From Hell

For years, I had put off seeing this film due to no other reason than procrastination. It came out shorty before my point of interest in serial killers and among all of them I guess Jack the Ripper was the one where most of my interest ensued. There's something so devilish about the Ripper in the facts that he was never caught, he kept a morbid interest and fear wrapped around the people in London at the time, and the ever so famous Tusk letter with the return address, "From Hell". Sadly, I hadn't realised that the film was based off the graphic novel by the same name by author Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Constantine, etc.). I'd always imagined this film as being extremely violent because of the story of Jack the Ripper but, I guess it was just as violent as the actual real-life story played out to be. I hear that this film had originally been set up for an NC-17 rating but, to my knowledge it has never seen the light of day.

The story is set in 1888 London and follows Mary Shelly (Heather Graham) and her group of prostitutes try to scrounge by on the filth ridden streets of Whitechapel in order to pay off man named Benjamin Kidney (Terence Harvey). Kidney threatens the well being of the girls and puts a demand on his money. The girls are entwined in worries that they will not make the deadline to pay Kidney off when their married friend Ann offer to ask for the money from her husband while the girls watch her little girl . Shortly after, Ann and her husband are kidnapped by a group of secret individuals linked to Anns husband. Shortly after, the girls one by one are picked off and brutally hacked into pieces. The London police department assign Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane) who immediately seeks the help of Inspector Frederick Abberline (Johnny Depp). Abberline is a known psychic who is also an opium addict who has had his fair share of bad luck in his past. The two persist to work together to unravel who the murderer known as, Jack the Ripper, who continues to claim the lives of Mary's friends. Abberline suspects that the killer is a butcher or some trained or retired surgeon of some sort and seeks the guidance and professional outlook of William Gull (Ian Holm). As Abberline digs further into his clues that he gathers from Gull and other murder he begins to unravel something even larger containing secrets involving the Free Masons and learning that Ann's husband was actually a descendant of the Royal Family and that their baby girl is the rightful heir to the throne of England and soon becomes somewhat of a target himself.

In a large way, I was let down by this film. Nine years of anticipation and it wasn't as good as I had hoped for. It was a good idea but, nearly all of Alan Moore's stories are amazing conceptions. I can now see why Moore didn't put his name on it or any of his work made into films. Not only was the story meant to be told through the median of comics but, it wasn't that well made of a film. Moore's idea to tie in real life occurrences and myth were brilliant. For example the whole conception that he did with the Free Mason being lead by Queen Victoria, trying to cover up the fact that the heir to the Throne was born out of the Royal Family to they could assume control over everything. And I'm sure it got a lot more attention in the book, in fact I think they could have left it out of the film entirely, was the cameo of Joseph Merrick the Elephant Man (Anthony Parker). It was a neat idea to throw that in there but, not in the film. I film actually had me worried that after seeing it I wasn't going to have any more interest in reading the graphic novel but, thankfully it didn't spiral too far down the hole to lose the grasp of my interest. There wasn't a whole lot likeable about the film it was more or less just a whole that it crammed to much into one setting and after hearing about how the novel was written it just seemed like the film could have been twice as compelling as it was made out.

trailer