Fear City (1984) Aquarius Releasing/Action-Thriller RT: 96 minutes Rated R (language, strong graphic violence, nudity and strong sexual content throughout, drugs, sleaze) Director: Abel Ferrara Screenplay: Nicholas St. John Music: Dick Halligan Cinematography: James Lemmo Release date: February 16, 1985 (US) Cast: Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, Rossano Brazzi, Rae Dawn Chong, Joe Santos, Michael V. Gazzo, Jan Murray, Ola Ray, Maria Conchita, Janet Julian, Daniel Faraldo, John Foster, Neil Clifford (uncredited), Emilia Lesniak, Nina Jones, Frank Ronzio, Juan Fernandez. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ****
Abel Ferrara’s Fear City is a sleaze classic! The director takes us into even seedier territory than his previous efforts Driller Killer and Ms. 45 with this thriller about a psychopath preying on strippers in pre-Giuliani Times Square. This was when the streets were still lined with porno shops, strip clubs and XXX-rated movie theaters. Crime was at an all-time high and morale was low. It’s hardly what one would call paradise, but it’s the perfect setting for a sleazy, dirty-minded action-thriller.
Fear City never opened in Philadelphia. I was aware of its existence due to my homeroom teacher’s fondness for the New York Times. I would peruse the movie page every Friday to see what was playing at NY theaters that hadn’t come to Philly yet, assuming it would at all. I didn’t get to see it until November ’85 when I rented it from West Coast Video one Friday night. I was hooked from the moment “New York Doll’ (by Joe Delia and David Johansen) started playing over the opening credits montage of Times Square and half-naked strippers performing in seedy clubs. The rest of Ferrara’s film doesn’t disappoint either.
Somebody is slashing up strippers that work out of the Starlite Talent Agency run by Matt Rossi (Berenger, Someone to Watch Over Me) and Nicky Parzeno (Scalia, Hollywood Beat), a couple of guys with serious Mafia connections. In addition, Rossi is a retired boxer still suffering from guilt over killing an opponent in the ring. The killer, played by Neil Clifford of Class of 1984, is one of those mute whack jobs who’s an expert at martial arts and human anatomy, making him deadly and extremely dangerous.
It’s initially thought that the attacks are directed at Rossi, possibly by his main competitor Goldstein (comedian Murray). The investigating detective, Wheeler (Williams, Nighthawks), hates Rossi and demands that he come up with ideas as to who’s behind the killings. The girls are understandably frightened, especially Rossi’s ex Loretta (Griffith, Body Double), a bisexual drug addict whose lover (Chong, Commando) was the killer’s second victim. In the end, it’s going to be Rossi that hits the streets and alleyways to track down the unnamed killer.
I’ll concede that Fear City isn’t as great as Ms. 45; it doesn’t succeed on the same emotional level as it doesn’t give you a victim with whom you can sympathize. This is more of a straight-up thriller, kind of like Vice Squad with an East Coast setting. I still think it’s awesome because it takes you on a journey through a world of sleaze. It shows 42nd Street in all its early 80s squalid glory with the pushers, perverts, sleazy club owners, mobsters and other shady types that populated the area at the time.
In his movies, Ferrara shows a great understanding of atmosphere and how to use it to fullest advantage. Not all of his films are great (or particularly good), but they all have this distinctive visual palette that makes them unforgettable. James Lemmo’s cinematography perfectly suits the material. It’s as flashy as the story is trashy.
The cast is pretty cool and amazing. Italian actor Rossano Brazzi (The Final Conflict) shows up as a Mafia don who prompts Rossi to take definitive action against the psycho. Michael V. Gazzo (The Godfather Part II) plays a strip club owner losing money because of the killings. Ola Ray (from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video) and Maria Conchita (Moscow on the Hudson) play a couple of victims.
As a leading man, Berenger does a pretty good job even though his character fails to come off as complex as Ferrara intended. Williams glowers as the upright cop disgusted by the sleaze and slime he’s forced to wade through every night. He often uses racial slurs to describe the gangster-types he’s forced to deal with. Griffith was still young and hot when she made Fear City. She’s not all great an actress, but she gives it her all here as a stripper undergoing an emotional breakdown in trying to keep her addiction in check in the face of tragedy and danger.
The music in Fear City is also great; it perfectly fits both tone and setting. The story is reasonably suspenseful and there’s a decent amount of bloody violence. The attack on Chong on a subway platform is especially brutal as is the alleyway attack on Ray (the first victim). The climactic fight between Rossi (the boxer) and the kung fu killer is cool.
The narrative isn’t always as smooth as it should be. In terms of filmmaking, Fear City is hardly a perfect example. But as a grindhouse picture, it’s exceptional. It has better production values than most B-level exploitation flicks. It’s sleazy, seedy and violent. It features a lot of nudity (boobs mainly) and suggestive dancing. There are a couple of hot lesbian scenes (kissing). It’s exactly the kind of movie that’s made to be seen at dirty grindhouse theaters on 42nd Street. I think it’s freaking awesome!
