The Exterminator: Director’s Cut (1980)
Synergy DVD (region 2)
d. James Glickenhaus; pr. Mark Buntzman; scr. James Glickenhaus; ph. Robert M. Baldwin; m. Joe Renzetti; ed. Corky O'Hara; cast. Robert Ginty, Christopher George, Samantha Eggar, Steve James, Tony DiBenedetto (104 mins)
The early 1980s were an interesting time for exploitation movies. In disreputable, so-called “grindhouse” cinemas, the usual violent fodder began to reveal an undercurrent of disturbing, self-conscious social and ethical criticism, albeit often cloaked in a cynical, despairingly nihilistic humour. More often than not, the directors that thrived in this field were critically savaged, neglected because of the dominant perception that their films openly and deliberately wallowed in sensationalism, graphic violence and obscene gore with any social criticism as a mere pretence. James Glickenhaus was one such director, working consistently in action-exploitation alongside such equally unheralded figures as Gary Sherman, William Lustig and Frank Henenlotter. Though Glickenhaus would eventually move into film distribution, his early films were surprising box-office successes and he often flirted with the mainstream, though never quite arrived there. However, if one were to name a film that perhaps most epitomizes the sleazy exploitation movie of the brief 1980s boom, then Glickenhaus’ contentious The Exterminator is a solid and worthy candidate. The film’s release of was everywhere surrounded by controversy, with several scenes in particular posing a nightmare for the British and Australian censors of the time, as the film was widely reported in news agencies in these countries as representing a new kind of violent nadir in American cinema.
The Exterminator begins with a harrowing Vietnam War prologue exploring the inhumanity precipitated by this most abhorrent collapse of morality. Some time later an emotionally scarred Vietnam veteran (Robert Ginty in his debut) works at a meat plant in New York City with a friend (Steve James), himself a former soldier. They interrupt some minor criminal goings-on and on the way home, James is brutally beaten. When Ginty visits James in hospital, he is outraged to discover that his friend has been paralysed by a vicious street gang. Knowing that his friend’s family is in a dire predicament, financially and otherwise, Ginty then turns into a vigilante, going after the gang members one by one to honour his friend’s memory. Soon, however, the more successful he is at his intended vengeance, the less content he is with its inherent limits. Thus, he takes it upon himself to become a one-man justice machine, going after organized crime (to get money for his friend’s family) and trying to rid the city streets of its most monstrous offenders – paedophile rapists and torturers. His exploits eventually come to the attention of a wearied police detective (Christopher George) who begins to investigate. George in turn develops a begrudging respect for the vigilante although he is sworn to apprehend the violent avenger. It is perhaps inevitable that the paths of these two men, and their respective codes of justice, will eventually intersect directly. read more