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Hands of the Ripper starts in Victorian London at Berner Street Whitechappel where the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper has struck again, as the Rippers young child named Anna watches on she witnesses the brutal murder of her Mother by her Father after she discovers that he is the Ripper... Jump forward several years later & Anna (Angharad Rees) is now a beautiful teenage girl who has been adopted by fake spiritualist Mrs. Golding (Dora Bryan), one night after a organised séance Mrs. Golding accepts money from a minister named Dysart (Derek Godfrey) who wants to have underage sex with her. To try & calm her down Dysart gives her a necklace which gleams in the light, unfortunately this bright light brings back the memory of her Father murdering her Mother & she becomes possessed by her Father's spirit at which point she kills Mrs. Golding. Outside a respected scientist named Dr. John Pritchard (Eric Porter) hears the screams & rushes to investigate, he discovers Mrs. Goldings body & realise Anna must have been responsible but instead of turning her over to the police he takes her in in an attempt to discover the motivations behind a murderer & to try & 'cure' her. However, Anna can't stop killing as her Father continues to possess her under the right circumstances...
This English production was directed by Peter Sasdy & was presumably an attempt by Hammer studios to try something different from it's well know Dracula & Frankenstein series of films, personally I really liked it for what it was even though I know it's not that well known or thought of that highly which is a shame. The script by L.W. Davidson was based on a short printed story by Edward Spencer Shew & seems to take itself very seriously which I thought it just about got away with, the basic concept is rather far fetched & silly but I thought it worked quite well & was something a bit different even if it unfolds in a slightly predictable & linear way. Some of the character's are a bit underdeveloped & some of them are a bit dull but that's probably how people behaved in Victorian London. The film moves along at a nice pace & is never boring plus it has a nice ending which seemed very fitting. The only thing which didn't really work for me was that it didn't take much for Anna to go into here trance & be possessed & since it was so easy why had it never happened before? Oh & I personally wouldn't let a person who had just slit my maids throat in cold blood walk around my house & do whatever she wanted especially while my family was there!
Director Sasdy does a nice job, I personally love these period horror films & Hammer did 'em as well as anyone. I love the Victorian setting, the sets, the costumes which display plenty of cleavage, the mannerisms, the horse drawn carriage's, the dialogue & decor, Hands of the Ripper is dripping with atmosphere & it looks great throughout. There's some decent gore in Hands of the Ripper too, someone is impaled with a poker, people are stabbed with swords & hat pins, there's more blood than in the usual Hammer film from the period & a great scene when Anna slits someone's throat & sticks the knife in there as well for good measure.
Technically Hands of the Ripper is good, it's well made with nice production values, photography & music. The acting was very good by all involved & I actually think it helps the film that none of the Hammer regulars were used like Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing.
Hands of the Ripper is one of Hammers lesser known, lesser liked films I believe. Well, that's nonsense because it's a fine film that I enjoyed watching on various levels. In my humble opinion Hands of the Ripper is one of Hammers better films, definitely worth watching especially if you like horror or Hammer.
score 7/10
poolandrews 9 July 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1414753/ |
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30-11-2019 02:48:18