My review was written in February 1986 after watching the program on United Home Video cassette.
"The Ripper" is an ambitious but off-putting videotaped horror feature from the makers of last year's "Blood Cult" home video entry. Excessive gore and a very slow-paced storyline should turn off prospective fans.
Familiar gimmick has a n outbreak of local slasher murders (pic was filmed in Tulsa) coinciding with a new college course on crimes depicted in feature films, with particular focus on the Whitechapel murders in 1888. Student Steve (Wade Towers) suspects that Prof. Harwell (Tom Schreier) is the new murderer, slitting women's throats from ear to ear and then disemboweling them (shown in closeups for the same type of gore introduced on-screen over two decades ago in H. G. Lewis' "Blood Feast").
Pic dawdles frequently en route to its supernatural climax. Silliest gimmick has Harwell's teacher/girlfriend Carol (Mon VanPernis) leading an aerobics class, which momentarily gives the tape a combo of all the made-for home video genres currently selling well: horror, exercise and music video. Gore is the feature's goal, and the murders are depicted with repetitious cutting of latex throats and torsos, blood spurting and fake entrails pulled out.
Touted star Tom Savini (makeup specialist who wears his acting hat here only) doesn't show up until the finale, and aided by eerie contact lenses, does a nice job as the Ripper, bug brevity of his appearance will disappoint his fans. Technical quality of the video technique is variable, with some blurriness in long shots and unfortunate lens flares in night shots.