VOTING CLOSED - WINNER: THE NEW YORK RIPPER
Thanks to everyone who voted!
With sadly amusing redundancy, the slasher film, descended in so many ways from the Italian gialli of the '60s and '70s, traveled back east after it had firmly established itself in the States. Italian genre filmmakers being among the deftest rip-off artists in all cinema, it was inevitable that they'd start to copy the cheap and hugely profitable films coming out in America; almost as inevitable as the development that found those rip-offs wallowing in a degree of crassness and tastelessness that outdid all but the worst American slashers, let alone the stylish, elegant gialli.
I've gamed things by picking three films by significant filmmakers - Deodato, Fulci, Argento - though significance, in these cases, does not mean that any of the films are any damn good.
Body Count (1986)
From IMDb: "A group of teens are stalked and killed by a Shaman at a cursed camping site."
The New York Ripper (1982)
From IMDb: "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."
Trauma (1993)
From IMDb: "A young man tries to help a teenage European girl whom escaped from a clinic hospital after witnessing the murder of her parents by a serial killer and they try to find the killer before the killer finds them."
Or write something in!
This poll closes on Thursday, 10 July, at 11:00 PM CDT (GMT -5:00)!
11 July 2014
7 comments:
Just a few rules so that everybody can have fun: ad hominem attacks on the blogger are fair; ad hominem attacks on other commenters will be deleted. And I will absolutely not stand for anything that is, in my judgment, demeaning, insulting or hateful to any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. And though I won't insist on keeping politics out, let's think long and hard before we say anything particularly inflammatory.
Also, sorry about the whole "must be a registered user" thing, but I do deeply hate to get spam, and I refuse to take on the totalitarian mantle of moderating comments, and I am much too lazy to try to migrate over to a better comments system than the one that comes pre-loaded with Blogger.
Tough one again, but I went for "The New York Ripper." I've not seen any Fulci post-Gates of Hell trilogy, so I'm interested to learn more about how and why his trademark style completely imploded right after what's generally believed to be his best work.
ReplyDeleteThis is all hearsay, and my own sketchy research, but apparently it's incredibly sleazy and misogynistic-one of the few genuinely nasty nasties. I'm also not wondering if perhaps Fulci's artificial, bold visual style wasn't suited to a grimy "realist" New York tale?
DeleteIn any case, I'd also be keen to hear from Tim what went wrong.
Well, it looks pretty commandingly out in front, so we'll all get to make that journey together. I'll admit that it was the one that got my vote.
ReplyDeletePoor Dario, not even putting up a fight.
I voted for Dario. Trauma, even with all of its flaws, is really the last time Argento was even remotely interesting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, especially considering the turn his career took after it was released.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it makes a miraculous comeback.
I went with Trauma, though I predicted New York Ripper would be in the lead. Trauma is such an odd film, even in the context of one of the most singular directors in horror cinema. Plus, it's got the creep factor of Argento showing us his own daughter's boobies, not that I'm necessarily complaining, but I am glad B. Monkey exists, so I can see Asia naked without the incestuous vibes.
ReplyDeleteThough, if I were to pick an Asia and Dario movie for you to review, Tim, I'd either go for The Stendhal Syndrome (because it's actually good), or The Phantom of the Opera (because AHAHAHAHA!).
I voted for "New York Ripper", too, if only because I have a bit of an obsession with Jack the Ripper and am hoping for at least a passing reference to it in this movie.
ReplyDelete(Side note; a "Jack the Ripper" week in the Summer of Blood would be awesome, though I suppose that would probably mean that the body count would be relatively predictable.)
I'll vote for the Ripper as well, mainly because I haven't seen it (and haven't even heard of the Deodato film), but I *have* seen Trauma and wouldn't wish it upon you.
ReplyDelete