Tense and Eerie, as ever Depp is excellent!

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2002)

I am not a big fan of the horrer genre at all basically becuase most are bad and the fact is I don't get scared by what happens in movies. I don't mind mystery chillers or the more pyschological horrer like this film, the sort of film that substitutes attractive, screaming, 18 year old girls with clearly visible nipples(Rose Mcgowen, Scream) for a developing plot and atmospheric build up. I particularly find little enjoyment from the slasher genre especially teen slashers. Supposed classics like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on elm street I think are so overated. The first Scream I found good though but still over-rated. Anyway this film is a horrer mystery that builds up atmospheric tension and neat plot twists and developments. The lighting and sets in this movie are fantastic. The cast are made up of a host of British thespiens and of course the two hollywood film stars Johnny Depp and the gorgeous Heather Graham. Of course Depp and Graham are there purely to sell the film ahead of their acting talents which are considerable. Johnny Depp in the last three years has stared in three excellent horrer flicks of various styles, this, Sleepy Hollow and the Ninth Gate. All with him featuring a different style character with a different accent. Depp has proven himself as a brilliant character actor. In "From Hell" he stars as a detective who has visions and is a drug addict. He is on the case of Jack the Ripper with the help of the equally good Robbie Coltrane. The Ripper is killing prostitutes and has targeted five working girls in particular for his ritualistic murders. They include Grahams characters as well as Lesley Sharp and Annabelle Apison as two of the other Whores, the remaining two I know by face from other films but cannot think of their names. The film is very effective, it has its tense moments and towards the end of the film we get more gore as the ripper starts to rampage. Both the American leads do very good cockney accents as do the British luvvies. As for the plot well it nears the point of losing the audience with plot twists and conspiracy theories but the big twists of the film are generally surprising. I was sitting in my seat and half an hour in I thought I'd worked it out, I was well proud of myself and had a grin like a cheshire cat until the Rippers identity was made clear and frankly I was way off. Some moments are quite obvious but that is the case of any movie in history. Overall this was a very good chiller, the story was good and the plot twists were also surpising. I loved the recreation of 19th century London and the lighting effects the film really takes you to another time and place (unless your from london then its just another time). Although the film is good it is one of those that is rather forgettable, I won't remember much in a few weeks except for the plot twist. 8/10