Fear City (1985)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I watched this film on a channel called Epix Drive In. This is a channel that usually has some really bad B movies. This film is almost worthy of an Oscar after one has sat through a film called Dinosaur Island which came on before this one did. Still, it is not a very good movie...it almost had something as it has a pretty good cast, a workable story and other nice factors, but it squanders it by having one too many plot holes and what the heck is going on here moments.The story has a killer on the loose killing strippers. At first he seems to only be targeting a guy and his buddy's ladies. These two buds manage the ladies and the mob is involved and a cop who cannot seem to track this killer down shows up and occasionally cusses before disappearing again. Why is the killer doing what he is doing? I am not sure, seems he is a vigilante who is into martial arts who wants to clean up the city and write a book or something about his exploits. Suffice to say he really is not developed as most of the movie focuses on a former boxer with a past who has a thing for a stripper who becomes completely forgotten for a long stretch of this film until the ending.Tom Berenger stars as the former boxer, Billy Dee Williams as a cop who can call an Italian everything in the book, but can't find a killer who strikes at the same places and Melanie Griffith plays a stripper who seems integral to the plot then forgotten for a spell. The film had some interesting points, but there are just a few too many flaws in this one to call it good. How to best summarize this film? It can probably be summed up as Rocky versus a martial artist.

Although FEAR CITY is provocatively titillating, and sex drenched, it really never manages to seduce. However, the film does a remarkable job of capturing the essence of early 80's tawdry 42nd St. Midtown Manhattan (Pre-Disneyfication). And, the film boasts a cavalcade of 80's talent; Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Melanie Griffith, and Rae Dawn Chong. Although director Able Ferrara was throttled by too many producers, he has still managed to craft a fairly interesting picture. What makes FEAR CITY slightly unusual is the treatment of the killer. In most films of this nature, the primary aim is to identify and demonstrate the Evil Doer's, Means, Motive, and Opportunity. However, in FEAR CITY Ferrara only shows the manifestation of the killer's violence, and nearly nothing is divulged of his character or motivation. The killer is shown as a mere cipher, and such a depiction is more in keeping with the Horror Genre rather than Detective Fiction. FEAR CITY is certainly not a great film, or even one of Able Ferrar's better efforts, but it is still worthy of a look.

Though Abel Ferrara's Fear City retains a little of the indie 'juice' associated with the director's best films, it's ultimately a failure. The major problems are leads Tom Berenger and Melanie Griffith, neither of whom bring much to the table. Berenger spends half the film driving around with a deadpan expression on his face (the same expression he displays throughout the entire film, actually) and the other half flashing back to his days as a prize fighter. Griffith's squeaky little girl voice is as fingernails on the chalkboard to me, and her love scenes with Berenger are simply unwatchable. That said, there's plenty of great location photography and some good supporting turns by Billy Dee Williams as detective Wheeler, Rosanno Brazzi as good fella Carmine, and Michael V. Gazzo as strip club operator Mike.

The movie gives you the idea that everything takes place in Manhattan (particularly within the area close to Time Square) then you have an ending scene where the villain and hero fight it out in a long alleyway! (WE DON'T HAVE THOSE IN MANHATTAN – NOT EVEN CLOSE BY). I was born, raised and still live in this town; I recognized scenes of Little Italy and Times Square but found most of the scenes unreal and a great deal of the "acting" stiff and the dialog loaded with clichés.The cheap, fleabag motel scenes remind me of 1940's detective movies or scenes from "Miami Vice" TV episodes. The funny thing is it was shot in New York and they still got it all wrong! The only thing this movie reminds me of is the video game "Grand Theft Auto".