THE EXTERMINATOR was another of those movies that had a cult following in early eighties video-fixated Britain, simply because it was a lot more bad-ass and gratuitously violent than anything you could (legally) see in the cinemas around that time. It had an attention-grabbing cover shot of the leather-clad, cycle-helmet-wearing lead character brandishing a flame-thrower, and it looked a lot more tempting than the battered old copy of STRAW DOGS which sat next to it on the shelf. But don't be fooled by the legend or the myths, this film is truly rank. After an attention-grabbing opening sequence set in the swampy hell-pits of Vietnam complete with be-headings (none too realistic, but be-headings all the same), explosions, dramatic helicopter rescue stunts, none-more-evil villains and gunfights, THE EXTERMINATOR shifts gear into...what? It's not exactly clear at first. There's a soft, folkish, John Denver-style song on the soundtrack, which momentarily made me think that David Hess (LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT) was somehow involved, and aerial shots of New York City by night. It's like DEATH WISH, only cheap-looking. Then the 'plot' kicks in. Our hero (Robert Ginty, a terrible actor who always looks dyspeptic) and his war buddy have got steady jobs loading and unloading grocery deliveries from trucks, and the boss is being leant on by some underworld goons. But that's the least of his worries - we're barely out of the title sequence and the drug-addled gangland thugs are on the loose already, picking a fight with Ginty and his family-man friend who is held down and paralysed a couple of scenes later for having the nerve to fight back. By now, you've probably gathered that this is strong stuff, and it just gets nastier. And more ridiculous.
When the paralysed victim is lying comatose in a hospital bed, who informs his wife? The police? The doctors? No - Ginty himself. And the exposition scene is horribly flubbed - why did the director insert stock footage of inner-city slums halfway through Ginty's stone-faced explanation of his friend's fate? It adds NOTHING to the scene. My guess is that there was some trouble with the film stock (or another rogue microphone dropped into shot - this happens a few times) and a substitute shot had to be found in a hurry, so a quick raid on the archives was necessary. Now it's time for Ginty to bring down the street scum. Yes, it's DEATH WISH meets TAXI DRIVER, on the budget of an 8mm porno loop. But what this film lacks in originality (or indeed subtlety) it makes up for in terms of sheer nastiness. So we get graphic scenes of women having their breasts scarred with hot irons, fat blubberheaps raping tethered teenage boys, thugs being eaten alive by rats, Mafia hoods being ground up in industrial mincers...on and on it goes. It's like watching an open sewer disgorging human waste for the best part of two hours. To add insult to injury, it's technically poor, there are NO good performances, the direction is sluggish and if you make it to the finale, there's another horrible folkish song to sit through...which has squat to do with the repugnant dreck that preceded it. Cut or uncut, THE EXTERMINATOR is like being trapped without respite in the brain of a very sick individual, and you'll feel like a long shower to wash off the filth when it's done.
When the paralysed victim is lying comatose in a hospital bed, who informs his wife? The police? The doctors? No - Ginty himself. And the exposition scene is horribly flubbed - why did the director insert stock footage of inner-city slums halfway through Ginty's stone-faced explanation of his friend's fate? It adds NOTHING to the scene. My guess is that there was some trouble with the film stock (or another rogue microphone dropped into shot - this happens a few times) and a substitute shot had to be found in a hurry, so a quick raid on the archives was necessary. Now it's time for Ginty to bring down the street scum. Yes, it's DEATH WISH meets TAXI DRIVER, on the budget of an 8mm porno loop. But what this film lacks in originality (or indeed subtlety) it makes up for in terms of sheer nastiness. So we get graphic scenes of women having their breasts scarred with hot irons, fat blubberheaps raping tethered teenage boys, thugs being eaten alive by rats, Mafia hoods being ground up in industrial mincers...on and on it goes. It's like watching an open sewer disgorging human waste for the best part of two hours. To add insult to injury, it's technically poor, there are NO good performances, the direction is sluggish and if you make it to the finale, there's another horrible folkish song to sit through...which has squat to do with the repugnant dreck that preceded it. Cut or uncut, THE EXTERMINATOR is like being trapped without respite in the brain of a very sick individual, and you'll feel like a long shower to wash off the filth when it's done.