Fear City is a superior slice of sex, sleaze and serial slayings soundtracked to a visual beat of the best of 80s Noo Yawk with its glorious time square locales of bright lights hawking TDK cassettes tales, Evita broadway tickets and other less savoury but not doubt infinitely more fun consumer options. This is the world of Ti West’s MaXXXine as it actually happened.
Tom Berenger is pro-pugilist turned proto-pimp supplying a circuit of exotic dancers to eager promoters up and down the square. The main attraction is Melanie Griffith, a sultry seductress with a taste for nose candy and an eye wandering between Berenger and fellow dancer Rae Dawn Chong. But business is about to take a sharp decline, as martial artist dude bro John Foster begins to target girls with his bladed weapon skills, leaving Police Detective Billy Dee Williams frustrated with the lack of co-operation from the intended victim cohort.
This is much slicker and glossier than Abe’s early efforts but is able to retain the authentic feel of grime he so successfully captured with The Driller Killer and Ms 45, and while it has a Nicholas St John script it is thankfully far from the pretentious navel gazing that would colour the pairs later collaborative work. It’s a D grade thriller (the kind that I love) that rises above with considerable acting chops and direction.
Shout-out to the Chevy Chase Distribution company for releasing this?
Fear City is a superior slice of sex, sleaze and serial slayings soundtracked to a visual beat of the best of 80s Noo Yawk with its glorious time square locales of bright lights hawking TDK cassettes tales, Evita broadway tickets and other less savoury but not doubt infinitely more fun consumer options. This is the world of Ti West’s MaXXXine as it actually happened.
Tom Berenger is pro-pugilist turned proto-pimp supplying a circuit of exotic dancers to eager promoters up and down the square. The main attraction is Melanie Griffith, a sultry seductress with a taste for nose candy and an eye wandering between Berenger and fellow dancer Rae Dawn Chong. But business is about to take a sharp decline, as martial artist dude bro John Foster begins to target girls with his bladed weapon skills, leaving Police Detective Billy Dee Williams frustrated with the lack of co-operation from the intended victim cohort.
This is much slicker and glossier than Abe’s early efforts but is able to retain the authentic feel of grime he so successfully captured with The Driller Killer and Ms 45, and while it has a Nicholas St John script it is thankfully far from the pretentious navel gazing that would colour the pairs later collaborative work. It’s a D grade thriller (the kind that I love) that rises above with considerable acting chops and direction.
Shout-out to the Chevy Chase Distribution company for releasing this?
