cinema history class: the new york ripper

NOTE: I have corrected this. As initially posted, it had incorrect ratings.

Session: Welcome to My Nightmare, Week 4
Movie: The New York Ripper (1982)
Directed by Lucio Fulci

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
Young women i New York City are being stalked and viciously murdered by a serial killer. A grizzled police detective teams up with an academic psychologist to solve the case  Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:

I'm glad this wasn't the first Fulci film I ever saw because, frankly, it was more graphic and brutal in its violence than his others, and it's good to have gotten my feet wet with the others.*

If you want a solid hardcore slasher movie, this may be just right for you. The blood was gross. The plot was interesting, and everything was tied together pretty well. There were some good red herrings that kind of threw me off, and that's good to see.

I also liked it because I'm into movies having good realistic footage of the New York subway (as opposed to scenes meant to be set on the New York subway that obviously weren't filmed on it). But, in general, this had some good scenes of the gritty pre-Giuliani New York City. This was the city of my high school years. It's easy to romanticize it -- and I have plenty of friends who do -- but I don't really want to go back to it. That said, it's fun to see it portrayed in the movies.

But that damn duck voice was really frickin' annoying. It actually was important for the plot, but I hated it. I wish they could have worked without it.

Ratings:

Me: 8
Dave: 9.9
Ethan: 10
Joe: 10
Sean: 3 out of 4

*Analogous to this, the first Elvis Costello album I ever bought was Imperial Bedroom, and my first Bob Dylan album was Desire. It was hard to appreciate these works without having the context of their previous careers.