The Exterminator (Unrated Director's Cut) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

...I give it a "five." Great picture and sound. Extras, too. One quibble: no subtitles. From the great James Glickenhaus.Here's Roger Ebert's take - sold!"The Exterminator” is a sick example of the almost unbelievable descent into gruesome savagery in American movies. It's a direct rip-off of “Death Wish,” a 1974 Charles Bronson hit about a man who kills muggers to avenge the death of his wife. “Death Wish” was violent, yes, but it remained within certain boundaries. It established a three-dimensional character, it gave him reasons for his actions, it allowed us to sympathize with those reasons and yet still disapprove of the murders he was committing. “The Exterminator” does none of those things. It is essentially just a sadistic exercise in moronic violence, supported by a laughable plot. The "exterminator" of the movie's title (Robert Ginty) has his life saved in Vietnam by a black man (Steve James), who becomes his closest friend. Back home in Brooklyn, they break up a gang in the process of stealing beer from a loading dock. The gang gets revenge by attacking and permanently paralyzing the black man. The hero vows revenge.So far, so good. What's profoundly disturbing about the film is that it uses this "justification" in the plot as an excuse for revenge scenes of the sickest possible perversion. The motive is obviously to shock or titillate the audience, not to show plausible actions by the character. For example: Ginty gets one gang member to talk by tying him to a wall and threatening him with an acetylene torch. Then he machine-guns the men who attacked his buddy.They get off easy. Determined to get money to support the family of his paralyzed friend, Ginty kidnaps a Mafia boss. He hangs him by chains over a huge meat grinder, goes to rob his house and then lowers the man into the grinder, converting him to ground meat. He justifies this crime in a letter to anchorman Roger Grimsby (who plays himself—to his horror, no doubt, when he saw this film). And then he goes on a one-man vigilante campaign to clean up New York.To help him in his campaign, the movie shows the audience evil situations and then lets the "exterminator" remedy them. For example, a hooker is lured to a house of male prostitution, where a sadistic client disfigures her with a soldering iron. Some weeks later, the "exterminator" picks up the hooker, sees the burn scars when she undresses and decides to avenge her. He goes to the male brothel, sets the owner on fire and shoots a customer dead.There's more, involving an insipid policeman (Christopher George) and his girlfriend (Samantha Eggar), who turns out to be the paralyzed man's doctor. This is the kind of movie that establishes their relationship by sending them to a concert and then focusing on the concert because they have no dialogue. The CIA also gets involved, but who cares? “The Exterminator” exists primarily to show burnings, shootings, gougings, grindings, and beheadings. It is a small, unclean exercise in shame. "That's entertainment!

following the success of films like death wish alot of vigilante films began being produced. the exterminator is one of the best amd most entertaining of the subgenre. it opens in vietnam as john eastland and his friend michael are captured by the NVA and interogated. this scene is nasty and features an incredibly graphic decapitation. after they escape they return to new york were the streets are run by hoods and mobsters. after johns friend michael is brutally attacked by a gang called the ghetto ghouls and left paralyzed john decides to take the law into his own hands and get his vengeance. from here the film kicks into high gear as john searches the streets for the ghouls and the other crooks of city. these scenes include torturing a thug with a flamethrower, lowering a mob boss into a meat grinder, and (in my opinion the best scene in the film) taking down a child prostitution house. this scene is awesome and demented and will probably disturb whoever watches it. in the end johns "exterminating" of criminals ticks off the government who are afraid his actions could upset an upcoming election.the exterminator is a great film. its not perfect. some of the editing could use some work. for example, almost directly after john tells michaels wife that he got attacked we fade to john with a thug tied up getting ready to torture him. it would have been nice to have some stalking, showing john search the streets for the thug, maybe the budget and short shooting schedule didnt leave room for this. exterminator is a low budget film and it shows in spots, but really you can forgive these few rough edges because the film is so fun to watch. also most of the acting is great. robert ginty who plays john is very good and the actor playing michael (cant remember his name right now) is also very good. christopher george is charming and funny and does a great job. now lets talk about the dvd. i have the out of print anchor bay dvd. i luckily got it when it was relativly cheap (10.00) now its going for $50 new and alomost $20 used. theres a new release by TANGO or something like that and i've read its the same preint as this anchor bay edition. the print on the anchor bayu disk isnt perfect. the picture isnt to bad, aa few scratches that kinda add to the grindhouse feel of the film. the audio is the real problem. there are a few spots in the film were the audio drops out for about a second. you dont miss anything really but it is distracting the first time you watch. if you can get the anchor bay dvd, there are no features but it has a cool little booklet (well, 2 page fold out) that i doubt is in the tango release. fans of exploitation, sleaze, gore, 80's action, vigilante films should pick up the exterminator. its a great, fun, satisfying experience, justr dont expect to feel warm anfd fuzzy when its over.

An exploitation/grindhouse classic which any Gen Xer probably remembers in VHS from the video store, as it seemed to be ubiquitous. Make sure you see the un-tampered with version meant by the filmmakers. It's a sleazy, dirty, hyperviolent, disturbing and somehow fun ride taking place in a late 1970s/early 1980s decaying, crime-ridden New York City.A Vietnam Vet whose work partner is savagely beaten by thugs goes on a revenge spree, getting involved with an abused prostitute and a police detective along the way. Sometimes it feels like two or three different movies going on at once, but by the end all the narratives align. One scene features an original copy of The Anarchist Cookbook (not the watered-down, highly censored version that Amazon sells). Watch for how the police detective uses a very unsafe hacked power cord, some electrical tape, and two forks to cook a hot dog. Also watch for great scenes of The Deuce/42nd Street in its grimy glory of the late 1970s. This film has lots of things in common with Taxi Driver, but is somehow the underground/underdog alternative to Taxi Driver's more mainstream-ness. If you're into true grindhouse and how dystopic NYC was in the late 1970s, this is required viewing.

Not In 235.1 Letterbox In 16.9 Full Frame,"Anamaorphic Print",Not an Eploitation Film as quoted In The Booklet."Wich I Found Lacking In Information" "James Glickenhaus Went On To Do Codename-The Soldier With Ken Wahl,The Protector..The "Film Jacky Chan Wont Talk about",and "Shakedown" AKA Blue Jean Cop With Sam Elliot and PeterWeller".Good Cast Christopher George and Samantha Eggar Had Worked Extensively On Tv and Film Since The Mid 60sWhile Robert Ginty Went On To Do The Dire,"Gold Raiders, Mission Kill" and "Warrior Of The Lost World",The FairlyGood "The Alchemist" "White Fire" and "Scarab" and The Suprisingly Very Good,"The Act" None Of This Is MentionedIn The Booklet.."Surprisingly The Reversible Art Work IS NOT The Original Uk Poster That Is The Same as The OriginalUk V.H.S Release On Intervision.Quite Graphic In Parts,"This Is The Full UNCUT Original Theatrical Version Originally Released Over Here With an XCertificate,"Suprisingly It Was Only Rated R,"Restricted" In The U.S,"Dream Lover With Kristy Mcnichol Received TheSame Rating" Yet Over Here Only got a 15 Cert.? No Trailers Or Tv Spots Either, Good Main Title and End CreditMusic as Well..The End Theme Is Called,"Theme For an American Hero" and Is Performed By Roger Bowling.Just as Hard Hitting and Uncompromising as The Original,"Death Wish" Wich Like Exterminator 2 You CanForget The Terrible Sequals,"Routine Cannon Films Fodder" theyre Terrible.Charles Bronson Must Be TurningIn His Grave.. Regards Barry J/GB/UK

In this 1980 vigilante story, two Vietnam veterans return home to find civilian life harder than expected after stopping a theft at work. When one is crippled in a revenge attack the other goes all out to get his own revenge on the gang that did it. Soon he takes up a vigilante course as he sets out to right the wrongs done to others, But is he biting off more than he can chew?This gives a good view of the seedy side of New York in the late 70’-early 80’s as well as showing some good aerial shots of famous city landscapes ‘way back when....’. The movie itself feels very 70’s in style seeming like an extended version of “Starsky and Hutch” only from the exterminators point of view. It also gives a gloss free look at life for ‘ordinary folk’ at the bottom of the social ladder, omitting the usual Hollywood gloss and sentimentality as he tries to do the right thing in the wrong way.The single disc opens to a main screen offering play, scene index, trailer and synergy showcase [basically 6 trailers]. Despite being filmed on a $2,000,000 it comes across as much less, [the Huey/opening Vietnam sequences costing $400,000, the beheading scene $25,000, where the rest went I can only guess.] Containing plenty of old fashioned oily explosions and some gory scenes, it’s the sick perverted scenes that are mostly suggested that makes this highly disturbing, easily making it an 18 view and will appeal to Grindhouse fans. Samantha Egger actually has a small bit part.

Wow what a movie!If you are like me a fan of exploitation flicks then The Exterminator should be a priority for you.The multitude of scenes in New York and seedy 42nd Street are a joy to behold.What is so great about this movie is that it keeps building and building onto more and more violent scenes and you just know that something is going to give.The violence is justified within the movies context, and is a perfect example of how good American movies used to be. The Bourne whatever this ain't.My one drag with the film is that the editing is a bit choppy and yes some of the acting is hammy. Also I didn't quite understand how EX could get the gang so quick near the beginning of the movie.But hey that aside, The Exterminator in a nutshell is quite beautiful, in a trashy way of course.

Dreadful quality, looks like it was shot on an old phone. This is Blu Ray as well. No front menu, no chapters even - Only the choice of Dutch or German subtitles - Not even a choice of NO subtitles.Buy this, or punch yourself in the face, you will feel just as good. I literally cannot believe that this is being marketed as an improved version - I loved the original film, but watching a VHS standard version with foreign subtitles? Avoid. Heartily.

Film turned up in no time at all.Right the film ain't the greatest and is flawed. But it awesome 80 b movieness so who cares if its flawed. Its awesome for that