The Exterminator tells the story of John Eastland, a former Vietnam war veteran whom goes on a vigilante killing spree after his best friend is viciously attacked by a group of thugs. Meanwhile, a detective, James Dalton tries to stop him.

For the most part, this film is extremely dull. It draws itself out for far too long, and there is a subplot where the detective starts dating a nurse, which is completely unnecessary as it adds nothing to the plot. It's as if the director thought the film wasn't long enough so he tried to find excuses for it to be longer.

While this film does have it's share of exciting scenes from time to time, it really doesn't have much else going for it. The acting isn't bad; not top notch, but acceptable.

If you are after a good vigilante thriller, you could do worse than 'The Exterminator.' Then again, you could do a lot better too.

This is not a great film, in fact it can't even be considered a "good film," when you take into account the poor, confusing editing, ugly cinematography and some bad acting. What makes "The Exterminator" a valuable movie, is it's "grindhouse credibility. This is one of the few movies of it's kind that actually makes me a little sick when I watch it, and similar films like "Death Wish" and "Vigilante" don't succeed in doing that. Yes, they are both way superior films, but they don't pack the punch that this sleazy movie from 1980 achieves in spades. You have the Vietnam Vet, still feeling the effects of one jungle, when he is thrust into another jungle, the urban jungle of New York city at the very end of the 1970's. The film's anti-hero is hunting the true filth of the Earth, mafioso, child molesters and murdering gang members. At the heart of the story is an ongoing struggle between him and "The Ghetto Ghouls," a hyper violent gang that is terrorizing New York. Offering some great, vintage location scenes of New York landmarks, like the West Side's meat packing district, the crime ridden Central Park, and the slime ridden Times Square. For these qualities the movie has value. It's a rough movie, but this one should be appreciated by fans of violent revenge movies from back in the day. The version I saw on Bluray appeared kind of choppy, like some scenes were missing. If there is an even nastier version of this one in existence, I can't even imagine what they cut..

Robert Ginty isn't a name that means much to most film aficionados but for people of a certain age he was something of a movie god . People often emulate DeNiro in the bathroom mirror by saying " You talking to me ? " but for those of us who watched video nasties in the early 1980s we were far more fond of looking at the bathroom mirror rubbing our hands together and saying " Hey you really are a sick mothf--ker " . We didn't want to be weirdo Travis Bickle . We wanted to be stand up guy John Eastland . Somewhat ironic that Ginty died very recently and it wasn't until last night I chanced upon a viewing of THE EXTERMINATOR a film I loved when I saw it as a sixteen year old many years ago . Unfortunately it was nowhere as good as I remembered

One problem is that the copy I saw seemed to be edited with some of the most explicit scenes such as maimed gang members being eaten alive by rats censored out . Considering this is an exploitation classic and much of the selling point is the gore it works against the film's favour in 2009 . It's not the main problem though . The main problem is that there's much implausibility . For example who do the police /hospital call when someone has been the victim of a mugging ? Normally it's the spouse of the victim but here it seems to be the victim's best buddy from 'Nam . What makes it even more unbelievable is that the hospital seem to have told the buddy that the victim will never walk again . Other ridiculous aspects include a cop saying " The only way this guy could have got a M16 is if he stole it from the army " . If that is a statement of absolute fact ( Which it almost certainly isn't ) that must have meant Eastland predicted the future and stole the weapon knowing fine well he'd need it to clean up New York a few years down the line . Perhaps the most unbelievable thing is the state senator who spends most of his time in a paedophile brothel raping young boys while the head pimp brings back prostitutes for a pegging session

It's an entirely dumb film which will be of little interest for those who can't remember the early 1980s or those people who hate exploitation cinema . That said it's not entirely awful either and far better than its sequel . Ginty isn't a bad actor , similar to Christopher Walken without the annoying mannerism and overacting and seems unfortunate that this movie was the highlight of his fame . Christopher George as Eastland's nemesis cop is also good and is convincing until he gets caught up in a romantic subplot . Despite the low budget writer/director James Glickenhaus brings a very strong feeling of time and place to the movie . There is no doubt that we're watching a film that is set in late 1970s New York City . Scorsese and Woody Allen receive praise from critics for the same thing so certainly Glickenhaus deserves some faint praise for THE EXTERMINATOR