New York Ripper

Italian Shock get their grips into one of the late great Lucio Fulci's underated classics with the release of the slasher 'New York Ripper'. Much reviled and very much misunderstood by sections of the horror community this release sets to straighten the record with a mightily impressive disc.

Fulci's controversial 'New York Ripper' concerns the simple (but classic) premise of an unseen knife welding psychopath stalking and brutally murdering attractive young females. The difference with this killer is that he/she has the conversational skills of Donald Duck and an eye for the supremely graphic use of the open blade!

Often knocked for this graphic nature, delighting in the gory (and literal) 'eye' candy assaults on women, the use of graphic violence here is in keeping with the theme of the movie as a whole. Using the template used in many giallo films, it reeks of Italian classic with some great direction by Fulci (who appears in the movie in one of his hilarously dubbed cameo roles).

And it is with this particular release that the film does indeed shine. Italian Shock have put together a lovely pressing of the film mastered from the original 35mm negative print which looks an absolute delight on this PAL format release. Even when I bumped up the image size on our widescreen TV the image stayed sharp and strong, with only limited tell tale signs of wear on the actual print itself on occasion. Gorgeous stuff and brings a sense of the new to viewing the film.

Gone is the soft dupe image that its knockers have seen in the past as what they deemed as sensationalist exploitation, watching anew brings the true giallo/Hitchcock inspired quality of this gem truly to light.

There has been a lot of debate on horror forums regarding 'New York Ripper' on DVD, with fans indecisive of which is the best version released on DVD - Anchor Bay or Italian Shock? Well here's some comparison screen shots which will hopefully shed a little more clarity on the discussion - click here. For what its worth, our money's on the Italian Shock release.

Fulci's direction is at times stunning and this film truly deserves a revisit from all with this simply lovely Italian Shock release. The disc also contains the usual smorgasboard of extra treats - trailer, still gallery and biographys (and they too are all very nice also) but the real icing on the cake is the inclusion of the films soundtrack as bonus material (as Italian Shock had previously done with their other essential release 'Nightmare City'). Whilst there's talk of companies like Anchor Bay (whose 'N.Y.R.' disc pales in comparison by the way) putting out higher priced limited edition discs of films like 'Suspiria' with a separate soundtrack CD (shame on them!), Italian Shock (and VCI for that matter) lead the way with delivering welcome packages that genre fans can truly enjoy.

A simply stunning film and a very worthwhile and commendable release. Waste no time in adding it to your collection and rediscovering how entertaining the great Lucio Fulci really was.