It is now March 12th, 2019. About nine or ten years ago I noticed a peculiar difference in Lucio Fulci's The New York Ripper (Lo Squartatore di New York, 1982) movie versus its English trailer. Today I want to share my observation just in case other Fulci fans are interested in it.
This is not big news by any means, but obviously they have used completely different soundtracks for the movie and its trailer. I find that fact pretty fascinating and even amusing!
To prove that there is a clear difference, I have published text transcriptions for you to read, and MP3 audio files to listen to. I recorded the sound samples from Another World Entertainment's restored and fully uncut DVD release, but that act belongs under the Fair use principle, and cannot be considered as a copyright violation. The sound clips are very short, but sufficient to demonstrate what I have observed.
[phone rings]
[the ripper makes his trademark duck-like quacking]
The ripper: Lieutenant Williams, please.
Police's technical assistant preparing to trace the ripper's location using the phone call: Here we go!
[noise made by analogue phone tracking technology of the 1980s]
[quacking by the ripper]
The ripper: Lieutenant Williams?
Lieutenant Williams: Speaking. What do ya want?
The ripper: To dedicate a killing to you.
[quacking by the ripper]
The ripper: Gonna sacrifice a woman just for you. Like the idea?
Lieutenant Williams: The only thing I'd like - I'd really like - is to meet you face to face.
The ripper: Are you all there? Asking for Lieutenant Williams.
Lieutenant Williams: Speaking. What do ya want?
[quacking by the ripper]
The ripper: To dedicate a murder to you. Sacrifice a woman exclusively for you.
[quacking by the ripper]
[police car's siren sound]
To see my Lo Squartatore Di New York review, you can follow this link.
For my brief article on Fulci's career in general, please see Thoughts on the art of Lucio Fulci.
Let's give this director the recognition that he truly deserves. Yes, he did make many bad movies, but also many brilliant ones. It is best to focus on the latter.
Kalevi Kolttonen <kalevi@kolttonen.fi>