Night Ripper! (1986 Video) User Reviews

Was acceptable in the 80s...

[Coventry · 4/10 · 21 June 2021]

Shot-on-Video horror, SOV, was an annoying film-making technique during the 1980's and early 90s. I say annoying because it gave literally everyone, including the most incompetent hacks and amateurs, the opportunity to make their own horror movie and unleash it upon genre-loving audiences.

The SOV-flicks I've seen (usually try to avoid them, in fact) are rated, almost without exception, 1/10. Not because I don't want people to realize their life-long career dreams, but simply because they are unendurable. The plots are hopelessly unoriginal, the quality levels of acting and directing are painfully inexistent, the gore & make-up effects are over-enthusiast but laughably bad, and for some bizarre reason the running time of each and every single SOV film is endlessly stretched with dull padding footage.

Jeff Hathcock's "Night Ripper!" sits in this same bucket, and all of the above boxes are ticked. A homicidal maniac targets fashion models. Check. None of the cast members has even a notion of talent. Check. Larry Thomas, as the prime suspect who obviously isn't the killer although the 'script' wants you to believe so, obtained his fifteen minutes of fame in 90s when he appeared as the Soup Nazi in "Seinfeld", but here he's just as terrible as everyone else. We don't get to see any actual murders, only messy images of knives stuck in ladies' throats or chests. Check. Last but not least, the film easily could have 15-20 minutes shorter if it wasn't for all the "driving through the city at night" footage. Double check!

And yet, for some incomprehensible reason, I didn't hate "Night Ripper!". Maybe I was in an exceptionally good mood, maybe because Jeff Hathcock already made some minor improvements since his previous film "Victims!", or maybe just because I finally settled with the wisdom that everything was acceptable in the 1980s.

boring

[IPreferEvidence · 4/10 · 14 July 2011]

A super cheap shot on video slasher from the 80s with crappy music. The story is about a killer who is referred to as the "ripper"(very original) who stalks and kills female fashion models.

The story is very basic but It could be good. Unfortunately its not, there's a sub plot about a photographer and his love troubles which takes way too much time and the film is mostly just boring mush.

Even the kills aren't that good. Sure there's some blood but they seem to screw up every kill with either some kind of silly gimmick(like using still shots only or some really weird filters and such) and of course there's a 'twist' at the end but its very predictable.

The movie is really dated and some people like myself like that but I don't think that even the most hardcore 80s slasher fans would like this. Its boring and as mediocre as it gets.

Only worth it for a YouTube "gore loop".

[b_kite · 4/10 · 6 January 2019]

If someone could make a video on youtube of just the gory bits then that's all you would need, there entertaining with all there quick corny edits and all. As for the movie as a whole, it feels more like an episode of a soap opera. They do a good job of plodding it out to 92 minutes only to then rush the final in true amatuer fashion. Far from the best SOV I've seen, but, then again giving it some credit its far from the worst.

"This isn't love! This is two sweaty bodies f*cking under a flood lamp!"

[Cujo108 · 4 August 2010]

Night Ripper is a blast! A guy who does glamour shots for models and the like gets mixed up in a series of mutilation killings. The murders bare a resemblance to those committed by Jack the Ripper, and the victims are all models. Naturally, the photographer becomes a suspect. He also falls for one of his models and must try to protect her from the true killer.

Shot on video, this film looks better and less amateurish than some of the SOV films I've seen. Perhaps it's just me, but I find that SOV can actually make a film more endearing in certain cases. This is one of them. But anyway, to get back to the gist of things, Night Ripper is heavy on the cheese factor. The so-called love story between the lead and his new squeeze makes for some solid amusement. We also get a pair of cops who are way past being past their prime, yet they give chase to a fleeing suspect anyway. Then there's the other photographer, himself a suspect, who mugs for the camera on a nonstop basis.

The killer's identity is kept a secret until the climax, though I managed to accurately guess who it was from the character's very first scene. As if I wasn't sure enough already, there's also a later scene that's a dead giveaway if you've been paying attention. The climax takes place in a mannequin factory, and the final death scene of the film is something to see. Not because of gore, mind you, but the way in which it happens.

A cheesy delight, Night Ripper is entertaining SOV slasher goodness. It seems to be quite rare, but if you come across a copy, don't hesitate to snag it.

Entertaining!

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 26 February 2019]

Back in the 1980's, you could shoot horror movies directly on video and they'd still get into video stores. Jeff Hathcock did that with two movies, this one and Streets of Death. He also created Victims! and the Troma film, Fertilize the Blaspheming Bombshell. But today, we're here to discuss his 1986 slasher film, Night Ripper.

Sure, this movie is packed with sheer Velveeta, but I kind of loved it. It turns out that a guy who ignores his fiancee - who is having sex with her boss anyway - and meets hot models as he does glamour shots for them ends up getting blamed for some murders that are just like Jack the Ripper. He becomes a suspect and also falls in love with one of the girls who gets targeted by the real Night Ripper. Or is that Night Ripper!?

Even better, Larry Thomas, the Soup Nazi, is one of the suspects. There's also tons of bad acting, worse line readings, soap opera music cues and incredible dialogue like "This isn't love! This is two sweaty bodies CENSORED under flood lamps. And I'm tired of flood lamps!"

I think more movies should have this much surface noise, with actors being recorded probably from the microphone that's on the camera. It's also got an awesome climax inside a mannequin factory, making me think that I should have saved this for my upcoming theme week of mannequin movies.

This is really hard to find, so I'm just going to share the whole movie below in the hopes that you watch it and love it as much as I do.

Mannequin factory.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 12 September 2010]

In "Night Ripper" serial killer is targeting young glamour models.He or she stabs them to death with a knife and mutilates their bodies.The finale takes place in mannequin factory among the rows of creepy looking mannequins.I love mannequins,so I had a blast watching the denouement of "Night Ripper".Jeff Hathcock's low-budget SOV slasher is an enjoyable and hugely enthusiastic movie.There are some extremely boring scenes of car driving,but the murder scenes are dirt-cheap and bloody.Some lines of dialogue are priceless for example ""I was a butcher for five years and now I'm a photographer.Anything can happen."Yeah,right-anything can happen during watching "Night Ripper".7 night rippers out of 10.

Night Ripper

[Toronto85 · 6/10 · 29 June 2011]

What do you get when you combine a crazed serial killer, the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, and a creepy lesbian? You get Night Ripper of course! Night Ripper is a hilariously bad SOV slasher film from 1986. This one definitely falls under the category of 'so bad it's watchable'. The acting is awful, the music is pure 80's, the whole thing is a big cheesy mess. Yet, I liked it...

The plot? "Models" are being murdered by a psychopath in town. Not really sure if all of the girls were models though. Most of the victims are people we don't see for more than two-three minutes. Every time a young girl pops up on the screen, they are killed off right away so there is no time to even tell if they are models. Anyways, the main suspect is Mitch, a photographer. He has got to be the soup nazi from Seinfeld, just saying. So we see him being all creepy, and then this other woman enters the movie. She is a lesbian and seems to hate models therefore she is another suspect. The whole thing ends in a Mannequin factory where the killer is revealed while trying to kill our main heroine Jill.

Night Ripper is the ultimate cheesy 80's slasher. The acting is awful, the music is terrible, yet it is very watchable (at least once). The death scenes are a little gory, but not overdone. Check it out if you can.

6/10

Woah mama! I thought Last Slumber Party was bad?

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 6/10 · 2 January 2005]

Just when I thought it was safe to go back to my video recorder... After surviving the nonsensical 90 minutes of Nail Gun Massacre intact, I realised that still lurking on my shelf was the wonderfully daft and longing to be viewed Night Ripper...

I've noticed that there's no information concerning this flick's existence anywhere on the web, which either means one or two things: 1) No one has ever bothered to waste any time on it, or 2) I'm probably one of the select few in the world that's actually seen it. Try searching out a copy to buy, it's virtually impossible; - this one's become as rare as a Britney Spears hit single.

Movies that are so bad that they're amusing are one of cinema's greatest achievements, because they provide an unintentional form of comedy that has been created from the pure stupidity of a crew that probably set out to make a masterpiece and got a little lost in the enthusiasm. Attempts like Camp Blood and Don't Go in the woods are prime examples of such asininity, but do they actually make you laugh? It's certainly comical to see how brainless a gang of filmmakers can make themselves appear, but they don't actually provoke fits of laughter, do they? That's where Jeff Hathcock's slasher comes in to its own. This one made me bust into paroxysms of chuckles on a fair few occasions. Everything from the script ("This isn't love, this is two sweaty bodies f***ing under a flood lamp!") to the camcorder-like cinematography (The footage from my niece's first birthday party is clearer) pushes Night Ripper in to the endearing category of comedy gold.

A psycho that looks like he wears a homemade ninja mask is killing off models and surgically disembowelling them. Dave, a local photographer, becomes involved when a girl that he has pictured is killed and next his adulterous fiancée meets a sticky end via the mysterious maniac. As the murders get closer to David, could his new sweetheart be next on the maniac's list?

Believe it or not, this could actually be credited with attempting to redefine cinema history. I bet that you can't name another film where none of the cast members even bothered to act. Gill, the supposed leading lady is particularly awful. She manages to keep the same dumb look on her face throughout the whole of her screen time and adds about as much emotion as a wilting Great Oak. Her co-star is equally as unimpressive and they both reach the peaks of their short careers in one brilliant scene, which is so damn good I had to re-wind and watch it again. After Dave splits up with his fiancée, he goes to Gill's apartment seeking comfort. After some of the silliest dialogue ever set to video ("I love you". "That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me" etc), he confesses his affections for the straight-laced vixen. There's nothing wrong with that you may think; but the funny thing was that they only met a day earlier and hardly even knew each other. Now who said that there's no such thing as love at first sight?

You can tell from the off that this is a stinker. The horrendous sound led me to believe that there wasn't even a boom mike (although I spoke to the actress that plays Jane and she assured me that there was!) and the picture quality is – seriously – that of a camcorder. When a scene ends, EVERY single shot fades to black, which makes it look as if the editor finished his Sunday lunch and then chopped together the footage with a pair of grass-stained garden shears.

To be fair, it looks as if Hathcock (who also directed slashers Streets of Death and Victims!) was slightly improving as the runtime grew; and I must admit that the final chase sequence in the mannequin factory was showing a marked improvement on the rest of his wayward attempts. But there's so much to laugh at that giving him credit seems totally outrageous. One 'actress' bumps into the camera whilst walking past and even when the director does try an adventurous shot from underneath a bed, he fails to notice the fact that the viewer couldn't actually see anything. The music that accompanies the footage is priceless, boasting pure synthesizer monstrosities that would make Jan Hammer look like Mozart. It's best described as a crazy mix of eighties disco (played badly) and the shoddiest of seventies porn soundtracks, which just about sums up the quality of a feature like Night Ripper.

Victims are rolled out like they're fresh off of a production line to be slaughtered. Once we've accumulated who is going to survive, you can bet your bottom buck that the rest of the characters make an appearance only for execution. The killer supposedly disembowels the models and they're found in quite a mess, but luckily for the producers we never get to see any of it. Nevertheless, some of the slashings were gory in a tacky kind of way, especially the opening murder and the one where a woman gets stabbed through the face with a kitchen knife.

The most surprising thing about this movie is that little old me in a flat in North London managed to get hold of a copy in the first place. I don't even remember where I found it. It certainly wasn't released in Europe and I can't track any other traces of it down, anywhere. If there is another fortunate soul alive that has seen it - then please drop me a line. I'd really love to hear that I'm not alone in witnessing this classic slice of cheesy entertainment. I have all the time in the world for movies like Night Ripper. Bring 'em on…one by one...

Nice little SOV slasher obscurity

[Bloodwank · 6/10 · 23 February 2011]

Somewhere between the alpine heights of Video Violence and the filler sucking swamp of Blood Lake lies the gentle pasture of Night Ripper. Middle of the road for an SOV slasher, but it handles pretty well and offers a few delights to the connoisseur. Plotwise we have a photographer hero falling for one of his subjects despite being engaged, and a string of gruesome murders. Apparently the killer mutilates the heck out of his victims, practically hollowing them out. I say apparently because we never actually get to see this, but we do get a few cheapskate bloody murders that muster a surprising effectiveness. The plotting and pacing is all pretty standard and even competent, which may put off strange seekers, but the acting and writing tries its hardest to rectify the competent construction. Basically the acting isn't there, recitation of lines is about the greatest effort that any of the cast stretch to, with one note delivery and blank, staring expressions the performers do a great job in rendering the film a sort of weird, clueless vacuum, populated by people that simply aren't real. The film doesn't actually identify who plays who in its credits, so I'm just going to guess that April Anne deserves a special bewilderment award as the love interest of the piece and Larry Thomas has a good weird look as the heroes oddball co-worker. The writing throws a counter-action to its performers, with splashes of barmy dialogue that the most accomplished thespians would struggle to deliver with credulity. A synth laden and often stressed out score shoots a bit of emotion into the piece as well, at times doing the actors emoting for them. Perhaps they were all really tired, or maybe under the influence of hypnosis? Direction here generally lacks any kind of dynamism, with a fair amount of static shots, and some really dull driving scenes, visually among the most tedious I've come across (and I'm a fan of driving scenes in b movies). That said, the climax is actually rather fun and effective and the film by and large isn't dull. Altogether this is fair stuff really. It looks pretty decent for an SOV flick, it strives for general competence and works fine as a no count slasher for genre completists. It does have rather a blip in interest around the halfway mark where it loses quite a bit of steam, but rallies for a sweet finale (mannequin factory fans take note!) with an inspired final kill. Worth a watch if it sounds like your kettle of piranhas, but I wouldn't exactly recommend straining yourself to track down a copy.