Jimmy Willy The New York Ripper. I have been excited to watch this film for many years. Being a fan of Lucio Fulci and Italian Giallo/Horror films, I knew this title was for me.Firstly, I was instantly grabbed by tone of the movie. Fulci can reflect the seedy side of New York very well. This aspect is one of the high points of the film; it never steps away from nitty gritty of Manhattan and the golden days of 42nd Street. It works as a great reminder of how New York was once a cesspool of filth and sleaze. These tones reminded me of the atmosphere of another 1982 classic horror, Basketcase.The next highlight of the film would have to be the gore! I'd say the gore and special effects come close to Fulci's 1979 classic Zombie Flesh Eaters. Compared to The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery, I wondered if I would ever see another Fulci film that would reach the heights of the special FXs of Zombie Flesh Eaters. New York Ripper does! There are a few scenes that definitely comes close to the famous eye-gouging scene of ZBF, maybe even tops it! If non-CGI special FX is your thing then the SFX alone warrants a watch of this film.The story line of The New York Ripper is good. It is nothing different; a burned-out NYPD detective goes looking for a killer who is prowling on women etc etc. The film provides this back line with some twists and unique ideas that keep the viewer interested to find out what is going on here. The fact the killer sound exactly like Donald Duck is quite eerie in my opinion. I always thought it was a dig at Disney, but apparently it was a nod to an earlier Fulci film Don't Torture a Duckling. I would say the downside of the film is how close it is to being classified as softcore pornography. There is a gratuitous and lengthy sex scene plus some forced toe masturbation. The New York Ripper's exploitative scenes lacked the art and romance of the famous underwater scene from Zombie Flesh Eaters; The New York Ripper as a whole is a lot more hardcore. I am nowhere near a prude, but a few scenes did seem unnecessary and exploitative, but that's Fulci; an accused misogynistic film maker? Or just a misogynistic film maker? This film does the guy no favours.There is a little twist at the end of the film, something that is not too predictable or mindbogglingly confusing such as the ending of The City of the Living Dead. As of a rating, I did struggle between a 6 and 7/10. As a film for an average Joe to watch I would consider a 5, however if you know what to expect of the title then the rating would be closer to a 7. A safe 6/10 for both a fan and curious onlooker of Lucio's work.

Michael_Elliott The New York Ripper (1982)*** (out of 4) A washed-up detective (Jack Hedley) teams up with a psychoanalyst (Paolo Malco) to try and catch a psycho who is running around New York City cutting up women. What makes this psycho different is that he talks with a duck's voice but after letting one victim escape, the police have a good idea who is doing the slashing.The giallo genre offered up quite a few bloody and graphic movies but Lucio Fulci's THE NEW YORK RIPPER is without question that most vile, disgusting, sexually perverted and notorious of them all. Whatever "shock value" the Italian director got out of films like ZOMBIE, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND couldn't match what people would get with this film, which was obviously heavily censored throughout the world. If you're looking for an intelligent thriller then this here certainly isn't for you but if you just want something dirty and something that takes pleasure in its sleaze then you're not going to find anything better than this.Again, if you're wanting a story then just avoid this because logically the film makes very little sense and at times I wondered if they were even using any sort of script. The film really does seem like they were just shooting things as they went along and Fulci pieced everything together in the editing room. I'm not going to ruin the ending but most people still debate what actually happened and even after a half a dozen viewings I'm still confused. With that said, not too many people come to any Fulci film for the story but what also helps is the scope cinematography that perfectly captures the dirtiness of New York City. The porno theaters and sleazy bars just make for a wonderful setting and the music score is also just something you'd expect to hear in a porno movie from the era.What THE NEW YORK RIPPER is known for is its graphic violence. The gore level is certainly high here as the ripper lights to slash women from their vagina to their breasts and the gore comes flowing. The most notorious scene involves a razor and an eye, which will have most people turning away from the screen. Another plus is that the cast, for the most part, is entertaining and makes up for the lack of a real story. THE NEW YORK RIPPER isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination and there are countless flaws but there's still no question that it deserves credit for being willing to be as trashy as it is.

Sandcooler After making the (for the most part) fantastic "Gates Of Hell"-trilogy, Lucio Fulci clearly needed to take his foot of the throttle for a little while. "The New York Ripper" isn't a bad movie, but to his standards it's surprisingly middle of the road. I mean sure, as usual it's a hundred times gorier than the average thriller, but apart from that there isn't much to keep your attention. It's a pretty underwritten whodunit with too few suspects, all too transparent red herrings, a dreadfully slow pace and a truly laughable motive. Thankfully even at his most pedestrian Fulci can still come up with two or three scenes that keep you awake. The scene with the old man is a fantastic opening that pulls you right in, the middle-aged woman who's bored with her husband provides some fascinatingly unerotic segments when trying to find arousal elsewhere (the poolhall sequence is a real "huh?" of a scene), and the ending is entertainingly straight-forward to say the least. And of course the movie's cinematography is great as always, and the synth soundtrack provides a nice contrast with the grim subject matter. So there are quite a few good things to say about this movie, you just have to fish them out between huge chunks of a boring cop and a boring professor trying to find a boring serial killer: that's not very easy to do.

alexanderwilson45 The most infamous film of Lucio Fulci (at least in the UK that is) The New York Ripper is also one of his best. The film is infamous for its violent murder scenes separated by a number of sleazy ones. The film is the giallo at its darkest with a number of unsympathetic and debauched characters. The film stars British actor Jack Hedley as tough New York cop lieutenant Frank Williams. He is investigating a number of violent crimes against women in New York City. The killer frequently calls the police to boast speaking in the voice of a duck. He is helped by a mathematician and psychiatrist played by Paolo Malco. The films heroine survives an encounter with the killer and follows a lead of her own. The film was made in the early 80's during Yorkshire ripper murders and the video nasty scare that effected Britain and the time. This may explain why censor chief James Ferman refused the film a certificate without even viewing the film. When the film was released on DVD in this country it was still shorn of 19 seconds for a scene involving sexual violence.