Monday, September 26, 2011

PEEPHOLE REVIEW: The Exterminator (1980 -- Synapse Films)

A Cop with a Death Wish
 Yes, another title in the long list of Death Wish knock offs.  But this one has the scene with the bad guy being made into a nice ground chuck burger.  Fairly low on original plot and character shading, but it's a far cry better than many of the revenge flicks that cluttered the shelves at the VHS rental ship.  It's loads more fun, too.
I'm gonna have to put an 80% fat label on you, big guy
Robert Ginty (retro TV hounds will recognize him from The Paper Chase) plays a Vietnam vet whose post traumatic stress is amped up when a war buddy is made a vegetable of by a pack of thugs, called the "Ghetton Ghouls."  Bucking the trend of beefed up, tough guy vigilante types, Ginty pulls back the reigns, working in the more mellow mood of Jan-Michael Vincent in White Line Fever
Man, don't harsh my mellow... or they'll be a firestorm
Director James Glickenhaus steers The Exterminator from the regular street fighting man action of the other vigilante films, by ratcheting up the violence with some real sick-n-twisted kills.  It's like Ginty is an unmasked version of Jason Vorhees, taking quiet pleasure in each gory kill.  Synapse Films did a great job restoring these scenes to their original nastiness, and delivering the cult classic in a nifty Blu-ray & DVD set.

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