The Giallo Database

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Original / Alternate Titles: Il Coltello di ghiaccio, Silent Horror

Rating: UR

Running Time: 91 minutes

Description: I like Umberto Lenzi. I know that if you go on the imdb and look up his titles, you will see over and over again people criticizing his films as being boring, or outrageous, or disjointed, or whatever, but I like Umberto Lenzi. I think his dialogue is extremely (and usually unintentionally) hilarious, his situations are creatively crazy, and his films as a whole are underrated. Except this one.

This giallo is an extremely odd entry into the genre for more than a few reasons. First - unlike most every other Lenzi flick I’ve seen - there is no nudity, and nearly no blood. “What the? I thought this was a giallo,” you’re probably asking your self. I was asking my self the same thing as I watched… where is the skulking killer POV? Where is the liberally flowing red-paint blood? Where are the tits??? Not here. Actually, the most horrific images in the entire film are in the opening sequence; shots of a real bull fight, with a real bull being killed. I realize that if I were Spanish, this probably wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but as I am a friend to animals, and a person who just doesn’t like the REAL gore, I found these opening shots to be 10 times more appalling than any other images in this film.

KoI follows a mute, Martha (Carroll Baker) who is afraid of trains. Yes, afraid of trains… because (as is explained in some really heavy-handed exposition towards the beginning of the flick) she was thrown out the window of a moving train by her father just before it crashed, and she then watched as her parents burnt to death. She hasn’t spoken since. She converses on the telephone by tapping the receiver, and somehow everyone knows that it’s her on the other end of the line, and can interpret what she is saying (an even more impressive feat, I think, then people understanding Lassie when she tells them little Timmy has fallen down the mine shaft), and in person she usually uses her own sign language (again that is understandable to those that know her).

The “carnage” (I put that in quotes because, really, there isn’t much to qualify as such) starts when Martha grows some balls and goes to the - gasp! - train station to pick up her cousin, Jenny (Ida Galli), a singer who has come to visit Martha and their Uncle Ralph (George Riguad). That evening, Jenny is killed in the garage, and the viewers get the only glimpse of the “black glove” archetype seen in this film. Nearly immediately suspicion is put on “a sex maniac,” as another girl is found dead just down the road. Jenny and Martha caught a glimpse of a man with crazy eyes peeping on them on their way home from the train station, and creepy-eyes shows up again at Jenny’s funeral. So it must be creepy eyes, and to make it even worse for our ocular-deficient possible killer, he’s a British-Satanist-hippie-junkie. Yup, a Satanist hippie. Free love and goat entrails. Morphine and black mass. For some reason, that just doesn’t gel for me.

While I really do love me some Lenzi flicks, this one lives up to the imdb opinion of Umberto. Slow, ridiculous, tedious, and really, not a whole lot of fun. Every time I thought it was about to get better, KoI let me down. There wasn’t even much of the unintentionally amusing dialogue that I look forward to in Lenzi’s usual fare. The “red herrings” in this flick made no sense, and then ending “twist”… really? That’s the killer? Really? Well, if you say so, Umberto.

1.5 out of 5 British-Satanist-hippie-junkies

DVD Not Commercially Available

DVD available for trade

Director: Lucio Fulci

Year: 1982

Original / Alternate Titles: Lo Squartatore di New York, Psycho Ripper

Rating: UR

Running Time: 93 minutes (unrated version), 85 minutes (US cut version)

Description: This is one of the more infamous gialli out there; mostly for the extreme gore value (as is often Fulci’s trademark) and the perceived misogynism running rampant in this film. And TNYR’s reputation is well deserved.

TNYR follows Lt. Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) and his “profiler,” a college professor named Dr. Paul Davis (Paolo Malco), as they attempt to track down a serial killer operating in New York. The killer provokes his pursuers, as he calls Lt. Williams and speaks to him in a Donald Duck-like voice. “You’ll never understand me! You’re too stupid,” the killer taunts.

TNYR features some of the more brutal violence seen in the giallo genre. One of the first killings is a close up of a woman’s torso, as a switchblade slices her open. Another victim is stabbed in the crotch with a broken bottle, while another has her nipple cut in half (and you wonder how this film was labeled misogynistic?) So be prepared if you intend to view TNYR, for there will be no easy ride here, buddy.

There are other good reasons to label this film misogynistic, and I have to agree with those critics that label it so. While many gialli have women as the exclusive victims (and often are even more specific, killing just prostitutes or lesbians…), TNYR just treats the female characters like shit.

Even though there are so many ugly aspects to TNYR, I still really enjoy this film. The murder mystery is great, and even unresolved – Fulci shows you the killer, but then throws a little curveball saying “oh, by the way, it could have been this guy, too” – and the film has Fulci’s style. Many would say Fulci’s “style” is just a bunch of tits and gore, and while TNYR contains such, this is not what I am talking about. Fulci takes us to the peep shows and back alleys of early 80’s New York City, and you can feel the grime on the lens. This is a dirty, dirty film, and through TNYR’s lighting, camera work, and of course the previously mentioned tits and gore, the viewer FEELS dirty by the time the movie is over. At least this viewer did.

4 out of 5 Crazy-Voiced Killers

DVD Available from Anchor Bay
The New York Ripper for sale at Amazon.com