From Hell is heavenly!

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2001)

Smoky opium dens, sugar-saturated absinthe, bloody red skies,
dark alleys shadowed with fog, and silver knife-blades that glint
and reflect the light of pure evilÂ… It's 1888, Jack the Ripper is living
his glory days, and you are right there with him.
It's easy to get drawn into this seamy, fascinating world. From Hell
is loosely based upon the real events, presented in a beautifully
dreamy, surreal fashion. It's the most visually pleasing
Victorian-England horror offering since Coppola's version of
Dracula, which came out nearly ten years ago. The cinematographer is Peter Deming, a David Lynch favorite (he did
2001's Mulholland Drive as well as Lost Highway). He does some
very interesting things with time-lapse styled photography and
stop-motion techniques without getting too trick.
Directed by The Hughes brothers (their last feature was 1995's
Dead Presidents), who supposedly met with everyone from Sean
Connery to Brad Pitt to Jude Law before deciding upon Johnny
Depp for the starring role of Inspector Frederick George Abberline.
They made the right choice: as usual, Depp seems to immerse
himself in the role from diction to demeanor to dress, and
whenever he is on the screen your eyes are on him. Teamed up
with Heather Graham as the ill-fated prostitute Mary Kelly, Depp
almost brings her up to par. Almost. Graham does a fine job, but
compared with the other actors in the film -- Depp, Susan Lynch as
'Long Liz' Stride, and Ian Holm as Sir William Gull -- she's miscast.
There is nothing about her to ignite the romantic sub-story, and as
a consequence that part just doesn't work.
Luckily, it doesn't get in the way, either. This movie is not only
visually stunning and well-acted, it's very aptly directed. The
Hughes Brothers took a risk here, wishing to shrug off their image
of being 'urban' or 'black' filmmakers, and it's paid off. They bring to
life, in short flashes, the legendary curiosities of Victorian life: the
advent of the frontal lobotomy; legal, psychotropic drugs; John "The
Elephant Man" Merrick on public display; and the eccentric Queen
Victoria with her strange secrets. Like the devil, it's in the details,
and The Hughes Brothers have paid attention to all of them.
Although the murders were re-created in detail on a set in Prague
(and if you've seen the actual crime-scene photos, as I have, you
will appreciate this), they are not as gory as the directors would
have liked. Thus challenged, they manage to evoke a feeling of
what it must have been like -- from experiencing the brutal killings
and eviscerations themselves, to the aftermath of curious crowds
wanting a glimpse of the forlorn, desecrated bodies of these
women who once lived -- and it's chilling.
Like a red rose gone black at its edges, still smelling sweetly of
life even as it decays, From Hell manages to straddle the fine line
of meshing delicate beauty with bleak death.