Subtitles:

English, French, Spanish, none

Extras:

• "I'm an Actress!" - Interview with Zora Kerova (9:29 in HD!)
• NYC Locations Then and Now (4:08 in HD!)
• Theatrical Trailer (3:20 in HD!)

In the opening scene of Lucio Fulci’s 1982 Giallo/slasher flick, New York Ripper, the astute Fulci fan is treated to several of the legendary Italian goremeister’s cinematic trademarks. In a deserted New York lot, with the Brooklyn Bridge looming in the background, a man plays fetch with his dog. He throws the stick into some dense foliage and we watch, in a long shot, as the dog brings his bounty back to his master. We never see just what the dog has brought back, but Fulci gives us one of his infamous cut shots to the man’s face—then zooms in so that only his eyes are visible. From this expression, we know something’s not right. Then, with a discordant blast of music designed to jangle our nerves, he cuts to the dog’s mouth, then zooms in what it’s carrying—a decomposing hand. Fulci holds the shot for several seconds, leering at the gore effect and allowing the audience to check it out in detail, then he cuts to another scene entirely.

For anyone who has seen more than three Fulci films (and paid attention), this opening sequence is indicative of his entire body of work as a filmmaker. There’s an aesthetic at work in Fulci’s films—a crass one that seems to revel in showing us gruesome things for longer than necessary, yet an aesthetic none the less. It also demonstrates that other Fulci staple, a fascination with human eyes—and, eventually, the destruction of human eyes. However, while all of Fulci’s films are gory (he wasn’t dubbed the ‘godfather of gore’ by fans for nothing), many of them were supernaturally tinged movies filled with zombies, which gave the films in question an almost comic book feel. It’s hard to take the gore in a film like Zombie or City of the Living Dead in a serious way—zombies aren’t real. But, New York Ripper was something of a departure for Fulci…a sleazy and overtly violent film very much grounded in reality. And it is least partially because of this change in tone and new direction (away from the more comic book styled gore films) that this film is reviled by even many of Fulci’s staunchest supporters. Of course, it’s also why some of us champion it as one of his best films as well.

Extras :

There are 3 supplements - each in HD. "I'm an Actress!" is a 10minute interview with Zora Kerova who played Eva the sex show performer. She talks in Italian and there are optional English subtitles - she still looks great. There is a 4-minute short piece on NYC Locations Then and Now - showing scenes from the film to how the city has changed in almost 30-years. There is also a theatrical trailer running just under 3.5 minutes. the Anchor Bay appears to have had some text screen bios.

BOTTOM LINE:
The Blu-ray viewing is likely to represent a very different presentation experience than the older DVDs. It's a dramatic jump that Fulci fans should relish. It's bantered about that this may be his best film - it certainly has the exploitive earmarks associated with his signature. For what this is being offered - less than $17 at the writing of this review - those who appreciate this genre should definitely indulge on Blu-ray. I doubt we're going to see it looking any better and I recommend!