Fear City (1984)

Abel Ferrara is often remembered as the man who brought us Driller Killer (1979), one of the classic video nasties of the period, nailing his place in film history. Of course, everyone forgets 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976), although whether that's a good thing or not is up to the viewer.

But Ferrera's body of work is a vital piece of cinema, and the fact is that Driller Killer really isn't particularly good, it was just mildly controversial at the time; Ferrera's best work lay ahead of him.

Fear City is an excellent example of his directorial progress post Driller Killer and it's easy to see influence on his own future work in Bad Lieutenant (1992) but also more mainstream work by other directors, most notably Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Strippers in Manhattan are being stalked and killed by an individual who documents his murders in the form of a novel entitled 'Fear City', and Tom Berenger's ex-boxer turned talent manager and his business partner decide to take matters into their own hands as their business starts to crumble, with girls too scared to turn up to work.

The police are also on the case, in the form of Billy Dee Williams who frequently clashes with Berenger's Matt but eventually must rely on him to help find the murdering lunatic.

Fear City, whilst not Ferrera's best work, is arguably a much more important and impressive piece of work than it's given credit for. Its depiction of Manhattan's seedy, dank, and neon underbelly-whilst scratchy and unforgiving- adds to an authentic feel to Ferrera's world building, and is much more progressive and interesting piece of work than Driller Killer; not that anyone else would agree with that statement. 7.5/10