- Year
- 1980
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Director
- James Glickenhaus
- Updated
- 9 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- known (26/100)
The Exterminator
A flamethrower and a meat grinder. Death Wish with the restraint removed.
Death Wish with the restraint stripped out. A Vietnam vet whose friend is crippled by a gang goes to war on New York's criminals with a flamethrower and an industrial meat grinder, and the film is squarely interested in the punishment rather than any moral around it.
It is grimy, mean and effective, riding the wave of post-Death Wish revenge pictures with more gore than most. The tone is pure tabloid, and the city has never looked more like a sewer.
Blunt, brutal, and exactly what it says on the tin.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 9 Aug 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Filed alongside
▶ watchobscureBoardinghouse
The first shot-on-video horror feature, blown up to 35mm and just as ugly as that sounds.
▶ watchobscureSeeding of a Ghost
Ninety minutes of restrained Shaw revenge, then twenty of rotting-corpse insanity.
cultMystics in Bali
The Indonesian one everybody means: a flying witch's head, viscera trailing, hunting in the dark.
▶ watchcultThe Wizard of Gore
A stage magician whose tricks are real. Lewis's most interesting idea.
▶ watchcultNight of the Bloody Apes
Mexican horror at the gore end: a gorilla-heart transplant, real surgery footage, and a masked lady wrestler.
▶ watchcultSwitchblade Sisters
Jack Hill doing Othello with teenage gangs. Much smarter than it needs to be.