feel like I was watching a sex scene in the company of my parents, but not to worry. Francesco De Masi's thumping score stands up as a great example of Italian funk scoring, and the film has some of the most peculiar plot points I've seen outside of a traditional giallo.

Things I've learned from THE NEW YORK RIPPER

1) The rich are unequivocally sexual deviants
2) Never trust a man with two fingers missing from his left hand.
3) If you use a Donald Duck voice when talking to your terminally ill daughter on the phone, maybe try Mickey Mouse or maybe Goofy when you go out slicing up women.
4) In 1980's New York, radio DJ's were occasionally a bit flippant about murder.
5) Lucio Fulci's attitude to the fairer sex is a little dubious.

The second half of this big-apple-themed double hit, we witnessed the wonder that is ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Kurt Russell is a badass. That is all.