The 'victims that he desposed of in the most cowardly and despicable way' were sub-human
The character who he lowers into the meet grinder was a drug dealer (as far as I remember) who's character was completely underdeveloped, so I could not feel any sense of justification as to why he deserved that. If he was a child molester, then that's a different story.
Yes, I know there is a child molester character in this movie, but the death scene of him is utterly weak. The production values are so low that they couldn't even show him set the room alight.
Ironically, I've enjoyed nearly every other James Glickenhaus movie I've seen (The Soldier, The Protector, Shakedown, McBain (Highly amusing)), but this completely failed to meet even the lowest expectations of a trash movie buff like myself. It's sequel (Exterminator 2) is so bad it's good, however.
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CausticContributor
17 years ago
I enjoy this film because it's fun. I don't try to look to much into action, exploitation or horror films for meaning.
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chas77
17 years ago
<<The character who he lowers into the meet grinder was a drug dealer (as far as I remember) who's character was completely underdeveloped, so I could not feel any sense of justification as to why he deserved that. If he was a child molester, then that's a different story. >>
Not quite, chief. The character he lowers into the meat grinder was a high level, evil mafia captain who was responsible for taking "protection money" or whatever from the meat packing company he worked for. Money that could have been used for his crippled friend. I guess the Eastland character was also a little bit p*ssed off that the mafiosa guy LIED to him about having a doberman at his place when he promised Eastland there was nothing to worry about. Eastland warned him that he would lower him in the meat grinder if there was anything the dude was not telling him. The guy lied. Since he reneged on the deal Eastland did what he promised he would do -- lower him into the meat grinder.
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integralesixteenvalve
16 years ago
The Exterminator is cheap, vile and poorly made. No argument there, but it's those 'qualities' that actually gave the film a strange power and there is no argument that it is a powerful film. Ginty is a crap actor, but the character of John Eastland was relatively well developed compared to a lot of action films of the time.
The fact that people are still discussing and arguing about The Exterminator nearly thirty years after it was made immediately put it above the *beep* that Cannon made at the same time. Most of the Golan/Globus films are long since forgotten, but The Exterminator is a grindhouse classic and as fondly remembered today as ever. Does anyone remember Cannon's The Young Warriors or Kinjete?
Of course not.
'Culture, sophistication, a little bit more than an 'ot dog' You said it Bob!
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chas77
16 years ago
I remember Kinjite only because I felt like I had to take a shower afterwards --it was such a vile film! Showing Bronson in a role like that made me cringe...
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lanative
16 years ago
It's not an action film, it's a sleazy grindhouse flick that played on 42nd St in Times Square back when the area was sleazy (and before it was "cleaned up" by corporations such as Disney). The old sleazy Times Square in a way is almost more appealing in comparison to the the new one. As for writer/director Glickenhaus, he's worth somewhere around $100 million as a result of his saavy Wall Street upbringings (his father has been an investor since 1960). His films were probably just something he did for fun on the side.
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hatr
16 years ago
The film had grit which most of the era lacked
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