Peter Bunch Ducks His Way into the Third Class Tier of the Hall of Killers
When it comes to horror villains, there are slashers, there are psychos, and then there is Peter Bunch, a man whose weapon of choice is a knife and whose preferred method of communication is a full throated Donald Duck impression. Yes, you read that correctly. The New York Ripper’s unhinged quacker has officially been inducted into the Third Class Tier of the Hall of Killers, a place reserved for cult favourites, cinematic oddballs, and murderers who might not headline conventions but will definitely ruin a dinner party.
For anyone lucky enough not to have stumbled across Lucio Fulci’s notorious 1982 shocker, The New York Ripper is one of the most infamous Italian horror films ever made. Fulci, never one to shy away from controversy, decided that his killer should not only terrorise the streets of New York City but also taunt police in the voice of a cartoon duck. The result is equal parts disturbing and absurd, a gory murder mystery that somehow feels like it was co written by Dario Argento and a deranged Looney Tunes animator.
Peter Bunch, the film’s mystery killer, spends his time slicing through victims and laughing like an unhinged poultry mascot. The film’s sleaze is legendary, dripping with cigarette smoke, neon grime, and a sense of hopelessness that only early eighties exploitation cinema could achieve. Yet what makes Bunch unforgettable is not just the violence but his ridiculous voice, a creative choice that turns every murder scene into a surreal nightmare that feels both horrifying and hilariously strange.
When the film was released, outrage followed. Censors in the United Kingdom banned it outright, calling it sadistic, misogynistic, and beyond redemption. Of course, horror fans took that as a personal challenge. Bootleg copies circulated, and soon The New York Ripper became a badge of honour for collectors who prided themselves on owning the most offensive films imaginable. The more critics condemned it, the more its legend grew, and Peter Bunch’s duck quacking death threats became the stuff of cult horror history.
His induction into the Third Class Tier of the Hall of Killers feels completely appropriate. This is the section for the strange ones, the killers who never got franchises but earned whispered respect from genre fans. The Third Class Tier is not about fame, it is about flavour, and few horror villains have as distinctive a flavour as Peter Bunch. He is sleazy, absurd, terrifying, and unforgettable, the very definition of cult cinema.
Lucio Fulci’s direction gives The New York Ripper a grimy authenticity. His version of New York feels like a city rotting from the inside out, filled with corruption, despair, and filth. It is the perfect hunting ground for a killer as grotesque as Bunch. Fulci’s decision to add such a bizarre vocal quirk to his murderer might have been mocked at the time, but it is exactly what elevated the film from just another giallo to something uniquely deranged.
While Michael Myers stalked suburbia in silence and Freddy Krueger turned nightmares into punchlines, This New York killer quacked his way through sleaze and violence, leaving audiences unsure whether to scream or laugh. That strange duality is exactly what makes him fascinating. He may never reach the commercial heights of the big name slashers, but he has achieved something they never could: true absurdist infamy.
So raise a glass, or perhaps a glass of duck pond water, to Peter Bunch. He might not be the killer you invite to dinner, but he is certainly one you never forget. The Third Class Tier of the Hall of Killers just became a lot louder, a lot stranger, and far more feathered.
