DVD
New York Ripper (1982)

Starring: Jack Hedley, Andrew Painter and Andrea Occhipinti
Shameless Screen Entertainment
RRP: £12.99
SHAM001
Certificate: 18
Available 01 October 2007


A serial killer is at large in New York. His penchant is for cutting-up beautiful young women. On his trail is a police inspector who is told by a couple of phone witnesses that he speaks like a duck. Subsequent taunting phone calls received by the inspector confirm this. An intended victim survives to tell the police about a man who is missing two fingers, who accosted her on the subway, but she was actually attacked after that incident and identifies the wrong person. When the man she identified is dragged from the water, having been dead for some time, it means he couldn't have been the killer. The inspector is back to square one. Then the killer makes another attempt on the victim who survived, and the pieces begin to come together...

New York Ripper is the first of many violent horror and exploitation films to be released by Shameless Screen Entertainment. It was previously banned and the prints ordered out of the country by the BBFC.

In my opinion it seems a strange marketing strategy to attempt to capture a retail audience of perverted sex and extreme violence mongers, with descriptions like vile and shocking, and quotes such as "The sickest movie ever made!"

As with Phantom of Death, another early Shameless release, I expected to hate this film, but was rather pleasantly surprised. The only really gruesome scene is the one in which a secured victim is seen to be sliced with a razor blade from the forehead and down through one eye. All other set pieces are no worse than many other horror films, such as a Friday the 13th flick or John Carpenter's The Thing, also released in 1982. Most of the victims are quickly dispatched (at least on-screen) and the killer is not seen in the same frame until the end of the movie. Perhaps it's just me, but scenes of a straight kill are considerably less disturbing than those depicting rape or prolonged torture, and luckily they are not present in this film.

There is more of a 1970s feel at play here, with a jazzy McCloud or The Streets of San Francisco soundtrack which proves curiously innocuous during the murder scenes, when you might normally expect menacing or at least creepy music. However, the notion of the killer speaking like a duck is intriguing and proves effective, enhancing the moments when the psychopath lets go. This works well as a murder mystery, suspects mounting up along the way before being whittled down as their stories are played out. I thought the killer might be Daffy Duck or The Penguin from Batman but, all joking aside, was relieved to discover there was a valid reason for the voice which also ties-in with the motive for the killings.

The violence of the murder scenes is not what should be emphasised in the marketing blurb, because it is merely an aside to a relatively good plot-driven murder mystery. This is New York Ripper's first excursion on to DVD in the UK and, like Phantom of Death, is certainly worth a look.

Ty Power

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£9.98 (Amazon.co.uk)
   
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£9.99 (Play.com)
   
£9.99 (HMV.co.uk)
   
£8.93 (Asda.co.uk)
   
£8.93 (Thehut.com)

All prices correct at time of going to press.