Hands Of The Ripper [1971] [DVD]

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Meanwhile Pritchard’s son Michael (Keith Bell) is anxiouslkt awaiting the arrival of his fiance Laura (Jane Merrow) so that they can be married. Laura is blind but hardly incapable of taking care of herself and the couple plan to be married a few days after her arrival. Michael seems a bit puzzled as to why his father has taken in Anna but as he’s far too busy getting ready for his wedding he hasn’t the time to properly vet both his dad and Anna’s relationship. Initially Anna charms everyone she comes across with her winsome smile & gratitude but Anna keeps getting triggered to kill by some innocent gesture or bright light that reminds her of the night her dad murdered her mother. And when that happens, people die! Klar wird der liebe Onkel Doktor hier und da "weibliche Zerstreuung" gesucht und sich einen Erben gewünscht haben, aber ich glaube kaum, dass dabei eine Frau wie Mary Kelly seine Wahl numero uno gewesen wäre. Visiting a medium with some friends, psychoanalyses Dr. John Pritchard discovers that the sounds of the "spirits" have actually been made by a girl called Anna,who was hidden away from view.Leaving with the group,Pitchard notices an MP enter the building,and pay to have sex with Anna,in what Pitchard realises is a secret brothel.Waiting round for his carriage (as you do!) Pitchard hears a blood curdling scream.Rushing in,Pitchard is horrified to find that Anna has brutally killed the medium.

They figured that if they just automatically set it up for a sequel they could get away with the movie not making any sense, and the gaping holes in the plot, and whoever does a sequel will either have to explain that themselves, or it won't be mentioned at all, and either way the makers of this movie would be off the hook for any resolution to this story. Beware: this is goint to be gory. You would expect that in books about the Ripper anyway but I do go in some details about mutilations and sexual assault. Nothing too graphic but I thought I warn just in case. 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. The eerie letter — which hinted at future murders — was received by the Central News Agency on September 27, 1888.Her body was found at 1.45am and local surgeon Dr George William Sequeira, who had been called to the crime scene, deduced that death had taken place only 10 minutes beforehand.

That's pretty much the movie: watch as the little slip of an adolescent girl commits bloody crimes. Very bloody, at that; I haven't seen all of Hammer's late filmography, but on first glance, I'd be inclined to say that Hands of the Ripper is the studio's goriest film. That's not setting the bar tremendously high, mind you: the Italian gialli pretty much all hit this level, and American films could on occasion rise to some extraordinary heights of gruesomeness. Still, there's at least one effect in the scene where Anna goes into the whore's quarter of London to continue Dad's work that has an effect that even made as jaded a horror veteran as myself perk up with a little "ew, that's gross". That's two murders explained, Liz Stride was killed because Williams had asked her about the whereabouts of Mary Kelly and she wanted to stop her from telling the police about it. It was just unfortunate that Stride directed her to the wrong Mary Kelly for Catherine Eddowes also went under that name (rejoice! That is a proper fact!). Once she learned that she killed the wrong women she again asked after Mary Kelly but no longer felt the need to kill everybody she asked because who would remember a woman asking after a prostitute? In an interview with The Star on October 3, Kelly said, “When she did not come home at night I didn’t worry, for I thought her daughter might have asked her to stay over Sunday with her.” Trotzdem lässt sich die Theorie relativ schlüssig lesen und man ist leicht versucht, ihr Glauben zu schenken. Ich halte die Möglichkeit eines weiblichen oder gar als Frau verkleideten Rippers für durchaus denkbar. Vielleicht war sogar ein Duo aus Mann und Frau am Werk - wer weiß?! At a séance the now grown-up Anna [Angharad Rees] assists her foster mother, the medium Mrs Golding [Dora Bryan], by pretending to be the voice of a spirit communicating with the dead child of a couple, Mr & Mrs Wilson [Barry Lowe & Elizabeth MacLennan]. However, she becomes upset midway through and stops speaking so the medium is forced to finish prematurely. As the guests prepare to leave, one of them, the sceptical Dr. Pritchard [Eric Porter], notices Anna's foot underneath a curtain and stands on it, revealing the hidden Anna. As they leave, Pritchard confides his disgust of charlatans like Mrs Golding to his son Michael [Keith Bell].He had told her to go and see her daughter, and to try and get ‘the price of a bed for the night’. ‘Who is her daughter?’ he was asked, to which he replied: ‘A married woman. She is married to a gun-maker, and lives in Bermondsey, in King Street, I think it is called, but I never went there’. Things get worse for the poor sap when he gets stabbed through the kidneys with a ceremonial sword (although in typically British "stiff upper lipped" style, he manages to put on a brave front for the servants), and as he follows Anna to her date with destiny in the whispering gallery at St Paul's Cathederal, you can't help feeling a bit sorry for him.

The grisly task of identifying the body fell to Kelly. Tellingly, his common-law wife died on Sunday, yet he didn’t approach police over fears Catherine was the victim until Tuesday. Technically Hands of the Ripper is good, it's well made with nice production values, photography & music. The acting was very good by all involved & I actually think it helps the film that none of the Hammer regulars were used like Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing.Nun, wir wissen es nicht, aber uns bleibt die Spekulation und die Freude an eben dieser. Weitere Spekulationen werden zweifelsohne folgen. Mich störte auch die Art und Weise wie die Grundlage "Solche krassen Verbrechen können nur Frauen begehen!" belegt werden sollte. Da wird beispielsweise die Ehefrau des Mediziners wiederholt in einem wirklich schlechten Licht dargestellt: unattraktiv, von Geburt an verwöhnt, langweilig, eifersüchtig, launisch - und während der Taten sowohl total meschugge als auch super intelligent und durchtrieben. Nicht selten fragte ich mich wie es für diese Dame aus der englischen Oberschicht wohl wäre, wenn sie dieses Buch heute lesen könnte ... The sceptic-who-is-proved-wrong is a familiar figure in horror films. As soon as we hear the words "I don't believe in ghosts/witches/vampires/whatever" we know that retribution is lurking just around the corner. In some films this retribution will take no more serious form than the humiliation of being forced to eat one's words, but in others the forces of the supernatural will take bloody revenge on those who wrong them by doubting their existence. Und im krassen Gegenzug wird das letzte Opfer, Mary Kelly, derart halbgeifernd von Morris angepriesen, dass einem als Frau mitunter schlecht wird. Natürlich ist dieses übertriebene Vergleichen zugunsten Kellys nötig, um die Kernmotivation der Mordserie zu untermauern. Aber mal ehrlich, Morris beschreibt den wohlhabenden Mediziner als arroganten, selbstverliebten Muttersöhnchen-Schnösel und ausgerechnet so eine Type von Mann soll sich auf eine bettelarme Whitechapel-Hure eingeschossen haben?!? Der Kerl hätte sich doch mit Leichtigkeit eine hochrangigere Geliebte an Land ziehen können.

For those in the know, of course, it’s an oddity alongside more tongue-in-cheek fare they were becoming known for at this time. Much like it's stablemateDr Jekyll And Sister Hyde, for example,Hands…lays the "cor blimeys" on with a trowel, but unlikeSister Hyde, it's not, in any way, a comedy. Oh and there is something else he likes talking about: he repeats the exact circumstances that supposedly lead Lizzy to killing (her infertility, her husband's infidelity, other family issues) several times, explaining everytime that only this could have lead a middle-class woman like Lizzie to murder people. The first time I thought it was just a really sloppy formulated sentence (it wouldn't be the only one...if this thing had an editor I hope he goes to editor-hell where he is read excerpts from this book 24 hours a day) but he repeats this over and over again. Apparently only working-class people commit murders on a regular basis, the middle-and upper classes would never do that unless the circumstances force them to. It's not in their nature.Actually the doctor's mental condition is more interesting than that of the girl he's studying: He pulls a "Vertigo" on her by giving her his late wife's room, providing Anna her clothes to wear and is obsessed with healing her because he couldn't heal his wife. At one point he nigh kisses Anna wearing his wife's clothes when the topic of life-after-death surfaces.