Ginty, George and a flamethrower.

revival05

B-movies have their own little universe of classics and razzies. A really bad movie can be really good if it's bad for the right reasons and a better movie can be a lot worse for some other reason. When you're counting with camp and schlock, the sum will definitely come out a little different.

Sometimes a B-movie can be talked-about, banned in Britain and regarded as a balls-to-the-walls-gorefest even though it's really not that graphic. The Exterminator is an example of this. It's a vigilante action/thriller, your average take on Death Wish, but despite having quite an eye-catching cover, and despite being banned in Britain and despite being pretty brutal, there are a lot of more shocking movies out there. If you are a gorehound, and I know there's a lot of you out there, I think maybe you're looking for something like Fulci's Contraband or New York Ripper. That's intense. In The Exterminator, we do get a mob boss in a meat grinder and some messy executions to be sure, but nothing that will shock anyone who will actually go looking for a movie like The Exterminator.

In this take on civil disobedience on steroids, the late Robert Ginty plays a normal guy who totally flips when his buddy from Vietnam gets paralyzed due to an attack from one of those batches of racist, anarchist scum who randomly act out mayhem in broad daylight. As the "exterminator" Ginty's character have a few things on his agenda. Steal money from the soon-to-be-bolognese-mob. Check. Kill sodomizing pervs. Check. Shotgun away at guys who rob old ladies. Check. Interrogate his way ahead with a very talk-efficient flame thrower. Double-check. Hum, what else? Oh, right, pull the plug on his veggie buddy without asking his wife and kids about it. Yeah, check.

For what it is, The Exterminator is a pretty decent exploitation movie. You can't expect much more than what the cover says. Ginty is an odd hero to boot, but I can't help but liking him. Probably due to his offbeat appearance. Who could ever take him for a lone ranger type action hero? I don't know if he looks like much of anything at all. For something as definitive as an action star, Ginty was fascinatingly bland. And ironically, that comes off as very original! Looking at his resume, somehow, despite any given logic, I feel tempted to check out a movie with the title Maniac Killer.

Another thing I have to mention is Christopher George, one of my all time favorite B-movie actors. He was always so suave and self-aware, as if he wasn't really convinced he was actually doing the schlock movies he was doing. In The Exterminator he plays the cop who goes after Ginty. Once again, he wanders about the movie with this self-ironic smirk, as if he's just doing the role, not asking questions and just getting on with it (not entirely unlike Sean Connery in Highlander II). I especially like one dialog scene he has with Samantha Eggar where she asks him about the Vietnam war. "It was bad" he says with a pause, as if he's amazed at the stupidity of the line. It's as if he's thinking; really? It was "bad"? Shouldn't I say something else?? "It was.... bad" he tries to continue, and eventually says "Not as bad as New York City... but... it was bad...". The movie makes parallels to the war, but I still can't help but wonder if that was actually in the script, or just some kind of joke from Mr. George. In another scene he misses a line but laughs it off while the camera keeps rolling, and for a moment there you can see him realizing what kind of production he's in. It's a special kind of movie magic that you will only find in a movie like The Exterminator.

score 5/10

revival05 4 October 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2136374/