Exterminator 2 (1984)

The flamethrower-wielding vigilante John Eastland returns to rid New York of a drug lord and his gang.

Director:

Mark Buntzman

Writers:

Mark Buntzman, William Sachs

Stars:

Robert Ginty, Mario Van Peebles, Deborah Geffner

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Ginty	...	John Eastland
Mario Van Peebles	...	X
Deborah Geffner	...	Caroline
Frankie Faison	...	Be Gee
Scott 'Slo-motion' Randolph	...	Eyes (as Scott Randolf)
Reggie Rock Bythewood	...	Spider
Bruce Smolanoff	...	Red Rat
David Buntzman	...	Head Mafioso
Kenny Marino	...	Tony
Derek Evans	...	Squealer
Irwin Keyes	...	Monster
Robert Louis King	...	Philo
Arye Gross	...	Turbo
Janet Rotblatt	...	Mom
Steffen Zacharias	...	Pop

Storyline

The flamethrower-wielding vigilante John Eastland returns to rid New York of a drug lord and his gang.

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Plot Keywords:

chase | foot chase | gunfight | shootout | gun battle | 

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Taglines:

In 'The Exterminator' he made the streets of New York safe. All has been quiet - until now!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Exterminator 2

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,204,197, 16 September 1984, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,739,406, 21 October 1984

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Group, Golan-Globus Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer and Director Mark Buntzman rode around Staten Island in a garbage truck prior to shooting the movie.

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Goofs

In the scene where X summersaults of the roof of the armored car he clearly jumps onto a blue madras and not the asphalt (visible in the 4:3 VHS release).

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Quotes

Be Gee: The truck is still hungry.

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Alternate Versions

The UK theatrical and video version was the heavily edited U.S R-rated print which was then cut by a further 2 mins 39 secs by the BBFC. All footage of nunchakus was completely removed and heavy edits made to scenes of violence including burnings, the shooting of an old woman during the opening robbery, Robert Ginty's girlfriend being beaten up by X's gang, and almost the entire scene of the killing of the guard under a subway train. The BBFC cuts were fully waived for the 2016 DVD release.

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Connections

Referenced in Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988)

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Soundtracks

Love Theme from Exterminator 2
Written by David Spear

User Reviews

Not a great film but its an Interesting Curiosity for Film buffs

The First Exterminator film is a cult classic among fans of Revenge and exploitation flicks, however this film for a long time was not, until just recently, Exterminator 2 (1984) Is an interesting film because it didn't turn out like it should have, According to many fans and sources it was meant to be a follow up in the same gritty style of its predecessor, however the production company wasn't happy with the final product and demanded a entirely new ending involving a larger action scene as well as some other extra scenes to be added to the rest of the film, So apparently there's an entirely different work print version of the film out there, which would be an interesting watch because the version I am reviewing is the version that was Released in theaters and on VHS, we have yet to get a DVD and if we do I hope we get a special edition with both versions of the film and a documentary.

OK the plot of the film is extremely simple, It picks up 3 or 4 years after the original, and "The Exterminator" (Played by Robert Ginty Once again) is back cleaning up the crime ridden streets of new york, however the crime is even more ferocious than ever before, a new gang is on the Streets lead by a psychotic gang leader called "X" (Mario Van Peebles) His plan is basically to take over the entire city of New York by starting to get the public hooked on Drugs and have them join his gang to form an uprising on the entire city.

Now first thing You'll notice is the film's tone is completely different It's no longer dark and gritty and it has more in tone with the MAD MAX movies, THE EXTERMINATOR now wears a welding mask and burns crooks with a flamethrower, the film is still very violent (Depending on which version you get) But its more action oriented, however the problem is the action is not that good, every scene is mashed together and just barely makes sense, The Acting is probably the worst thing about the film, all the actors just seem bored and the punks are just over the top silly, and i don't blame them, the writing in this film is some of the worst ever, and the musical score is just laughable it sounds like it was composed for an old SEGA genesis/mega-drive game, even for its time it was bad, however it could've been good if they had better production values on the film, which is another major problem, the film's budget was extremely low and it dwarfs my mind on why that is, the first film was a financial success so you'd think they would give a bigger budget for the sequel, but this is produced by GOLAN GLOBUS after all so its expected, but even for them it was still low budget being made for only $3 million when they made other films for 5 to 10 million dollars.

Now after Ripping pretty hard on this film, I gotta give it some slack because in some strange and screwy way it was entertaining, Because When Watching it you can't help but think "You Know this could've been a Great Idea for a Comic Book" Indeed this film's tone is not far from the truth it has that comic book feel, even the Cover and poster art makes you think so, Not only that The main villain "X" Is hilariously entertaining to watch, he hams up the role just enough not to annoy you, And the final Action scene is cool, it involves an armored Garbage truck with guns,rockets and a snow plow attached to the front going through gang members, so this film Does have its entertainment value But Its more of an interesting curiosity to film buffs because of its history, so i suggest checking it out for Curiositys sake.

OVERALL: 5/10

BTW: Make sure you get the U.S version of this film, as its censored heavily in most parts of the world.