Ripper 2:Letter From Within review
horror movies&stuff
[Ripper 2:Letter From Within]
Plot:Sequel to 2001s B Slasher movie "Ripper:Letter From Hell".Molly Keller is now in a psychiatric clinic with hopes of supressing her *Ripper* persona.
Cast:
Erin Karpluk,
Nicholas Irons,
Mhairi Steenbock,
Jane Peachey,
Daniel Coonan,
Colin Lawrence,
Myfanwy Waring,
Andrea Miltner,
Curtis Matthew,
Richard Bremmer.
My thoughts:Yet another one of THOSE movies.
Review:You know those horror movies that you're totally into, until something ridiculously fucked up brings it all crashing down and leaves you wondering why do the writers constantly use this tired BS plot tool over and over again? Well, "Ripper:Letter From Within" is one of them. This movie picks up exactly where the first movie "Ripper:Letter From Hell" left off. One of the few sequels that isn't ashamed of it's predecessor thus it doesn't try to deny or hide it's existence by starting an entirely new story. In fact we get constant flashbacks early on of Mollys actions at the end of part 1. Three things...A.J. Cook isn't back as Molly Keller, although this new actress does a really great job of making her voice sound just like A.J.s.Jurgen Prochnov isn't back as the weird cop with a dagger (shame he added alot of mystery to the first movie), and neither is Marshall Kane, the teacher Molly Keller framed for the murders of her schoolmates at the end of the first film. Via a newspaper headline, it's suggested that he was put to death for the murders. In this movie, Molly is seeking help to deal with her Ripper persona once and for all. Or is she? In this movie, it's finally revealed what was hinted at strongly in the first movie. That Molly is a direct descendent of the infamous Jack the Ripper. Fed up with his own methods not working, Mollys doctor sends her off to Prague with a female doctor to participate in a never before tested medical experiment to treat psychotics, an action which I'm sure is highly illegal in the real world but hey whos keeping score in a direct-to-video slasher movie. It's here that she meets a group of kids with mental problems of their own, and where the lead doctor Doc Weisser hopes to help her with her split persona problem. So when does the havoc and bloody mayhem ensue? The movie pretty much shifts from a freaky weird episode of "ER" to an actual horror film once the good doctors Virtual Reality/psychiatric experiment winds up separating Molly from her Ripper persona and Mr Ripper being the vindictive SOB that he is,gets even by trapping all the kids including Molly in the VR world where he can pick them off one by one.The deaths are pretty standard but effective but mostly brought about by the kids making the usual stupid moves such as splitting up when they should stay together and one ever so stale self-sacrifice death. "Ripper:Letter From Within" doesn't really offer anything new to the slasher genre in general, but it does show flashes of brilliance with the whole threat of Mollys Ripper persona now existing outside her body and being free to wreak havoc upon whoever crosses it's path. The UK environments this movie takes place in are pretty amazing as well and really help in alot of scenes.Does it surpass the first movie? It pretty much falls on par with the original for some reasons and fails to do so for other reasons. The characters in the sequel were a thousand times less annoying, and the ripper living outside of Molly plot device was interesting. But the sequels body count is way lower, and the deaths are way less inventive.Once we finally think there might be some closure to this whole Molly Keller/Ripper inner struggle in the films climax, the writers decide to flush it all down the toilet by tossing us a "Gotcha" ending, in a very cruel joke fashion. An ending which if traced back to the first movie, could actually challenge anyones theory that the events in the first film really took place or happened at all.I felt like I was watching "April Fools Day" all over again..."Sigh". As expected, the ending sets up a third movie but who would really want to bother watching "Ripper 3" after the way the viewer is treated at the end of part 2?Although if you think hard about the tagline of "Ripper 2" which is "Letter from Within", the ending makes some sense. But then again, if you think hard about the tagline, it can also tell you how the films slasher will appear on the scene. So many questions.
Pros:The shooting locations were amazing to watch especially in DVD format. I don't think I would've liked the movie as much had it been shot in the suburbs. Some nice stuff for the fellas in the rave scene.The ripper existing out of Mollys body and being it's own dark, evil persona was a pretty cool plot device. The new actress who played Molly Keller Erin Karpluk did pretty well.
Cons:The ending was extremely stupid, and the rave scene was way too long and was obviously used to gobble up some movie clock.The self sacrifice death of one of the kids near the end was pointless and I'd like to give a memo to any future horror film writers out there, please don't incorporate pointless sacrificial deaths into your script unless they make sense to the story.
Overall:A pretty good followup to "Ripper:Letter From Hell", with a very flawed end result.
