Sweaty sicko Joe Spinnell is one of the all-time best movie serial killers in this great 80s splatter-fest. His every pockmark sizzles with insanity. This one really bothered people when it came out. Critics were disgusted and feminist groups picketed. Naturally, the film became a hit. A low-budget horror movie producer in 1980 couldn’t buy better publicity. Spinnell here is your classic tortured lonely guy, abused as a child, who stalks and murders women in the streets of New York City. Somehow, he’s slick enough to romance sexy photographer Caroline Munro. He’s also pretty good with a knife. The gore here is some of Tom Savini’s best work. He gives us a lovingly detailed razor wire strangulation, a throat-slashing, a knife to the stomach, a machete to the back, a few scalpings, the ever-popular exploding head, and a particularly nasty head removal. Flesh rips, blood pours, Gene Siskel storms out of the theater. Good stuff.
Director William Lustig conciously takes after the Italian horror filmmakers—such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci—here. He even originally wanted Goblin to do the music score.