The Giallo Files: Andrea Occhipinti

New York Ripper

Don't accept rides from anyone with two fingers missing on his right hand, okay?

A serial killer is on the loose in New York City and Lt. Frank Williams (Jack Hedley) is on the case. The victims are all beautiful young women, but that seems to be the only factor they have in common. As the bodies pile up in the morgue, the killer grows bolder, calling Lt. Williams before each murder and taunting him with a squeaky Donald Duck voice and quacking noises. Could the deranged killer be Mickey Scellenda (Howard Ross), a brooding eight-fingered man? Could it be jealous husband Dr. Lodge (Cosimo Cinieri)? With the help of psychology professor Dr. Paul Davis (Paolo Malco), Lt. Williams must find the answers before the duck-voiced killer strikes again!

New York Ripper isn't Lucio Fulci's best movie (that would be supernatural thriller L'Aldila), it's not his best giallo (that would be Perversion Story) and it's not the most fun to watch (that would be Murder Rock), but it's the Fulci-est Fulci movie ever, featuring all his signature moves: beautiful women in mortal jeopardy, lots of blood, close-up gore, zoom-ins on peoples' eyes, the killer's POV, Donald Duck, creepy and inappropriate sexual encounters, eyeball injuries, a gritty setting, helpless police, and a plot that hinges on a childhood trauma. This movie was made at a time when traditional gialli were being eclipsed in popularity by slasher films and Fulci gives his audience what they want, with slow-motion, blood-soaked shots of razors cutting off a woman's nipple and slicing through her eyeball. The plot may not make sense, but gore fans will cheer.

The movie starts with a standard Law & Order opening. A man is going about his day, walking his dog along the river when he stumbles across the first body.
Fulci makes a cameo as Lt. Williams' police chief.
There's a scene of a cool radio DJ warning people about the killer on the loose between songs and asking him to "leave those ladies alone." The way it's shot and acted, it seems to be an obvious homage to the DJ in The Warriors.
Fulci also seems to be paying homage to Bava and Argento when he lights the third murder scene in saturated greens and reds.
Killer's POV is a pretty standard giallo move, but I can't recall seeing Police POV before New York Ripper.
You may remember Andrea Occhipinti from his starring role in the great Blade in the Dark.

What the Hell am I Watching?

In a weird subplot, Jane Lodge (Alexandra Delli Colli) keeps getting herself into more and more dangerous sexual situations, recording them on a mini tape player, and giving them to her husband to listen to. She doesn't seem to enjoy doing it, and it's implied that she's making the tapes to aid her husband's sexual disfunction. In the weirdest and most disturbing scene, she flirts with and is assaulted by two guys in a pool hall.

Fashion Moment

There's not a great shot of it, but I love Fay's (Almanta Suska) white cashmere scarf and the way it's elegantly draped over her shoulder in the subway scene. Great hair, too.

A Blade In the Dark

"When you're in the dark there's menace in every sound... danger...

there could be monsters, killers... murderers lurk in the black dark."

Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti) has moved into a wing of a remote villa to compose the score to a horror film, directed by his friend Sandra (Anny Papa). Soon after he arrives, he meets Katya (Valeria Cavalli), who is looking for her friend, Linda, the former tenant. When Katya suddenly goes missing, Bruno is only left with a series of mysterious clues: blood on the stairs and on some shrubs, mysterious phone calls, and whispered voices on his recordings that seem to say "Linda... secret... no one must know." Is working on the scary movie playing tricks on Bruno's mind? Could the mysterious Linda be murdering intruders? Or maybe Sandra or Bruno's girlfriend Julia (Lara Lamberti) is the killer. Perhaps it's Giovanni, the caretaker who keeps a scrapbook of murder-related newspaper clippings. The clues don't seem to add up, but answers can be found in the most unlikely places.

A Blade In the Dark (not to be confused with Blade of the Ripper) is my favorite Lamberto Bava film. His movies tend to lack subtlety and rush to the kills, but this one really takes its time, ratcheting up the tension slowly and quietly and building to some great, bloody payoffs. This is exemplified by the killer's box knife blade, which he slowly extends before each kill: click... click... click... And when we do get to the kills, he goes all out. The second murder, in the bathroom, is especially gory and the strangulation using film stock has a poetic irony.

The movie opens with a film within a film, which doesn't have any musical score. That's because Bruno hasn't written it yet.
The music that Bruno does come up with is elegantly creepy – simple modulating arpeggios, reminiscent of John Carpenter's theme to Halloween.
That bathroom murder is an obvious homage to Psycho, right down to the frantic cleanup afterwards. In fact, there are a lot of important elements in this movie that were lifted right from Psycho.
Michele Soavi, who plays real estate agent Tony, was Lamberto Bava's assistant and scored uncredited or walk-on roles in a lot of Bava's films, as well as those of Bava's mentor, Dario Argento. He also went on to become a skilled director of horror movies like Stagefright and The Church.
I once met Giovanni Frezza (the blond kid from the film-within-a-film) at a horror movie convention. He was really nice. He gave up acting at the age of 13 and is now a marketing manager living in Italy, occasionally showing up at fan conventions.

What the Hell Am I Watching?

We never actually find out what Katya was doing in that closet when we first meet her.

Speaking of which, the women in this movie have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, popping out of closets, from behind corners, out of shrubs, and behind curtains.

A Blade In the Dark was made in Italian and is available on DVD dubbed into English, but the translation is really awkward. This results in some unintentionally hilarious phrasing and vocabulary. Here are some of my favorites:

"I must say, you're very perspicacious, because that is exactly what I was thinking."

"How are you in the feathers?" [meaning "in bed"]

"You know, Julia, you're being slightly difficult."

"This is all the whiskey you possess?"

"The difference between fantasy and reality often becomes minimal."

"Give me a break, Bruno. Don't begin again. Just don't begin."

Fashion Moment

SPOILER ALERT!

One of Lamberto Bava's favorite things to do is to give the audience visual cues by connecting characters and objects to the killer through color – specifically, the color yellow, which gives the genre its name. The first victim is wearing a yellow skirt.