When I saw the title and cover I was hoping that the movie would be
like "Ripper" (videogame 1996 starring Christopher Walken). It was an
excellent game that combined the old legend about Jack the Ripper with
cyber technology. The result a "killer" thriller. But sadly I have to
report that "Ripper: Letter from Hell" is nothing like that game. It
is just a slasher movie with a very pretentious story. First of all
there were some good moments. But overall I missed tension. The murders
seem brutal and bloody, but the violence isn't explicit. Also a big
problem is that the characters are not very likable. So you won't care
for them if they die. The only exciting thing is wanting to find out
who the killer is. When the characters have a dialog in one scene it
somehow doesn't connect with what happened before the scene. I got the
feeling that scenes were missing. This should not have been a problem
if the the story was straightforward and clear. This is not the case. The story is confusing as hell. (Maybe that is why we would need a letter to explain things.) And if you were hoping for a decent
climax than you will be disappointed. The way it is presented leaves
room open for different interpretations. Normally I would love such an
ending. Here it isn't very effective. The ending doesn't clear up
motive for the killings. Also the connection between Jack the ripper
and the killer is not explained very well. There is very little
background given on the original Jack the Ripper murders. Assuming that
you are not familiar with the murders committed by Jack the Ripper you
could easily put some other famous serial killer in his place. The end
result would be the same. Since good old Jack still makes quite the impression today he deserves much better treatment. I could have forgiven the pretentious ending
if the movie would have been entertaining and exciting but as I said
earlier the movie lacked tension and is quite boring. Jurgen Prochnow
and Bruce Payne should be ashamed with their performances. It clearly
shows that they don't believe in this project and only are in this
movie for the money. You know I get it sometimes you have no choice but to be in certain films in order to make a living. But is it that too much too ask that once you are involved you can give it a little effort.
I know that like me some of you will be intrigued because of the name Ripper but believe me that nothing remotely interesting has been done with it. A giant waste of your time.
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