3. New York Ripper (1982)
Epic sleaze fest from Lucio Fulci, The New York Ripper has been much maligned by the critics and even suffered the indignity of all prints of the film being escorted out of the UK by the police in the early 1980s. Successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, the film is now available for viewing but has substantial cuts by the Censors. Basically there is a mad man on the loose who is targeting women with crotch based mayhem - stabbing knives and broken bottles into his victims' vaginas. A hard boiled cop is onto the case and the killer angers him even more when he kills the cop's prostitute lover. There is some sort of side plot line about a pervert woman who likes to masturbate while watching live sex shows and who lets a gang of young lads have toe sex with her. The killer speaks with a Donald Duck voice which is silly and doesn't help the film's credibility. Of course, the killer is finally killed himself but not before he is given a stupid 'Why I Did It' background and plenty of red herrings are investigated. Lucio Fulci always denied being a misogynist but The New York Ripper is exceptionally grim in its treatment of women. Crotch stabbings are the ultimate form of hatred towards women. Fulci made a film that reflected his own bleak view of the world (Fulci's wife committed suicide and one of his daughters tragically died in a car accident) and the film is very downbeat as a result. It has gritty, realistic settings and the killings are squalid and the details of the death lingered over (just watch the scene where the cop's girlfriend gets sliced up to see what I'm getting at). The plot arc with the nympho woman getting off on a sex show and then being toe pleasured lends absolutely nothing to the action but gratuitous sleaze. But that's okay with me. It may be mean spirited and hateful towards women but it never bores (the ultimate crime in a film). Plus it is fascinating to see how such a cynical and jaded film plays out in all its rancour. One for Fulci completists and hard gore horror film fans.