Jack the Ripper (1976)

Last week Lina Romay passed away, the iconic actress and partner of director Jesus Franco. It became official yesterday. For me, and for many others, this came as a shock – I had no idea Lina was battling with cancer and I can’t even imagine how Uncle Jess must feel now when his soulmate has left him after so many years. One of the first movies by Franco I saw was Jack the Ripper, the Erwin C. Dietrich-produced thriller from 1976. Hardly a historical correct retelling of mystery of Jack the Ripper, Franco just takes the basic idea of a brutal murderer of whores in London and tells it from Jack’s point of view instead.

Klaus Kinski is Dr. Dennis Orloff (a relative of The Awful Dr. Orloff maybe?), a doctor popular among the poor and freaks in society. He’s very kind and wants to help those who can’t afford to take of their health, but he’s also a sadistic killer of prostitutes and showgirls. Hot on his trail is the ambitious Inspector Selby (Andreas Mannkopff) who also dates a dancer, Cynthia (Josephine Chaplin) – and believe it or not, soon our good old ripper gains interest in her…

Jack the Ripper is not the most loved of Franco’s output in the seventies, and I wonder why? Sure, it’s a bit too talky – but I think that’s only main drawback with the screenplay. I guess Dietrich wanted something serious, something with class – not just gore and nudity – maybe glancing at the more serious Edgar Wallace-thrillers out there or even Hammer. And Franco did what was expected of him. The weak spots is the police procedure, which never gets especially interesting. But every time the story jumps back to Klaus Kinski and his inner demons this becomes a super-classy and original production. Kinski, as the master-actor he was, uses his favorite form of telling his characters story – less dialogue, more acting. He never goes as far like in Count Dracula, where he has not dialogue at all – but here it’s kept to a minimum and it works out very fine.

When watching it now I realized I totally forgot how Kinski is tormented by a former victim (or is it his abusive mother?), who haunts him in his house and makes him feel guilty. His relationship with the lobotomized maid is also excellent, and gives us a great performance from a very convincing Nikola Weisse. But why I first watched this movie again was the presence of Lina Romay. Here she has a minor part – but probably the most spectacular – as a showgirl getting stalked and killed by Kinski. And boy, she’s probably most unlucky victim I ever seen in a Jack the Ripper-movie: she first gets repeatedly stabbed in the guts, then brutally raped and finally carried home to the good doctor and getting chopped up in pieces while still alive! Romay has not much to do except looking sexy, getting scared and then die – but she’s also shows a lot of comedic talent when she performs her dance number, strutting around pouting her lips and having a ball with the scene.

It’s a violent movie, but much is off-screen – but when it’s onscreen it’s bloody as hell and graphic in the cheap way only Franco could do it.

Jack the Ripper is an underrated movie with gorgeous cinematography by Peter Baumgartner and excellent directing from Jess Franco. And if you don’t like those things, watch it for Lina Romay.

Rest in peace, Lina. You will be missed.

Jack's Back (1988)

I have a fondness for thrillers from the eighties, and it’s weird that I’ve never seen Jack’s Back until now. The title is silly and takes away some of the seriousness of the movie, but if you manage to look beyond the goofy title this is one helluva fine movie with lots of excellent actors, twists and turns.

James Spader (who some hetero’s I know, would go gay for) is a medical student working for a local help centre. But there’s trouble in an already troubled neighbourhood – a serial killer is running around copying the murders of Jack the Ripper! Our hero starts to suspect one of his co-workers, but everything is turned upside down when… ah, I won’t tell you!

Listen to me, before you watch Jack’s Back and you haven’t seen it before – don’t look at IMDB, don’t read to much about it (there won’t be any spoilers in my text), just find it and watch it. This movie has a couple of surprises that is much more effective if you don’t know them. I didn’t know, and it was a blast watching the twists coming from every corner. You just have to look at the credit list at IMDB to get one major spoiler, so don’t.

This is a nice mix between Hitchcock and De Palma (which always hangs together), with that typical and cool eighties feeling. It’s colourful and almost arty, because this was a time when commercial thrillers was allowed to be a bit arty, a bit odd. The ensemble of actors is fine, especially James Spader and Robert Picardo. I know it’s a tired thing to write, but Spader’s quest to find the killer and Picardo’s psychiatrist could both be characters from some neo-noir… maybe this is a noir, but masked to look like a serial killer thriller from 1988?

Don’t expect any gore, but it’s a quite violent movie with some wonderful fist fights and a lot of tension. But watch it for the script, which is such a beautiful creation of red herrings and well-written characters that some modern directors and writers should be ashamed of themselves for even thinking about doing movies (no names here, I want to be a bit polite).

The UK DVD is fullscreen, probably open matte because in one sequence a detail is spoiled because it probably should be out of frame (but it just don’t matter) and looks quite soft, but still very acceptable and worth purchasing for you that would like to own this awesome little movie.

3 x Jack the Ripper

As some of you know, I love movies about (or only related) to Jack the Ripper. I don't care about if they are serious or blahablaha, that's for boring nerds. So lately I've been watching not less than three Ripper-productions. I have no wish to even write a fat review for each of them, because they are similar in the theme and sometimes even twists. First out is Whitechapel (2009), a British mini-series about a copycat trying to recreate Jacks murders in Whitechapel. For you who knows your british crime-shows, you know what you get here. Some social realistic drama, some mystery, some chases, some tension. Not bad at all, and even if the ending is slightly... not perfect, it's still a very fine production. The funniest thing is that it centers around the Ripper-fandom, and it's a lot of Ripper-tours, books and web pages. 

The second one I saw was 1997's The Ripper, a TV-movie with Patrick Bergin in the lead. It's the most nasty version of the three, with some bloody scenes and a good atmosphere. But it's still a TV-movie, and never gets that big feeling. You never seen London in any wider shots (expect a short one in the beginning), and there's a lot of obvious sets. But as usual, when it comes to the UK, there's nothing wrong with the acting and the script is good. There's no mystery for example, the killer is known from the beginning and sadly enough it's the silly, and kinda boring, Royal conspiracy that's the main theory here. But watch it for the acting and atmosphere, just don't expect anything new.

And finally we have the fifth (I think) movie version of Marie Belloc Lowndes book The Lodger, this time set in modern day LA and with an extra twist or two. I read a lot of awfully bad reviews of this flick, but it was far from as bad as I heard. Storywise it's similar to Whitechapel with copycat roaming the city, trying to recreate the murders in detail. In this version there is a mystery, and there's several suspects. I like the idea they have here, but it's not used in a really good way. David Ondaatje never brings any tension to the story, and for once is the European style (lighting, sets, camera movements) not good here. It should have won to be more "Hollywood". But still, not a bad movie and Alfred Molina is great in the lead.

Seven Murders for Scotland Yard (1971)

Jack el destripador de Londres is of course a fantastic title, but I will stick with Seven Murders for Scotland Yard just because I'm lazy! I've seen this a second time now, and I must say it's starting to get higher and higher up on my Naschy-list of cool movies. Sure, it's cheap and silly, but it also has a lot of bloody murders, nice locations and Naschy in full macho-mode. 

Paul Naschy plays a crippled ex-trapeze artist, Peter Dockerman, that lives a bitter and slightly alcoholic life in London with his even more bitter wife. He spends most of his time drinking in bars, trying to find a job and get into fights with other drunks. When his wife is murdered by a Jack the Ripper-copycat he becomes the main suspect himself, and has to find the killer before the killer finds another victim. And regarding that detail, he fails totally, because there's one murder after another on the cold and rainy streets of London...

Seven Murders is a cheap, silly, fucked up little crap-movie. But ya know, I love every second of it. Somehow reminds me of French Sex Murders, because of the cheap and gritty look, but it's a much better movie. The murders are plenty, the gore is cheesy and bloody, the acting is most of the time quite good - Naschy himself is always good - but one of the ladies overacts during a scene that I almost thought it was satire, parody, whatever. My favorite scene is when a chopped of head is being delivered to the police station by the killer, and while there's a dialogue in the foreground, a policeman is showing the head (who's in a hat box) to his colleagues in the background. It's like some scene from The Naked Gun!

There's a lot to laugh at, but in the end it's also a satisfying "Spanish giallo". There's a murder every ten-fifteen minutes, often gory, and between there's a lot of red herrings, a bar fight or two, a lot of cool location footage from London and Naschy walking around look sad because the police is after him. The final twist is good, and I already forgot who the real killer was, which for me is a good thing with a murder mystery. José Luis Madrid, the directors, keeps our interest up and I must say I'm impressed. What could have been a real snoozer is now a fun, entertaining and sleazy giallo-wannabe that deserves more respect. Buy it.It's out on a grey market dvd which is anamorphic widescreen and is perfectly passable for that price.

My collection of Jack the Ripper-movies is growing!

I noticed that I have a bunch of Jack the Ripper-movies in my collection, which isn't suprising because I love good old Jack ;)

UPDATED 11-01-11

Here's my Ripper-filmography so far, not including the movies above:

(movies with Jack the Ripper... or very close)

The Lodger (1944) - A masterpiece, without a doubt.

Man in the Attic (1953) - Haven't seen it yet, but Jack Palance is Jack!

Jack the Ripper (1959) - Haven't seen it before, so this could be fun!

A Study in Terror (1965) - Love this one, quite bloody too and good atmosphere.

Hands of the Ripper (1971) - Okey, okey! this is about his daughter, but I still sees it like a "real" Ripper-movie)

Jack the Ripper (1976) - Klaus Kinski and Jess Franco, nothing to do with reality - but fun!

Murder by Decree (1979) - Wonderful and classy movie by Bob Clark.

Time After Time (1979) - I love this! Very entertaining time-traveling movie!

Jack the Ripper (1988) - Great mini-series with Michael Caine.

The Ripper (1997) - Ripper-story with Patrick Bergin.

From Hell (2001) - Underrated and gory.

(Inspired by)

Das Ungeheuer von London City (1964) - A Bryan Edgar Wallace-story about a copycat in London. Not bad.

Jack el destripador de Londres (1971) - Sleazy favorite, also about a copycat in London. With Paul Naschy!

Jack's Back (1988) - Great thriller with some minor connections to the Ripper-case.

Ripper (2001) - I'm probably the only one who likes this slasher!

Whitechapel (2009) - Wondeful UK mini-series with Ripper-style killings in modern day London.

The Lodger (2009) - Another remake of the old story, quite good.

(TV-episodes)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974), "The Ripper" - Maybe not the best episode, but still good.

Friday the 13th: The Series (1987), "Doctor Jack" - Nice episode and a little favorite of mine.

I'm also wondering if I should dare watching David Hasselhoffs Terror at London Bridge or the Tom Savini-turkey The Ripper from 1985. I actually would like to, if they where out on dvd so I could own them.

Maybe one day...