ATTENTION: SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!!!
HANDS OF THE RIPPER is a well crafted, entertaining dose of period-Victorian horror in which a comely but spiritually lost girl, the daughter of Jack the Ripper (Angharad Rees), has tragically and unknowingly inherited her father's penchant for killing -- she goes into a murderous trance whenever kissed on the cheek!
Angharad Rees acquits herself well in the role of amnesiac Anna. Her performance arouses pity for her character, a true victim of her own unfortunate birth and of circumstances-which-are-beyond-her-control. Eric Porter is a fine choice for "Dr. John", Anna's self appointed patron, and seems packed with ambition as well as interesting character flaws. An interesting touch: the fiancee of Porter's son (Jane Merrow) is blind, and Porter appears to despise her for a variety of reasons, ranging from her obvious clumsiness to the old "she's-not-good-enough-for-my-son" notion, to the thought that she will take over the position his late wife held in the household. Here we have a bit more depth to the characters than one might expect from a later Hammer effort, and it is most welcome.
Once it's established that young Anna is bound to go on killing spree after spree (before she is ultimately restrained), we get to settle back and relish the creative flair brought to each of the killings, and suspense abounds prior to each of the gristly murders. Entranced, Anna appears to be accomplished at improvising, grabbing nearby, everyday items, and turning them into weapons of destruction. This is truly chilling! To illustrate: fake medium Dora Bryan is impaled with a common fireplace poker onto a door (hoisted on her own deceitful petard!)...a handful of innocuous hatpins are thrust into the eye of a streetwalker...and a shattered hand-mirror almost unbelievably forms a makeshift dagger with which Anna disposes of her maid. The deaths are all very clever, stylish, and colorful set-pieces.
The big finale, with Eric Porter coaxing Ms Rees into a spectacular deathfall from the uppermost ("Whispering") gallery of St. Paul's cathedral seems operatic in its grandeur and effect, yet solemn and touching as well.
There is a wholly appropriate surfeit of melancholy throughout this production that some might argue is distasteful, but I believe it adds significantly to the tragic cause. Contributing greatly to this is Christopher Gunning's score which stands out as one of Hammer's best. Gunning captures the introspective mood, childlike innocence, and sad beauty of Anna. [This "main theme" sounds as though it might have been composed by the great Erik Satie.] The tumultuous, horrific eruptions of Jack the Ripper which surface any time Anna is kissed come through in whirling orchestral frissons.
This is probably the high point in director Peter Sasdy's career (the lowpoint being, arguably, a tawdry but entertainingly dreadful excursion known as THE LONELY LADY (1982) which was supposed to be a rocket-to-stardom vehicle for Pia Zadora, but which remains highly regarded as one of cinema's biggest forays into bad taste. HANDS OF THE RIPPER, on the other hand, is an achievement of which Sasdy has every right to be very, very proud.
Beware of TV versions that Universal purchased, re-edited, and spoiled by adding footage featuring two doctors in a library discussing Anna's case. It's wholly unnecessary garbage, and detracts greatly from the deliberate unfolding of the story. Universal did similar butchery on its TV print of TWINS OF EVIL, the box office counterpart to HANDS OF THE RIPPER. One can only imagine how terrific a double feature those two films would have made at the time (sadly, I was too young to receive my parents permission to see these films theatrically).
Hopefully HANDS OF THE RIPPER will be a Hammer horror to arrive soon on DVD, complete, and well handled. With so much hooplah made about Hammer's most famous projects (HORROR OF DRACULA, CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, et.al.), it's a shame HANDS OF THE RIPPER often gets overlooked by fans, and therefore by the public as well.
For a late-Hammer effort, HANDS OF THE RIPPER is among the company's best efforts.
HANDS OF THE RIPPER is a well crafted, entertaining dose of period-Victorian horror in which a comely but spiritually lost girl, the daughter of Jack the Ripper (Angharad Rees), has tragically and unknowingly inherited her father's penchant for killing -- she goes into a murderous trance whenever kissed on the cheek!
Angharad Rees acquits herself well in the role of amnesiac Anna. Her performance arouses pity for her character, a true victim of her own unfortunate birth and of circumstances-which-are-beyond-her-control. Eric Porter is a fine choice for "Dr. John", Anna's self appointed patron, and seems packed with ambition as well as interesting character flaws. An interesting touch: the fiancee of Porter's son (Jane Merrow) is blind, and Porter appears to despise her for a variety of reasons, ranging from her obvious clumsiness to the old "she's-not-good-enough-for-my-son" notion, to the thought that she will take over the position his late wife held in the household. Here we have a bit more depth to the characters than one might expect from a later Hammer effort, and it is most welcome.
Once it's established that young Anna is bound to go on killing spree after spree (before she is ultimately restrained), we get to settle back and relish the creative flair brought to each of the killings, and suspense abounds prior to each of the gristly murders. Entranced, Anna appears to be accomplished at improvising, grabbing nearby, everyday items, and turning them into weapons of destruction. This is truly chilling! To illustrate: fake medium Dora Bryan is impaled with a common fireplace poker onto a door (hoisted on her own deceitful petard!)...a handful of innocuous hatpins are thrust into the eye of a streetwalker...and a shattered hand-mirror almost unbelievably forms a makeshift dagger with which Anna disposes of her maid. The deaths are all very clever, stylish, and colorful set-pieces.
The big finale, with Eric Porter coaxing Ms Rees into a spectacular deathfall from the uppermost ("Whispering") gallery of St. Paul's cathedral seems operatic in its grandeur and effect, yet solemn and touching as well.
There is a wholly appropriate surfeit of melancholy throughout this production that some might argue is distasteful, but I believe it adds significantly to the tragic cause. Contributing greatly to this is Christopher Gunning's score which stands out as one of Hammer's best. Gunning captures the introspective mood, childlike innocence, and sad beauty of Anna. [This "main theme" sounds as though it might have been composed by the great Erik Satie.] The tumultuous, horrific eruptions of Jack the Ripper which surface any time Anna is kissed come through in whirling orchestral frissons.
This is probably the high point in director Peter Sasdy's career (the lowpoint being, arguably, a tawdry but entertainingly dreadful excursion known as THE LONELY LADY (1982) which was supposed to be a rocket-to-stardom vehicle for Pia Zadora, but which remains highly regarded as one of cinema's biggest forays into bad taste. HANDS OF THE RIPPER, on the other hand, is an achievement of which Sasdy has every right to be very, very proud.
Beware of TV versions that Universal purchased, re-edited, and spoiled by adding footage featuring two doctors in a library discussing Anna's case. It's wholly unnecessary garbage, and detracts greatly from the deliberate unfolding of the story. Universal did similar butchery on its TV print of TWINS OF EVIL, the box office counterpart to HANDS OF THE RIPPER. One can only imagine how terrific a double feature those two films would have made at the time (sadly, I was too young to receive my parents permission to see these films theatrically).
Hopefully HANDS OF THE RIPPER will be a Hammer horror to arrive soon on DVD, complete, and well handled. With so much hooplah made about Hammer's most famous projects (HORROR OF DRACULA, CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, et.al.), it's a shame HANDS OF THE RIPPER often gets overlooked by fans, and therefore by the public as well.
For a late-Hammer effort, HANDS OF THE RIPPER is among the company's best efforts.