I went into this with no expectations whatsoever. Well that's not exactly true. I really expected it to be another 'churn 'em out, never mind the quality just get the money in', waste of resources with no artistic or even commercial merit. I was quite wrong.
First thing to say is that this isn't a Jack the ripper story, nor is it a morally dubious slasher movie. It's more of a whodunnit, thriller type story set against the background of the Whitechapel murders. Anyone looking for a gory horror is going to be very disappointed. As for the storyline, there are so many twists in the second half of the film a comparison with 'Double Indemnity' is quite fair. A couple of times I found myself thinking "Yes! I knew it, it was obvious....er...oh! I didn't expect that...".
The design, costumes, make-up, dialogue and photography are generally good, evoking real life in 1880s London, but the errors are intensely jarring - the use of what looks like a farm building to represent an East End warehouse, the sight of Portcullis House in the views of Parliament, and no woman would ever be seen on the streets dressed like the prostitutes here without being arrested. A lot of things can be forgiven when the filmmakers have a very tight budget, but the film is really let down by these. The biggest flaw, though is the music. It's far too intrusive. When the audience pays more attention to the music than to the drama, you know it's wrong.
All those criticisms aside, I still really enjoyed the film, and it's worth another viewing.
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