Search - From Hell on DVD

Mary S. from ALLONS, TN
Reviewed on 4/15/2010...

The movie is a little graphic, but considering the story it is not overly...Johnny Depp is excellent and the story line is good.

Vanessa V. (sevenspiders)
Reviewed on 9/18/2008...

Jack the Ripper was the first known serial killer, a modern murderer in a Victorian world. In From Hell, the Hughes brothers bring to life the Victorian city and the modern monster that haunted it. From Hell, like all Ripper lore, is based in fact but filled out by fantasy. The characters, the Victorian London, the events that unfold are all an odd combination of popular imagination and history. But in this case the combination works, and neither element overwhelms the other. The movie is darkly frightening and believable in the willing-suspension-of-disbelief way.

Johnny Depp plays Inspector Abberline in a deft, understated performance that fits the setting and skillfully avoids the cliche Scotland Yard caricature. Heather Graham (not my favorite actress) is remarkable sympathetic and realistic in a performance that bends over backwards to avoid being "the hooker with the heart of gold" and usually succeeds.

The gore is present but not gratuitous, considering the subject matter. But to anyone with a weak stomach, there was a reason they called him The Ripper. The mystery unravels deliberately, skillfully making use of all the early embedded clues so that you can almost guess who the Ripper is... perhaps. From Hell gives Jack the Ripper's legend its due; it succeeds in melding the modern and Victorian, the true horror and the myth that Jack the Ripper has become seamlessly.

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