From Hell (2001)
Grade: B
Cast: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm
Directors: Albert & Allen Hughes
Rated R for strong violence/gore, sexuality, drug content, and language


This review of From Hell contains spoilers as to who the killer in the film is. The spoiler is sufficiently labeled, but do read with caution if you plan on viewing this film.


"From Hell", the creepy Jack the Ripper thriller directed by brothers Albert and Allen Hughes, is very dedicated to adequately presenting three parts of itself: the semi-fictional part, the mostly true part, and the atmosphere. The semi-fiction involves Inspector Abberline, an opium-smoking pseudo-psychic who claims to have visions of the killings in dreams. He was a real person, but much of the material about him is fictionalized (especially his death—I won’t ruin how the film explains it, but I urge you to compare the results by looking up details about him on the internet). The Hughes brothers do a decent job with the true part, as they recreate the Jack the Ripper killings with a startling accuracy and terror. And that atmosphere—I get the impression the boys worked hard on getting the right feel for the movie, and they did a great job. As you’re watching "From Hell", you’re unsettled enough to truly believe the hokey title.

In the beginning, we meet both Abberline (Johnny Depp) and prostitute Mary Kelly (Heather Graham), who works England’s streets, which are portrayed about as flatteringly as New York in "Taxi Driver". Abberline has just been assigned to the Jack the Ripper case, and Mary Kelly is best friends with some of the prostitutes who are being killed (I learned two things about England’s 19th century whores in this movie—one, they were all best friends, and a couple of them were even lesbian lovers, and two, some of them were as beautiful as Heather Graham). They meet and become slightly romantically involved with each other, but all the audience really cares about are the Jack the Ripper murders.

And oh, they’re interesting. The Hughes brothers’ stylish direction makes the film seem more violent than it is, and spooks us with the precise manner the killings are presented in. Always interesting as well is to hear other people’s theories on who Jack the Ripper was (he was ultimately never caught, for those who didn’t know). This film has one, and I must say (SPOILER) I never pictured Jack the Ripper as being Bilbo Baggins, but that was before I saw "From Hell" (SPOILER END). Other important characters are Abberline’s partner, Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane of "Harry Potter"), and a surgeon who is also a freemason, Sir William Gull (Ian Holm of "Lord of the Rings").

All of this could have fallen terribly flat if not for, I think, the direction. The Hughes brothers have always been interested in Jack the Ripper (this is what interviews and the DVD of "From Hell" have said, anyway), and, for the most part, give us historical accuracy and focus on Jack the Ripper. At times, admittedly, they lose their focus and we’re not sure what the movie is really about—England in the late 1800s, the troubled Abberline and his visions, or the serial killer. That’s part of why "From Hell" isn’t any better than ‘good’. This is more my fault than the film’s, I guess, but I’m much more interested in the murders than Abberline and how he didn’t say no to drugs. His visions bring a semi-supernatural level that, if explored a little bit more, may have sunk the film. The intrigue SHOULD come from the murders, and it mostly does, but the film would have been improved considerably if it had stayed more dedicated to portraying the story of Jackie.

Heather Graham is a problem. I’m not exactly talking about her performance—she is not good, but not awful, either. The problem is that she looks beautiful, stunning, hot, gorgeous, whatever you want to call it—and the real Mary Kelly was anything but. If Graham absolutely *had* to play the part, she should have lessened the quality of her physical appearance, like Cameron Diaz did in "Being John Malkovich". As for Depp, all he has to do is act high and pretend he’s discovering something about Jack the Ripper that everyone else already knows. But he gets the job done admirably enough.

I don’t know what else to say about "From Hell". It was enjoyable. It had its flaws, but I liked it. It never becomes as scary or brilliant as it could be, but I’m definitely glad I rented it. I’ve never seen a film version of Jack the Ripper, and it was interesting to see it done. Still, I hope someday the legend can be made into a great film. For now, though, I’ll take "From Hell", which is good enough.


-Alex, July 2002