https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_City

Exploring free-gratis channels on my Roku, I came across this “neo-noir erotic thriller”, with a martial arts serial killer going after strippers managed by a “mob-adjacent” ex-boxer. Just seeing Tom Berenger and Billy Dee Williams in the cast list was enough to get me to start watching.

Then the opening theme starts… “hey, isn’t that David Johansen singing?” Sure enough, it was. The theme is even titled “New York Doll”.

And the cast kept coming: Melanie Griffith, B-movie stalwart Jack Scalia, Rossano Brazzi (from South Pacific!), Rae Dawn Chong, María Conchita Alonso (as just Maria Conchita), Joe Santos (Rockford FIles), Michael V. Gazzo (Last Action Hero), Daniel Faraldo (Above the Law), Juan Fernández (slick Latino bad guy in lots of 80s & 90s stuff), Robert Miano (Donnie Brasco) and then “Directed by Abel Ferrara”. Awesome!

And really starring… NYC at its seediest.

EDIT: I found the website for the Roku channel where I found Fear City, it’s called Free Movies +.

Not a great selection (used to be much better a couple of years ago) but has some gems among the dross.

OTT Studio, the company behind Free Movies +, has some more free channels, e.g. Action Plus, Horror +, VHS + etc (which share a lot of content), mainly viewable on certain devices (e.g. Roku, Vizio TVs, Fire TV), but some are also viewable in web browsers.

I see the (Roku & Vizio only) Classic Movies + channel has Abel Ferrara’s début feature, the original ‘video nasty’, Driller Killer.

Availability of these channels and movies on them probably varies according to which country you are in. For some films, I get “Playback unavailable” errors. As far as I know, it’s legal. Apparently ad-supported, although I have almost never seen an ad (using a Roku, without Pi-hole or any ad-blocker).

  • Sergio@slrpnk.netEnglish
    3·
    9 days ago

    Abel Ferrara! I was just re-watching Bad Lieutenant yesterday…

    Looks like Fear City’s on Tubi! (where uBlock Origin adblocker still works.) Can’t wait to see Rae Dawn Chong and Maria Conchita Alonso again.

    • klu9OPEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      I read that it was available on Tubi and was going to post a link, but when I checked, Tubi said it was not avaliable. But I think that must be specifically Tubi here in Mexico. (Also, a few years ago Tubi here changed from original audio to Spanish dubbing only.)

      I saw it on the Roku channel called “Free Movies +”. I can’t find a web link for that as the name is so generic.

      Re Harvey, I just read a great article on the making of Saturn 3: https://saturn3makingof.com/2012/10/24/something-is-wrong-on-saturn-3-making-of-saturn-3-2/

      • Sergio@slrpnk.netEnglish
        3·
        8 days ago

        Re Harvey, I just read a great article on the making of Saturn 3:

        Wow, fascinating article, I’m gonna hold off reading the rest of it til I track down the movie. But I got as far as this part:

        With the star power of Farrah Fawcett attached to the project, the budget was set at $10 million. And all of a sudden, Barry’s idea of helming a small, low-budget production became something far more grandiose.

        Looks like this might have been the big problem, similar to what happened to Johnny Mnemonic.

        • klu9OPEnglish
          3·
          8 days ago

          And Lew Grade doing it at the same time as his Clive Cussler thriller, about which he famously said:

          “Raise the Titanic? It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!”

          (And that article is full of spoilers, so yes, probably better to read it after watching.)

          • Sergio@slrpnk.netEnglish
            2·
            8 days ago

            Just finished watching Saturn 3 and it definitely was a movie. Did you want to make a post about it for discussion?

            • klu9OPEnglish
              2·
              8 days ago

              No, I think I saw it… 35-40 years ago? I was fine just reading the article.

              • Sergio@slrpnk.netEnglish
                2·
                7 days ago

                awright, I made the post.

                I also watched Fear City last night, btw! It was pretty bad, but entertaining. I can’t believe the same guy who directed this also did Bad Lieutenant. Or maybe I can, this one definitely had plenty of “strip club” scenes. Anyway, Fear City reminded me most of the Bronson movie 10 to Midnight, tho I think back then the whole “chasing a serial killer” trope was pretty common in movies (like Dirty Harry, etc.) whereas nowadays that’s just something for a TV movie. I kind of liked the whole sub-theme about the ex-boxer, I suspect that was Ferrara’s favorite part.

                • klu9OPEnglish
                  2·
                  7 days ago

                  A lot of unfamiliar Bronson movies on the Roku channels I’ve got (“Jesus! How many movies did the man make?!?”), can’t find 10 to Midnight unfortunately; the synopsis does look similar.

                  I’ve actually watched some episodes of his 1958-60 TV show, Man with a Camera (on all the free channels & Youtube too IIRC), including one where he also shows off his boxing skills.

                  Is Ferrara into boxing? Or would it be his favourite part more because of the personal trauma exploration?

            • klu9OPEnglish
              2·
              7 days ago

              Re Fear City, I found links for the (free & legal, I believe) channel I saw it on and the movie itself, and added them to the OP.