The Exterminator Review

Title: The Exterminator
Format: DVD
Year: 1989
Label: Synergy

This is a revenge movie. Pure and simple. There were a string of Death With rip-offs in the 70s and early 80s mainly from Italian directors. This one is American. Director James Glickenhaus was born and raised in New York which helps to set this movie apart from others such as Vigilante.

The lead character 'Eastland' is an anti-hero. A man who starts out on a revenge mission and seems to enjoy it all too much by the end. His best friend is badly beaten by a gang and left hospitilised. 

Eastland's mission is to get revenge on the gang and get some money to support his friend's family. He goes after a local mobster played by Dick Boccelli who I think plays the part brilliantly. For me, this character had so much more potential and is killed off far too early. He has a great death scene which would have been so much more gratifying had it been the finale.


Overall the direction is good. The editing seems a little jagged in places. The actors are all more than competent. I enjoyed this movie and felt it had a unique vibe even though it is essentially a rip-off. There was emotion in the story, even if missplaced, it added something new to the mix. 

The cop on the exterminators trail was a run of the mill good cop. Again I think the character had more potential. Christopher George played the role well and could have potentially been the main character from the start. Allegiance does seem to shift from Eastland to Dalton pretty early on.

The transfer on this Synergy release is ok. The sound is stated as being stereo but it is infact mono ( maybe duel mono ) and does seem to have some strange phasing effects at time - not sure whether this was an intentional part of the original sound track or not.

I enjoyed The Exterminator. If you like the vigilante genre, this one is a classic.

UK Films Rating: 6/10 - Good B-Movie.
Release Rating: 5/10 - OK quality transfer. Trailers.
Did James like it? Yes