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Fear City

United States

1984

96 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
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DIR Abel Ferrara

EXEC Tom Curtis, Stanley R. Zupnik

PROD Bruce Cohn Curtis, Jerry Tokofsky

SCR Nicholas St. John

DP James Lemmo

CAST Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Melanie Griffith, Jack Scalia, Rossano Brazzi, Rae Dawn Chong

ED Jack W. Holmes, Anthony Redman

PROD DES Vincent M. Cresciman

MUSIC Dick Halligan

SOUND Terry Lynn Allen

San Sebastián (Getting to Know Abel Ferrara)

Synopsis

In New York City, a psycho killer is stalking and randomly slashing and killing strippers working in various nightclubs. Matt Rossi is a former boxer trying to escape his past whom is currently employed at a talent agency which caters exotic dancers to the mafia-controlled strip clubs all over Manhattan. Matt and his business partner, Nicky, are relentlessly dogged by Al Wheeler, a persistent police detective on the case of the murdered strippers, and hoping to find something to nail both Matt and Nicky on. Matt is trying to reconcile with his former flame, Loretta, whom also works as a dancer and has a off-again, on-again drug problem. With the police constantly hounding them, and under pressure from his mob boss and other bosses to do something, Matt must somehow face his inner demons to find the killer before he strikes again. —IMDb

Director

Original

Abel Ferrara

Independent New York filmmaker Abel Ferrara became best-known for his low-budget, shockingly violent films that explore the roughest parts of the Big Apple and the darkest reaches of the human soul, with films such as China Girl (1987), his unique version of Romeo and Juliet, generating a devoted following. Ferrara was born in the Bronx, but spent most of his childhood in Peekskill, NY, where he met the two young men who would eventually become his primary screenwriter (Nicholas St. John) and occasional consultant (John McIntyre). As boys, they would play around with 8 mm cameras. In the mid-‘70s, the three reunited and founded Navaron Films, where they produced an adult film. In 1979, they released their most notorious film, Driller Killer, for which Ferrara starred, edited, and wrote the songs under the pseudonym Jimmie Laine. In this movie, a young man goes berserk and begins killing vagrants with a portable power drill. Ferrara continued making low-budget shockers until the late… read more

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The Dude

22Apr12

My 500th rating! Proof that trash is as trash does, but not when Ferrara does it.

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Don't Get Nasty Brother

23Oct10

I didn't know what to make of this movie. I mean is entertaining, especially if you're looking for some serious 80's crime thriller but at times is kind of corny and sometimes is really bleak and violent. Maybe that's why is still enjoyable after all these years but i doubt that the comedy moments were intentional. Either way the movie is a treat for those who love Ferrara, crime thrillers and Melanie Griffith.

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Christopher Smith

6Jul10

Incredibly dated and cheesy, but packs enough raw energy to make it an exploitation cult classic. A compelling plot (hokey, though it is) by screenwriter Nicholas St. John, a capable cast, and a palpable sleazy atmosphere make it work. Entertaining in that B-movie sort of way, but as far as Ferrara films go, it delivers the pulp, but falls short on the poetry.

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