Review of The New York Ripper

I had heard of Lucio Fulci for years through mail order catalogs, interviews in genre magazines, and newsgroup discussions. I just decided yesterday to shell out $15 to buy the Anchor Bay video version of "New York Ripper". I am a huge video collector and the clamshell box with the lurid cover art just called out to me. Well, I popped it into the VCR after not eating any dinner (to disallow any possible barfing!) and watched the video. Though the gore is plentiful and there are some downright sleazy scenes, I thought this was one of the best "giallo"-type crime films I've ever seen! While not as violent as I thought it would be, there are plenty of graphic murders to squirm at. The worst by far was the murder of the detective's prostitute "girlfriend", including savage razorblade attacks on her nipples and her eyes! Despite the other reviews that say there is a lot of sex, there is only one real sex scene, the rest is heavily implied. As for misogyny charges, I think the film isn't misogynistic, just the killer. And this is never explained, so I guess the film could be a tad anti-woman, but I didn't really see anything expressing this feeling that I wouldn't see in any other slasher film. The widescreen version is the best one to see, it displays Fulci's gorgeous cinematography in full and makes the film look a little more classy and sophisticated than it should. The performance of Almanta Keller as Fay, the heroine, is one of the best I've seen in Italian horror films. Her dream sequence is another disturbing visual sequence that might leave your dinner in your lap! What more can I say, I love this movie, it is sleazy, it is violent, it is controversial, but the atmosphere and style of Fulci's filmmaking more than makes up for it.