The Exterminator
The Exterminator is a 1980 film from the USA, directed by James Glickenhaus, running 99 minutes. reelscum files it under splatter and vigilante.
- Year
- 1980 · 1980s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 99 min
- Director
- James Glickenhaus
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- known (26/100)
Defined in the glossary: Splatter, Vigilante
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 8 Nov 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
Maniac
Savini's effects, Spinell's performance, and a very bleak little film.
Walking Tall
One sheriff, one hickory club, and the blueprint for every Southern vigilante picture after it.
Class of 1984
Death Wish enrols at high school and the faculty loses.
Basket Case
$35,000, shot on 42nd Street, and completely charming. The best kind of cheap.
Nekromantik
German, banned widely, and much sadder than its reputation suggests.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Sixty-seven minutes of industrial nightmare. Nothing else looks like it.
From Beyond
Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs do Lovecraft again. A machine that lets you see what should stay unseen.
Frontier(s)
Texas Chainsaw with a French accent and a swastika over the door.
Coffy
Pam Grier's arrival. Jack Hill knows exactly what he has.
Bride of Re-Animator
Herbert West builds a woman from parts. The sequel goes bigger, wetter and more demented.
Ms. 45
Ferrara's best. Zoë Lund is extraordinary and the ending is a genuine image.
Inside
The French extremity wave stripped to one room, one night, and a pair of scissors.