There is several reasons as to why this is so bad and silly but when you have a veteran director like John Hough there is just no excuse. Hough has directed such films as "Twins of Evil", "Dirty Mary,Crazy Larry" and "Legend of Hell House". All good efforts, so what happened here? My guess is that the script was so bad no director could have saved it and the studio took hold of it and maybe added scenes. The beginning scene makes me believe this. A beautiful blond girl is undressing in a garage restroom, kidnapped, then tortured to believe the whole Jack the Ripper story. The girl looks nothing like Patsy Kensit but its suppose to be her before plastic surgery! Obviously the scene was put in just to get a nude woman in the film. This film is suppose to be in the Providence, Rhode Island area but obviously its not. Some of the actors have a difficult time hiding their accents and where do you find an old castle in this country? Of course its England. The music sounds just like something from a "Friday the 13th" movie and it should. Harry Manfredini did a lot of those films and he did this one also. Not much happened to Patsy Kensit after appearing with Mel Gibson in the second "Lethal Weapon" film. She really shows nothing here except her name. Its sad to watch. The film is so routine that you have to wonder why anyone would bother? Its badly acted and the story is horribly told. It seemed to me that no one had any real reason to try and do something exceptional with the material. A tired effort by all.
19 Reviews
Bad movie.
gridoon11 August 2003
This movie is completely uninteresting. The story is transparent right from the start, the gore effects are poor, the flashbacks are unconvincing (those shiny clean 1888 London streets look exactly like the studio sets they are). Patsy Kensit fails to impress as a psycho killer; the other actors are forgettable. There is simply nothing good to be said about "Bad Karma". It represents the kind of by-the-numbers filmmaking that makes you feel depressed about the current state of low-budget horror films in general. (*)
How not to do it...
JoeytheBrit20 January 2007
This is one of those sorry little efforts in which everyone from minor characters right up to the director is clearly just going through the motions, working for their pay-packet and nothing else. The director is John Hough, a veteran who, although something of a journeyman, has some good efforts under his belt (TWINS OF EVIL, DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY) so he really has no excuse for producing such a shoddy piece of work. And as for the editing, well, IMDb doesn't even list an editor amongst the crew, which probably tells you all you need to know. I can only think that Hough is either very brave or very foolish to refrain from adding another dud to Alan Smithee's ever-growing CV with this one.
The story opens ten years in the past. A garage attendant, after spying on a naked teenage schoolgirl in the garage's washroom, abducts her. After stripping and tying her to a bed, he attaches electrodes to her wrists and proceeds to torture her. Now if this girl's acting was half as hot as her body, her mantelpiece would be groaning under the weight of her Oscars and if her body was as lousy as her acting this would be a horror to put all those 70s Italian cannibal flicks in the shade. With God knows how many volts zipping through her body, our naked teen merely winces, says ow, and fetchingly jiggles her boobs. This girl, however who also appears to be mysteriously absent from the credits is merely setting the standard that the rest of the cast will follow throughout the movie although it has to be said that Patsy Kensit is marginally less bad than the others (and when Patsy Kensit is the best thing about a movie, you know it's in trouble ).
Anyway, the reason the poor lass has been abducted is that, in a past life, she was Jack the Ripper's squeeze, helping him to find and disembowel cockney prostitutes, and the garage attendant was one of their female victims. Now he has found her in modern-day America which is easier to believe than is the fact that the makers actually found financing for this barmy flick and is electrocuting her in order to retrieve her memory of her previous life before he kills her. Our wronged former streetwalker just can't resist sampling the morsel on his bed, however, which of course leads to his/her undoing: the young girl frees one wrist, unscrews the strut of the bed's headboard, magically frees her other hand and whacks the slobbering pump attendant over the noggin before then apparently retying her wrist so that she can then untie it all over again.
And, believe me, thanks to the copious female nudity this is the best bit of the movie (sorry, ladies).
There is a kind of trashy appeal to some of these sex and gore flicks this one's a little like something a mediocre student of Michael Winner's might make if the old boy had turned to teaching movie-making instead of appearing in insurance adverts on TV but the repeated lapses in logic and continuity, coupled with the bad acting (that isn't quite bad enough to be amusing) from a cast who play it straight, and the stupid decisions made by every single character, prevent the viewer from gaining even guilty pleasure from it. Even the location grates: the movie is supposed to take place in Rhode Island, but was clearly filmed in Britain - most likely some godforsaken island off the Scottish coastline by the look of it.
Anyway, the attendant's electrocution theory proves to be right on the button, as Jack's moll is restored to consciousness in the teen's body and we next see her in the present day now in the form of Patsy Kensit strapped to a bed in a mental hospital, and convinced that her doctor (Patrick Muldoon) is the reincarnation of Jack. Funny how all these Victorian killer types gravitate toward the States in their new lives. Naturally, it's not long before she is on the loose, killing everyone she comes across, often stabbing them repeatedly before somehow washing and repairing their clothes so that she can wear them to make her escape from the scene.
There's no two ways about it: this is bad movie-making, and can serve only as a cautionary message to aspiring movie makers: this is how not to do it.
The story opens ten years in the past. A garage attendant, after spying on a naked teenage schoolgirl in the garage's washroom, abducts her. After stripping and tying her to a bed, he attaches electrodes to her wrists and proceeds to torture her. Now if this girl's acting was half as hot as her body, her mantelpiece would be groaning under the weight of her Oscars and if her body was as lousy as her acting this would be a horror to put all those 70s Italian cannibal flicks in the shade. With God knows how many volts zipping through her body, our naked teen merely winces, says ow, and fetchingly jiggles her boobs. This girl, however who also appears to be mysteriously absent from the credits is merely setting the standard that the rest of the cast will follow throughout the movie although it has to be said that Patsy Kensit is marginally less bad than the others (and when Patsy Kensit is the best thing about a movie, you know it's in trouble ).
Anyway, the reason the poor lass has been abducted is that, in a past life, she was Jack the Ripper's squeeze, helping him to find and disembowel cockney prostitutes, and the garage attendant was one of their female victims. Now he has found her in modern-day America which is easier to believe than is the fact that the makers actually found financing for this barmy flick and is electrocuting her in order to retrieve her memory of her previous life before he kills her. Our wronged former streetwalker just can't resist sampling the morsel on his bed, however, which of course leads to his/her undoing: the young girl frees one wrist, unscrews the strut of the bed's headboard, magically frees her other hand and whacks the slobbering pump attendant over the noggin before then apparently retying her wrist so that she can then untie it all over again.
And, believe me, thanks to the copious female nudity this is the best bit of the movie (sorry, ladies).
There is a kind of trashy appeal to some of these sex and gore flicks this one's a little like something a mediocre student of Michael Winner's might make if the old boy had turned to teaching movie-making instead of appearing in insurance adverts on TV but the repeated lapses in logic and continuity, coupled with the bad acting (that isn't quite bad enough to be amusing) from a cast who play it straight, and the stupid decisions made by every single character, prevent the viewer from gaining even guilty pleasure from it. Even the location grates: the movie is supposed to take place in Rhode Island, but was clearly filmed in Britain - most likely some godforsaken island off the Scottish coastline by the look of it.
Anyway, the attendant's electrocution theory proves to be right on the button, as Jack's moll is restored to consciousness in the teen's body and we next see her in the present day now in the form of Patsy Kensit strapped to a bed in a mental hospital, and convinced that her doctor (Patrick Muldoon) is the reincarnation of Jack. Funny how all these Victorian killer types gravitate toward the States in their new lives. Naturally, it's not long before she is on the loose, killing everyone she comes across, often stabbing them repeatedly before somehow washing and repairing their clothes so that she can wear them to make her escape from the scene.
There's no two ways about it: this is bad movie-making, and can serve only as a cautionary message to aspiring movie makers: this is how not to do it.
Giving B movies a bad name
FilmStalker3 September 2003
Interested to see the demise of Patsy Kensit, I decided to pick this movie up from the video store. After dusting the video box (for some reason people are afraid to watch this,) I popped the movie in and was found myself disturbed for the next ninety minutes. This is so bad, I have a new respect for summer movies.
The story is about a mental patient who goes after her doctor while he's on vacation with his family. As she makes her way, she let's it be known that she likes to be seductive just before murdering the people around her. The reason she's going after her Doctor is because in their past lives he was Jack the Ripper and she was his mate. The movie's climax is at the beginning. A gas attendant peeps at a school girl (a school girl whose chest would make Michael Jackson's nose look natural) who is changing in his restroom. He then decides to kidnap her and tell her that she killed him in a past life. They almost have sex.
Have I said that I want my ninety minutes back?
The story is about a mental patient who goes after her doctor while he's on vacation with his family. As she makes her way, she let's it be known that she likes to be seductive just before murdering the people around her. The reason she's going after her Doctor is because in their past lives he was Jack the Ripper and she was his mate. The movie's climax is at the beginning. A gas attendant peeps at a school girl (a school girl whose chest would make Michael Jackson's nose look natural) who is changing in his restroom. He then decides to kidnap her and tell her that she killed him in a past life. They almost have sex.
Have I said that I want my ninety minutes back?
The Karma Is The Least Worst Thing About This Crap
Theo Robertson7 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
***** MILD SPOILERS *****
This opens with one of the sickest scenes I`ve seen in a long time whereby a teenage schoolgirl is abducted by a scumbag who beats and tortures her . This is exploitation of the worst sort since the teenage girl seems to be played by an actress in her late 20s and who may very well have had silicon implants . BAD KARMA would have been bad enough if if was only a dumb thriller where a female villain goes around killing people ( And it`s really dumb in this respect where people are stabbed or beaten to death but there`s never any blood on the victim`s clothes which allows the killer to steal them in order to escape . This happens several times in the movie ) , but what really churned my stomach is the way everyone is portrayed - Men are all sadistic sexual predators while all women are sex crazed sluts .
It`s not often I give a film one out of ten , and when I do it`s almost entirely due to a lack of entertainment value . BAD KARMA has no entertainment value . There is no decent performances or intelligent writing or decent directing , and the whole film has a sick , sadistic feel to it
This opens with one of the sickest scenes I`ve seen in a long time whereby a teenage schoolgirl is abducted by a scumbag who beats and tortures her . This is exploitation of the worst sort since the teenage girl seems to be played by an actress in her late 20s and who may very well have had silicon implants . BAD KARMA would have been bad enough if if was only a dumb thriller where a female villain goes around killing people ( And it`s really dumb in this respect where people are stabbed or beaten to death but there`s never any blood on the victim`s clothes which allows the killer to steal them in order to escape . This happens several times in the movie ) , but what really churned my stomach is the way everyone is portrayed - Men are all sadistic sexual predators while all women are sex crazed sluts .
It`s not often I give a film one out of ten , and when I do it`s almost entirely due to a lack of entertainment value . BAD KARMA has no entertainment value . There is no decent performances or intelligent writing or decent directing , and the whole film has a sick , sadistic feel to it
Bad Karma, Bad Movie
zenkidu2 June 2003
This was great except for the plot, characters, believability, and acting. It's not the worst movie I've ever seen, but it is on the list. I'm really not sure why I didn't shut it off. Probably because the actresses were hot.
Bad Karma, Bad Screenwriter, Bad Director, Bad Producers, Horrible Trash Movie
claudio_carvalho29 August 2003
Agnes Thatcher (Patsy Kensit) is a schizophrenic patient of Dr. Trey Campbell (the horrible actor Patrick Muldoon). She believes they were lovers in a past life in London and he was Jack, the Ripper. When Dr. Campbell and his family go to some American island on vacations, Agnes escapes from the asylum and chases them. Agnes kills almost every character along this predictable and full of clichés B-movie. Unfortunately she did not kill the screenwriter, the director and the producers and this trash was released to the market, where fools like me spent time watching this crap. The plot is really ridiculous and the cast (with the exception of Patsy Kensit, who I really like) is appropriate for such a trash. All of them are ham actors and actress. One point that called my attention is their pronunciation, specially the detective and Patrick Muldoon. And I am Brazilian! I suppose that, for being an actor/actress, the person should know how to act, and this would include speech. However, in this film what we see (and hear) is exactly the opposite. Watching this crap is really a waste of time. My vote is three.
A big Yawn!!!
josbran21 April 2003
Movie starts with a good nude scene and its all downhill after that. Gore was not convincing at all and the story line was VERY farfetched. Can't recommend this flick except maybe for the first 10 minutes then turn it off and watch sports!!
Bad K....Film Making
robertcun15 November 2005
Firstly this film was made mostly in Co. Galway, Ireland and not in England like another reviewer said. All i can say about this "Movie" is it's so bad it's good.The dialog is up there with Ewan Mcgregor's in Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith, i do agree with a lot of comments and yes the highlight is the opening scene, which starts off like a porn movie, Good Catholic Girls Gone Bad.....LOL. The Only thing i really liked about this movie is Amy Locane, i thought she was really cute and not that bad an actress in Cry Baby and School Ties, oh how the mighty have fallen, bad decisions and what a lousy actress she has developed into...shame.Patsy Kensit is OK and is doing pretty well for herself in the U.K. in a successful soap called "Emmerdale", But overall if you want to have a good old laugh at see how bad film making can be and how crappy the wardrobe department can be (Every Cop And Security Guard Seem to Have Extra large Uniforms and Hats)watch this one and learn from someones mistakes and by god there is a lot of them
What did I watch?!
Leofwine_draca28 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
BAD KARMA is a shamefully awful psycho-thriller with Patsy Kensit in another of her minor screen performances. This time around she plays against STARSHIP TROOPERS actor Patrick Muldoon in a muddled and long-winded story of Jack the Ripper, complete with cheesy flashbacks and endless hand-wringing explanations. The psychology is pat and the whole thing unrealistic and unfocused, with lacklustre performances and dolloped-in gore which adds nothing for the viewer. The biggest shame is that this was the final film in the career of director John Hough, who started off so well with the likes of TWINS OF EVIL and THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE back in the 1970s.
Terrible acting
samh66626 April 2020
Lots of blood, babes and Patrick Muldoon's perfect hair!
JCrewPsycho198022 June 2003
I thought this movie ruled. Why you ask? Because it doesn't take itself seriously, has tons of nice fun gore scenes and there are plenty of babes in it. Patsy Kinsit is soooo hot. Patrick Muldoon is also a pretty good actor, I wonder why he never made it off of Hollywood's b list. I do really feel sorry for him here though, because he and Kinsit don't belong in b movie hell. They look too good and can actually act. Go into this with the lowest of expectations and don't pretend you're watching Hamlet and you'll dig it.
Boring B movie with a good start
goremaster29 December 2002
This film starts very well for a B movie with a beautiful blondie nude scene. After she strips in the bathroom of a gas station she's kidnapped and tortured by a maniac. Then the movie jumps in time and shows Patsy Kensit playing the same character as the unknown blondie in the beginning (they explain that she made a plastic surgery, but most probably she didn't want to show her body off). She's a psycho woman in a mental institution who manages to escape with some nice kill shots. In the first 15 minutes we get nudity and some gory death scenes. After that the film becomes predictable and finally boring, very boring. The plot about Jack the ripper reincarnation is ridiculous. I suggest you watch the movie until the psycho girl escapes and then turn off the TV.
Forgettable movie whose acting barely qualifies as bad
gliderguy29 January 2016
The other reviews talk about a memorable nude scene at the start, but the producers must have read this and cut it before they released it to Amazon. The reincarnation theme is completely laughable, as is all of the acting. I kept getting distracted when the scenes would flip back and forth between sunny blue skies to overcast/rainy. The Hollywood blood didn't even look real (I think they cut corners). And I loved it when Patsy got shot in the shoulder by a .45 and was able to get up, pick up a piece of firewood and knock out Muldoon with the same arm! And then there was the car that blows up in the ENGINE compartment after falling about 15 feet (note to the non-mechanically orientated: the fuel tank is in the rear, and won't explode anyway unless the fuel has a chance to vaporize). Why worry about details when it stinks as bad as this one?
Great for blood, guts and gore fans
Sam-2851 July 2003
This movie seems to depend on blood, guts and gore. After the initial scene in which so much of the woman is seen without clothes, there is very little nudity and plenty of blood, guts and gore. The story seems to have written to support showing it.
One thing that everyone seems to be missing is that so many people are killed. We are supposed to feel for some and not care about others. However that is one of many things that make it difficult for me to enjoy them.
There are a few times in this movie when the police could have been and should have been called yet they were not. This was probably also done by the writer because it was an easy way to maintain the drama. Producers will continue to make movies with plots like that until more people complain.
One thing that everyone seems to be missing is that so many people are killed. We are supposed to feel for some and not care about others. However that is one of many things that make it difficult for me to enjoy them.
There are a few times in this movie when the police could have been and should have been called yet they were not. This was probably also done by the writer because it was an easy way to maintain the drama. Producers will continue to make movies with plots like that until more people complain.
Why Make A Crappy Film Like This?
Rainey-Dawn27 May 2021
Why on earth would any film studio spend money to make crappy films like this? I'll never understand it. I watched the first 5 minutes of it then watched it on fast-forward. I couldn't get past the bad acting and the dumb way the girl became a mental patient - sorry but this is not for me.
1/10.
1/10.
Like what about bob? If that movie were utterly putrid
movieman_kev5 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Maureen Hatcher is thoroughly messed up on account of being kidnapped by a psycho who believes that she's the reincarnation of the lover of the person who killed him in a previous life. Now in a mental hospital (and played by a different, less competent, actress) she believes that her doctor is the reincarnation of her past-life lover, one Jack the Ripper.
what an awful movie, it you simply have too see any of this train wreck then watch the first 5-10 minutes then be done with it. Anything more and I'm afraid your sanity (not to mention will to live) might start to crumble.
My grade: D-
Eye candy: Zoe Paul shows all (hey that rhymes)
what an awful movie, it you simply have too see any of this train wreck then watch the first 5-10 minutes then be done with it. Anything more and I'm afraid your sanity (not to mention will to live) might start to crumble.
My grade: D-
Eye candy: Zoe Paul shows all (hey that rhymes)
Straining the boundaries of being bad
richielamport7 November 2019
I happened upon this film and after having watched/observed it for its entirety i suddenly realised that the most entertaining parts of this abomination were the bits that i got up and relieved myself.
The worst part of it all is that i can't un-see this.
In short, i will live the rest of my days knowing that i've been forever tainted.
Please, please do not put yourself through the anguish and emotional torment of having sat through this tripe.
Save yourselves, please, it's too late for me, watching this is like being visually damned over ninety or so minutes. Please, heed my warning....
A B-horror movie!
martymaster9 February 2002
For some strange reason this movie was released first in Norway,so it may be a while before it comes to some countries.But don't worry it is not that good. This is really a B-movie,because the movie is really unknown and it has only unknown actors. The only person I could recognize in the movie was Patrick Muldoon who has played in series such as "Days of our lives" and "Melrose Place". The story is a little exiting at times,but I was for the most bored through out the movie. One thing that is great about a b-movie though,is that the actors are not afraid to show themselves naked,so in the beginning of the movie,we get to see a women undress and a "pussy shot" and "boob shot".
Not worth watching unless it goes on tv,and you have nothing better to do.
Not worth watching unless it goes on tv,and you have nothing better to do.
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