The New York Ripper (Special Edition)

Lucio Fulci's 1982 giallo "The New York Ripper" was originally released to scathing reviews who accused the film of being misogynistic to the extreme. A lot of these critics also that the film provides ample proof that Fulci did indeed hate women himself as he was known to be more than a bit ornery with actresses during his career. Cruel, deranged, sleazy, gory and mean spirited definitely; misogynistic the film is not in my opinon. I have read some reviews saying that "The New York Ripper" hates everyone and that is true. The violence portrayed in this film towards women is sadistic, vicious and designed to make the viewer squirm and feel dirty as well as sort of complicit with the serial killer's actions to a certain extent. Is it a good film? Well when your killer quacks like a duck in the film, that is debatable but I have always found it to be one of Fulci's best directed films. The film though would upon its original release put the brakes on Fulci's career momentum after a string of horror classics such as "Zombie", "City of the Living Dead", "The Beyond" and "The House by the Cemetery". Sadly his career would never recover and precede an immediate drop in quality with subsequent Fulci films."The New York Ripper" was orginally released on blu-ray by Blue Underground back in 2009 on a single layer disc featuring a decent transfer which unfortunately was plagued by digital noise and a generally washed out look. There was also a misplaced reaction shot around the 44 minute mark which had been part of various releases of the film in the past. For the time back in 2009 this was a serviceable HD release of the film but there was definitely room for improvement. Extras on the 2009 release were light including a 9 minute interview with actress Zora Karova along with a 4 minute "Then and Now" comparison video of how the filming locations changed over many years and the film's trailer.Blue Underground in 2019 would rerelease the film in a 3 disc blu-ray/DVD/CD combo featuring a brand new 4K restoration from the original uncensored camera negative. To say that the 2019 transfer blows away the 2009 disc is a serious understatement. Presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio utilizing the AVC codec at a maxed out bit rate almost doubling the 2009 disc's bit rate, "The New York Ripper" looks superb. I would safely bet that the 2019 disc is the best the film has ever looked even going back to its original theatrical release. Detail is truly amazing with gorgeous colors and perfect contrast and black levels. No damage is visible which is part of what held the 2009 disc back. The 2019 blu-ray is truly like seeing the film again for the first time. I should also mention that the out of place shot around the 44 minute mark has been corrected on the new transfer too thankfully.In terms of audio, choices are plentiful including English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0, French Dolby Digital 1.0, and Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0. English, French and Spanish subtitles are included.In addition to carrying over the extras from the 2009 disc, Blue Underground has added a ton of new extras as follows:- Audio Commentary with Troy Howarth, Author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films- The Art Of Killing – Interview with Co-Writer Dardano Sacchetti- Three Fingers Of Violence – Interview with Star Howard Ross- The Second Victim – Interview with Co-Star Cinzia de Ponti- The Broken Bottle Murder – Interview with Co-Star Zora Kerova- “I’m an Actress!” – 2009 Interview with Co-Star Zora Kerova- The Beauty Killer – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci- Paint Me Blood Red – Interview with Poster Artist Enzo Sciotti- NYC Locations Then and Now- Theatrical Trailer- Poster & Still GalleryShould you get your hands on the 3 disc limited set, you will also get a lenticular slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork but you can turn the actual sleeve around to have the original poster art too. The 3 disc set includes a DVD copy and a remastered soundtrack CD too along with a booklet about the film."The New York Ripper" will definitely not be for everyone. It is a mean little movie that unflichingly shows some of the most vicious violence towards women in cinema that was shocking back in 1982 and can still make the viewer feel uneasy even today. For Fulci fans or people just wanting to check the film out, the 2019 blu-ray edition is the way to do it without question. Blue Underground knocked this one out of the park and then some.

The New York Ripper (1982), is not to be confused with the actual serial killer of the same name. The film is an Italian giallo from the, "Godfather of Gore," Lucio Fulci. For those who don't know, giallo refers to a series of "yellow books" which are of the murder mystery genre. Giallo films themselves began to be made around in the 1960's. The most popular filmmaker who made the genre popular was Mario Bava. Bava himself essentially kickstarted the "giallo revolution," which flooded the film market throughout the late 1960s and into the early 80s. However, the genre died down after the 90s and there have only been few Italian giallo in the past decade or so. The genre isn't dead though, it's influence can be seen in the American Slasher film market as well. Which the giallo revolution influenced much of the slasher revolution which began in the 70's and 80's as well. Anyway, Lucio Fulci's first ventures into the horror genre began with two highly popular giallo, 1971's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and 1972's Don't Torture a Duckling. Most know Fulci though for his 1979 hit, Zombie or Zombi 2. After Zombie, Fulci would work on a few more zombie films before returning to his routes in the giallo genre with 1982's The New York Ripper. Fulci intended to make the film for the American market but it wasn't financially successful upon its release in 1984. However, the film has developed a strong cult following. My review is representative of the Anchor Bay DVD.PLOT: A madman begins brutalizing women all around New York. While assaulting his victims he taunts them in a "duck-like" voice and soon enough his crimes catch the attention of an overworked detective. Working said detective is a coroner and a psychologist. It's not long before "The New York Ripper" begins taunting the detective himself.REVIEW: Lucio Fulci's film has a lot of style to it. From the visuals, to the jazzy score. The story itself is rather interesting as well as a lot of ideas. However, there are a few blemishes along the way. One issue is the murder scenes themselves. The murders themselves are fine and as graphically gory and brutal as usual for a Fulci flick. However, at times they can be unintentionally comical when our killer begins, essentially, grunting in his "duck" voice while assaulting his victims. I actually like the voice and concept, it's used perfectly when the killer actually taunts the detective or actually *says* something to his victims. However, when he begins grunting in the voice, it's kind of funny. The only other issue I found was in dialogue spoken at the very end of the film. *SPOILERS* The line of dialogue is spoken by the psychologist and he mentions that the "Duck" was a kind of split personality. This explanation is okay enough, I guess, and in the film's context makes sense. Although, it would've just made sense if the "Duck" was just an alter ego for our killer. However, then the psychologist goes onto say that our killer blamed the "Duck" for the murders he committed. That line, in and of itself is just silly to me. Those are my only real issues with the film, other than that The New York Ripper is pretty straight forward. The characters themselves are at least likable and the actors portraying them do a fine job. All in all, I honestly really like The New York Ripper. I think it's some of Fulci's best work. Even the editing is pretty and like I said, the film is visually stylish. There's even times where Fulci utilizes green and red lighting for some scenes, almost similarly to Dario Argento. I loved the story and actually the characters, especially the coroner. There isn't a ton of character development, but that's fine, what's there is generally pretty good. There is a lot going on in the movie at times though. Aside from the killer and investigation plot, there's a plot that focuses on a suspect as well as a woman who's a potential victim. The strongest portion of the film is honestly the later half. Once the pieces within the story all begin coming together. Although, viewers will probably guess who the killer is before the film's reveal. Horror fans would probably like this film, especially fans of Italian horror. I wouldn't call this Fulci's masterpiece but it's somewhere up there. It's better than a lot of his later work. If you're new to the giallo genre or Fulci or Italian horror in general, you could start with this one. Though you may want to start yourself off with the best the genre has to offer. Which in that case I'd recommend seeing Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling or one of his zombie efforts like The Beyond. If you're new to the genre altogether then I'd recommend an Argento film, which in that case, you can pretty much choose just about anything of his. Although I wouldn't recommend any of his recent efforts or anything beyond the 90's. The best place to start would probably be 1982's Tenebrae, 1987's Opera, or 1985's Phenomena. His early stuff is great too but I generally prefer his later work.DVD: The New York Ripper has been released a few times over the years. Most notably by Blue Underground. However, the dvd I have received or "picked up" is Anchor Bay's release. This release is fine. The picture's great, along with the sound. Although it doesn't come with an Italian audio track. However, it does come with a scene selection and a theatrical trailer. The dvd also comes with an insert, a chapter list on one side and the film's poster on the other. This is a decent release for the film, although completists may want to go for the BU release(s), as they come with more extras, audio selection, etc.RATINGS: I'd give The New York Ripper a 3.5/5 stars, it's a decent effort. Anchor Bay's DVD, I'd probably give about a 2/5 or a 2.3/5 stars. I'm fine with this release and love just owning the film but the later releases is probably what others should seek out.

The good thing about the bluray is the quality, picture and sound, both are excellent...Also there's some reasonable extras, nice interview with Fulci's daughter...The downside though is the cuts, the blade slicing the eyeball is present, the nipple being sliced is missing though and I think a couple of the other murders are trimmed, saying that there's still plenty of nasty stuff left and if you weren't aware of missing scenes, you'd still find this a very grim movie to be fair... And the vibe of the movie is as sleazy as ever...It's not Fulci's best and I'm not sure it lives up fully to its notoriety but it's a solid watch and the bluray is still a vast improvement on the grainy VHS I remember from yesteryear...

The picture quality in this one is really good, must be remastered digitally, nice.But the English subtitles are written by some crackhead: If somebody says "13", the subtitle says "fourteen"and this is going throughout the movie and is really, totally annoying. Otherwise great buy for this price.

Excellent and only blue underground I have found is the full uncensored version. Great but sick film

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