Francesco De Masi: The New York Ripper
Slashing up women was his pleasure
Visual exasperation to the hard limits. Pessimism and violence. A cruel giallo, or real break between two decades of movies: the obscure Seventies and the rampant Eighties. “The New York Ripper” (1982) by Lucio Fulci is an episode almost unprecedented in the space of a long career behind the camera, stopped on March 13th 1996 with the death of the Roman director. A serial killer terrifies the Big Apple killing women from all kind of social background with razor strokes. The man does not hesitate to defy the police, denouncing his crimes imitating Donald Duck voice. Lieutenant Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) follows the trail of blood and brutal mutilation. The suspicions lead him to Mikos Scellenda (Howard Ross), a greek with an hand maimed by two fingers.
It is, however, the psychiatrist Paul Davis (Paolo Malco) to discover a not indifferent detail about the life of Peter Bunch (Andrea Occhipinti), the boyfriend of Fay Majors (Antonella Interlenghi), escaped from killer’s fury. The man has a daughter from a previous marriage who is now in hospital because suffering from a rare bone disease and often receives calls from a family member that imitates the voice of a famous cartoon character. A seemingly simple story, written by Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino with the help of Dardano Sacchetti, but as vibrant as shocking, marked by numerous sequences above the lines, also flanked by a handful of self-quotations from past lucky movie named “Zombi 2” (1979), as the severed hand shown in the incipit or the eye extirpated with a razor blade.
From gore drift to voyeur character, the distance is short, because every murder is taken up in the foreground, in great detail. Female bodies are, in fact, violated, torn, or slowly ripped. The atmosphere is morbid, the photography leaden. Lucio Fulci expressed in this way the brutality of life in the heart of the metropolis, warning viewers from its potential dangers. The murderess seems to blend in with its own skyscrapers. Rejects his membership to the society that does not take care of him, nor of the weak or different ones. Evil can triumph over the perfect filmic embodiment of ‘plastic’ years hedonism. Not random the fact that the characters, already weighted with some dramatic burden, have their own skeletons in the closet.
They are all plagued with existential and sexual problems. The policeman attends a prostitute. The psychologist hides his homosexuality. There are those who abandon themselves to perverse pleasures and who enjoy any illicit substance. The abnormality is reduced to a muddy habit. One more reason to believe that the so called “Lo Squartatore Di New York” is an extreme cult to be reassessed in the light of the new century horrors. As well as the soundtrack: an extraordinary display of Francesco De Masi, a life dedicated to music between orchestra directions and collaborations with conservatories in Rome and Naples. Died in 2005, the Maestro was one of the most prolific authors for westerns, careful to select an alternative route to that masterfully outlined by Ennio Morricone, innovating the themes with pop inserts.
Thirty years after score first release, by legendary Beat Records Company, “The New York Ripper” (2013) score is back on vinyl thanks to the good work of Death Waltz Recording Company. A better opportunity to appreciate Francesco De Masi’s jazz, this time separated from the score of “Una Tomba Aperta… Una Bara Vuota” by Piero Piccioni, included in another cd edition (2002). Side A kicks off with the main theme of the film, entitled New York… One More Day, simply unforgettable already after a first listen, introduced and supported by the battery soon followed by guitar chords and notes organ. Then comes a rock rhythm as well syncopated as nocturne which, during a total of twelve tracks, will be more times resumed with ad-hoc variants.
First in New York… One Night, less suspended and enriched with more solos and horns, and then in the queue, with the eponymous New York… One More Day, characterized by the singular bass sound. Phone Call is, however, mysterious, but its atmospheric gait knows a net restart with electric guitar, flute, saxophone and vibraphone reverberated after the small break of half track. If the grim and tense The Ripper appears equally useful to comment the smoky climate of the US city, surprises tropical Puertorico Club as an explosion of color and samba percussion, alternating choruses and saxophone solos. Yet, the true gem shines at the opening of the B side: Fay. A sweet and moving crescendo of tones that, perhaps, is worth the entire price of the record.
It is amazing the sound output resulting from the meeting between the harmonica of Franco De Gemini, nicknamed ‘harmonica man’ for the three notes in “C’Era Una Volta Il West” (1968) by Ennio Morricone, and trumpet of Oscar Valdambrini. Two of the best musicians in circulation, often co-creators of the success of others, seal in this manner a creepy duet. After that, three dissonant segments. Where Is The Ripper?, another reprise of the main theme, Suspense And Murder, charged of echoes and tensions, and Waiting For The Killer, punctuated by the saxophone and light drum hits. Darkness returns, or the final curtain falls. On Lucio Fulci’s cinema and traditional work of Francesco De Masi, attracted by electronic tunes.
