Fear City Blu-ray

Fear City

 (1984)

Fear City Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this overall recommended Blu-ray release
In New York City, a psycho killer is stalking and randomly slashing and killing strippers working in various nightclubs. Matt Rossi is a former boxer trying to escape his past whom is currently employed at a talent agency which caters exotic dancers to the mafia-controlled strip clubs all over Manhattan. Matt and his business partner, Nicky, are relentlessly dogged by Al Wheeler, a persistent police detective on the case of the murdered strippers, and hoping to find something to nail both Matt and Nicky on. Matt is trying to reconcile with his former flame, Loretta, whom also works as a dancer and has a off-again, on-again drug problem. With the police constantly hounding them, and under pressure from his mob boss and other bosses to do something, Matt must somehow face his inner demons to find the killer before he strikes again.

For more about Fear City and the Fear City Blu-ray release, see the Fear City Blu-ray Review

Starring: Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, Melanie Griffith, Rossano Brazzi, Rae Dawn Chong
Director: Abel Ferrara

» See full cast & crew

Fear City Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, July 22, 2012

Abel Ferrara's "Fear City" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory. There are no supplemental features included with this release, but the disc contains the film's Unrated and Rated R versions. In English, without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

One very angry man in New York City

A psychopath is stalking strippers in New York City. Their booking agents, Matt Rossi (Tom Berenger, In Praise of Older Women, Someone to Watch Over Me) and his partner Nicky Parzeno (Jack Scalia, TV's Remington Steele), suspect that the psychopath could be someone sent by their competitors to shake things up. Angry cop Al Wheeler (Billy Dee Williams, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back) is almost certain that Matt and Nicky are behind the drama, he just can't figure out why. A local Italian crime boss (Rossano Brazzi, The Italian Job) does not care where the psychopath came from - he simply does not want him on the streets.

A series of flashbacks reveal that Matt was once a professional boxer. He stopped boxing because he accidentally killed one of his opponents. Now he often thinks about the man, especially late at night, when he tries to fall asleep. Matt also thinks about his former girlfriend, Loretta (Melanie Griffith, Body Double, Working Girl), who dances in a striptease club in Manhattan. Loretta now sees another woman, but their relationship isn't serious.

While Matt and Nicky try to figure out how to continue booking beautiful girls and work with their clients, the angry cop warns them that it is only a matter of time before they get busted. Shortly after, the psychopath attacks Nicky and nearly kills him. Barely able to contain his anger, Matt decides to see the Italian boss and ask for an advice. After the meeting, he goes on the streets looking for the psychopath.

Abel Ferrara's film offers a fascinating trip to a city that no longer exists - a dirty, dangerous, and quite unfriendly New York City full of strange characters who go out as soon as the sun goes down. Like most of the American director's films, Fear City is also full of raw energy, one that effectively elevates the film to an entirely different level.

The plot is fairly straightforward - there are no serious twists or surprising character transformations. This isn't to imply, however, that the film isn't exciting. On the contrary, because Ferrara's style is so uncompromising the hunt for the psychopath is quite remarkable. Ferrara's camera visits all sorts of different striptease clubs, bars, and back alleys that most other directors would have simply ignored. As a result, there is a very unique sense of dated realism that gives the film quite the edge.

The cast is appropriately loose and comfortable with the material - which is obviously why shortly after it was completed the film was heavily cut and eventually sold by Twentieth Century Fox Entertainment. The violence, in particular, never looks kitschy.

The majority of the nighttime sequences look great. The bright neon lights of Manhattan and later on the back alleys with the heavy long shadows have the trademark Ferrara touch. The film was lensed by cinematographer James Lemmo, who also collaborated with Ferrara on The Driller Killer and Ms. 45.

Shout Factory's Blu-ray release of Fear City contains the Uncut and Rated R versions of the film. The Uncut version runs at approximately 97 minutes, while the Rated R version runs at approximately 95 minutes. The cut footage is mostly from longer violent scenes which were once trimmed, from some of the striptease clubs, a passionate kissing scene, etc. Some of the footage definitely adds even more to the film's already quite unique atmosphere.

Fear City Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.57:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Abel Ferrara's Fear City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory.

Though far from flawless, the presentation is the very best I have seen for this cult film. The best news here is that there are absolutely no traces of problematic post-production tinkering (denoising, degraining, sharpening, contrast boosting, etc.). Unsurprisingly, even though occasionally there are tiny specks popping up here and there, the entire film has a strong organic look. Most close-ups convey very good depth and strong clarity (see screencapture #2), while the nighttime footage from the back alleys of New York City are not plagued by macroblocking patterns. Colors are strong and natural looking, never collapsing. There are no overwhelming artifacts or other purely transfer related anomalies to report in this review either.

Shout Factory have included the Uncut and R Rated versions of the film. The Uncut version runs at approximately 97 minutes (01:36:40), while the Rated R version runs at approximately 95 minutes (01:35:02).

The Uncut version contains various inserts that appear throughout the entire film (a provocative kiss, some extra violence, etc). However, their quality varies, most likely because they originate from a secondary source. I have included two screencaptures for you to get a basic idea what the quality of the footage is (see sceencaptures # 11 and 18). Lastly, I wasn't bothered by the framing. In my opinion, there are no serious compromises worth addressing. All in all, I think that fans of Abel Ferrara and his work will be quite pleased with the treatment Fear City has received. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Fear City Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Shout Factory have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Fear City has a very good '80s soundtrack which has benefited from the lossless treatment. The sound is clear and well rounded, with some decent dynamic progressions. Obviously, the film's overall sound design is quite modest, but the important thing to note here is that there are no serious technical issues. The dialog is clean and crisp, but I would have liked to see optional English subtitles as occasionally some of the accents could be quite thick.

Fear City Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.

Fear City Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

I think that anyone who has seen or owned Abel Ferrara's Fear City on DVD will be very pleased with this new Blu-ray release from Shout Factory. The presentation isn't flawless, but the film has a strong organic look, which is what I personally was hoping for. It would have been nice to have some supplemental features, but the old Anchor Bay DVD release also had only a theatrical trailer. RECOMMENDED.