(1982) ***1/2What 's scary and quacks like a duck? The New York Ripper, that's what! Lucio Fulci has outdone himself in this edgy, face paced and comical film. There is a serial killer terrorizing the women of New York. The only clue the detectives have is that the killer quacks like a duck. Lt. Fred Williams has his hands full. As the bodies begin to pile up he finds himself at a loss. The serial killer begins calling him to taunt him as the Lt. scrambles to solve the case. Have no fear, all will be explained in the end, even the outlandish quacking.
What an original concept, my hat is off to Fulci on this one. Yes it's hilarious, I laughed like a mad woman while the killer was quacking through the first murder. I laughed through the second and third as well. I laughed myself silly and then I stopped to think. Donald Duck = Disney, which in turn = Happy. So here is this voice you associate with happiness but for some reason Donald is pissed and he's killing you. Imagine the confusion in those final moments, the last thing you hear before drawing a final breath is quackquaquaquaquack. That's so fucked up!
There was so much nudity in this I almost forgot it was a Fulci. I thought for a moment I was watching one of Whirly's steamy French treasures. The most memorable death in the film has got to be the poor woman who gets stabbed in the snatch by a broken bottle. Ouch! There are so many strange and memorable scenes in this film, it really is one of Fulci's best.
It wouldn't be a Fulci without a gruesome eye scene. This was such a great find and a total surprise. Even though the description said the killer quacked I still didn't believe it. Had to see it for myself. Oh he quacks alright and it's fucking awesome!
10 comments:
Another great find and another film I've never heard of. The quacking is surreal and that clip you posted is disturbing and frustrating. It would be so sucky to die only because your car door wasn't able to open wide enough to escape.
I have difficulty with his films because the dubbing is so bad. I would rather have subtitles.
The pictures of the woman being mutilated suggest that this is not really my cup of tea but it looks like there is enough here to satisfy any gorehound.
I hate dubbing as well, you really lose the true emotion of the actor.
JPX a lot of his movies have the option of Italian with subtitles - The Beyond being one of them.
Cool review Cat. This is one of the only Fulci movies I haven't seen. Is there an eyeball gouge perchance?
Did you look at my pictures and read my review? Notable eye torture is pictured and mentioned *cough cough*
Oops, my bad. Somehow I missed that last paragraph and the eye gouge isn't obvious in the picture. (I print the reviews every morning and the black & white picture was ambiguous.)
You're forgiven ;)
That razor-through-the-eye thing is a great homage to Bunuel/Dali's Un Chien Andalou that I reviewed last year or the year before.
That's on my mind, as I just finished Spellbound, and it's got a dream sequence in which Hitch collaborated with Dali, and Dali put in a similar little homage to himself as well.
Incidentally, that duck quack alone makes me want to see this.
"Un Chien Andalou" is pretty amazing, I had to watch it more than once to fully absorb it.
The quack is what made me queue it.
I think my favorite sentence in this entire exchange is that last one. "Quack" and "queue" in one sentence?
I've seen precious little Fulci and it's possible I've actually seen no Bava at all. My count of Argentos probably isn't all that impressive either.
What am I trying to say? I guess Italy sucks.
Wait, no, I love Italy.
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