Fear City, 1984.
Directed by Abel Ferrara.
Starring Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, Michael V. Gazzo, Rae Dawn Chong, and Maria Conchita Alonso.
SYNOPSIS:
A killer stalks exotic dancers in New York, so two agents go vigilante to try and catch the psychopath.
When you think of gritty, sleazy 1980s New York, there are a couple of exploitation filmmakers who immediately spring to mind. Bill Lustig is one, with grimy grindhouse classics Maniac and Vigilante reflecting the murkier side of the city, the other being Abel Ferrara, who shot to infamy with his 1979 video nasty Driller Killer and 1981s rape/revenge thriller Ms .45, and it is he who directed Fear City, the latest title to get the Black Label treatment from 101 Films. However, this is a slightly different beast to the filmmaker’s previous works to that point.
Different because this was Ferrara’s first ‘director-for-hire’ gig, resulting in a movie that, subject-wise at least, was right up the filmmaker’s backstreet alley but the more polished and restrained – for Abel Ferrara anyway – execution showed he could do nuance, which may have left fans of his earlier works feeling a little shortchanged.
But just look at that cast. You have a pre-Platoon Tom Berenger, decked out in a pimp leather jacket, heels and coiffed hair, along with post-Return of the Jedi Billy Dee Williams and his endearing charm, pre-Commando Rae Dawn Chong, Italian/American crime movie mainstay Michael V. Gazzo, Maria Conchita Alonso and Melanie Griffith, all doing their best to take things very seriously whilst a man credited as John Foster (one IMDB credit and no one else seems to know anything about him) goes way over the top by appearing in a different movie altogether.
Foster plays Pazzo, a psychopath who roams the streets of New York slashing and maiming strippers with his various sharp weapons whilst trying out his best Streetfighter II kung-fu moves. The police, led by Al Wheeler (Williams), are at a loss and turn to boxer-turned-nightclub promoter Matt Rossi (Berenger) and his business partner Nicky Parzeno (Jack Scalia) for help. Rossi retired from boxing after killing a man in the ring, blaming the referee for not stopping the fight, so he has a temper and a bit of a history with Wheeler, and the two constantly clash, especially as Rossi and Parzeno take matters into their own hands to try and stop Pazzo, protect their roster of dancing girls and keep their mobster business clients happy.
So yes, typically unsavoury and violent fare for Abel Ferrara to get stuck into, and had this movie been made a few years earlier with fewer ‘proper’ actors in the cast then you can bet we would probably have had another video nasty on our hands. As it is, Fear City is a lot more palatable to mainstream audiences thanks to the star names – nobody is going to put Billy Dee through the tortures of Driller Killer or Vigilante – and distinct lack of splatter, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is a completely tame cop thriller, as Ferrara does manage to pull a few tricks to make you think you’ve seen more bloodshed than you really have, and there is enough nudity on display to have made 20th Century Fox get nervous and sell the movie to an independent distributor.
Pazzo has an array of bladed weapons at his disposal and he isn’t afraid to use them, with some clever editing showing you how vicious the killer can be without going to extremes with the blood gags, although it is his kung-fu moves and consistently deadpan facial expression that make his kills more entertaining , and you have to wonder if there wasn’t a Thomas Harris influence when it came to his creation. We never find out anything more about Pazzo than what we see on the screen – that he is basically a psychopath with an intense training regime and a grudge against strippers – and maybe that made him seem more dangerous back in 1984, but the ultra-serious performance and lack of character depth does make him feel like a bit of a parody these days.
However, it is the main cast that make this movie more enjoyable, especially Billy Dee Williams having a ball as the arrogant but tough detective Wheeler, who is reluctant to ask Rossi for help but knows he must do whatever he can to get the job done. Tom Berenger has the look and moody expressions, but he is a bit wooden here, leaving it up to Jack Scalia to provide the necessary wit and (relative) likeability – after all, you have to root for somebody, even when all of the characters are, at best, flawed.
The rest of the cast of regular character actors all know exactly what type of movie they are in, although the complicated love triangle between Rossi, dancer Loretta (Melanie Griffith) and her colleague Leila (Rae Dawn Chong) feels tacked on and unnecessary when you consider that Rossi is already portrayed as emotionally damaged.
For this Blu-ray release 101 Films have provided two cuts of the movie – the 95-minute theatrical cut and the 97-minute uncut version – and although the uncut version doesn’t really add very much other than a few extra kissing scenes between Leila and Loretta, it is nice to have both on one disc. There is also an audio commentary with the always insightful Kevin Lyons plus a collector’s booklet featuring writings on the movie, but overall, Fear City is an adequately entertaining thriller that successfully evokes the seedy underbelly of 1980s New York, but considering who was directing you can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed, especially when you imagine what he might have done with the material had the restraints been completely removed.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
