Vibrant, gorgeous horror

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2015)

The Hugh's Brothers From Hell may play havoc with the facts of the actual Jack the Ripper case, and sometimes veers into syrupy sentiment, but for the most part it's a sumptuous, wonderfully spooky shocker with an austere, gloom and doom vibe and some genuinely horrifying murder scenes. I consider it a companion piece to Sleepy Hollow, as they both positively drip with atmosphere, and share the same star in Johnny Depp, as a troubled Inspector attempting to solve equally chilling homicides. Granted Sleepy Hollow is the fun one, while From Hell has almost no sense of humour and a sense of grave danger from right out of the gate. Johnny Depp plays Frederick Abberline, an opium addicted Scotland Yard inspector who's roped into an obsessive search for Jack The Ripper, aided by his sergeant Peter Godley (always nice to see Hagrid- I mean Robbie Coltrane). He gets embroiled in aristocratic corruption, and attempts to protect beautiful prostitute Mary Kelly (Heather Graham with red hair!) who fears she may be next on old Jack's list. He begins to suspect that his opium induced nightmares may provide a conduit to the killers actions, and give him something to go on. Is he losing it? Or are the drugs actually giving him metaphysical clues? Depp plays him with a forlorn, world weary malaise that's a nice front for the razor sharp intellect that made Abberline famous (he also took down the Wolfman earlier in life). Bilbo Bagg- I mean Ian Holm shows up as a renowned doctor who assists him, and Jason Flemyng as a no good coach driver, with Sophia Myles, Katrin Kartlidge and David Schofield as a grinning, evil east end pimp rounding out the roster. Now, because in real life it's an unsolved case, the Brother's Hugh's feel like they have to complete full circle, and give us a nice tidy resolution. I feel like the film should have left it open ended and never given us a who in the whodunit. It would have made the film so much more effective and eerie, but alas the studio heads must be babysat through a generic narrative to appease their financial anxiety. No matter, it's still a rich, gorgeous, bloody genre piece with an evocative, smoky London palette for this ghostly predator to stalk and slay, and for hard nosed law dogs to pursue him through the fog. Definitely a piece to check out.