[home] [news] [reviews] [features]

2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (1983) aka 2019: Dopo la caduta di New York. Director: Sergio Martino. Hacktors: Michael Sopkiw, George Eastman, Valentine Monnier. Rating: The lowdown: Sweet God, I love this movie. Always have, since the heady days of early '80s video rental in Britain. Back then, it was released on the VTC label, in a cut version. I didn't realise it had been censored and there was no reason to suspect so, as it still seemed pretty damn violent. 2019: After The Fall Of New York is one of the finest examples of the Italian post-nuke movie, with plenty of the old ultra-violence, a good-looking cast and bags of low-budget charm. The storyline, which director Martino freely admits was inspired by 1981's Escape From New York and of course Mad Max, sees our super-cool hero Parsifal (Sopkiw) sent on a mission to what's left of Manhattan, to locate and recover the world's last living fertile woman. Along the way, he encounters a whole host of friends and (mostly) enemies. Good points: 2019 doesn't let up for a moment. Right from the start, it's action, action, action. Sometimes the budget shows only too well, but there's also some excellent production design in evidence. The characters here are believably irradiated and diseased, with some truly grim make-up, while the script itself isn't too bad at all, with some nice subtleties, such as Parsifal's subtle suspicions about the allegiance of his companion Ratchet. The fights are great fun and Shriek Show's uncut print shows some surprising outbreaks of utterly gratuitous gore, as hapless folk are impaled, eye-gouged and decapitated. This is definitely one of the most splatter-tastic post-nuke romps. The women are sexy, the men are nails-hard and that's what the '80s action movie was all about. The music's great, too, sharing some of its score with Ruggero Deodato's similarly awesome The Atlantis Interceptors. Bad points: Very few. In fact, I can hardly think of anything. This could be because I've just watched it with several glasses of red wine to hand, or maybe it's just brilliant. You could say the dubbing lets it down somewhat, but that's all part of the charm. Overall: A thing of sordid beauty. It's wonderful to see a nice clean print on the Shriek Show disc. If you'd like a crash course in Italian rip-off post-apocalypse cinema, which nevertheless manages to forge its own identity, then here's your in-road. DVD Extras: An audio commentary featuring Michael Sopkiw (yay!) and a couple of enthusiastic Shriek Show guys. Then there are interviews with Martino, Eastman (these two are in Italian with subtitles) and a rather stilted chat with Al 'King Rat' Yamanouchi. Add to this the theatrical trailer and the option of a 5.1 Dolby mix and you're laughing like a drain full of polluted rats. Release Date: Out now in the States. No sign of a UK release as yet. [Check it out at Amazon US] [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present