The New York Ripper (1982)

Original title: Lo Squartatore di New York

Director: Lucio Fulci

Writers: Lucio Fulci, Gianfranco Clerici, Gene Luotto, Vincenzo Mannino, Dardano sacchetti

Composer: Francesco De Masi

Starring: Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, Howard Ross, Andrea Occhipinti, Alexandra Delli Colli, Paolo Malco, Cinzia de Ponti, Cosimo Cinieri, Daniela Doria, Babette New, Zora Kerova

More info: IMDb

Tagline: New York City: It's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to die there!

Plot: A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

I really didn't have high hopes for this.  These Italian horror/thriller/giallos can be real hit and miss but with Fulci in charge there a better than average chance it'll have something neat to take away from it.  It's a pretty good story and it's about a serial killer to boot.  This guy kills indiscriminately and he's a sadistic fuck, that's for sure.  There's a creepy ass scene where a woman is toe fucked by some weird ass dude and it's creepy mostly because we get way too many shots of his gnarly ass toes. There is some good suspense, too.  One nice moment was when the girl handcuffed to the killer's bed gets free.  You might have a feeling you know where it's going but it might not play out that way.  Ooh, and then there's the piece de resistance...razor blade play!

OUCH!  Mother fucker.  Can you scream it? He goes further and brings the razor blade down the middle of her eyeball.  The effects work on this is excellent.  If you want some cringe-worthy shit in your horror movie just involve something sharp going into the eyeball and it's a sure bet you'll have most of the audience screaming and squirming.  You get to know the identity of the killer early on so there's no need to keep you guessing and then pull a fast one like you normally get in these types of pictures from Italy.  There's enough sprinkled throughout the film to keep you interested.  At no point was I bored and it was a fun ride all the way through.