'FROM HELL' WHOA, what a movie! (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I finally got to see it a few days ago, and man, this movie is pretty intense! I wanted to see it in theaters but didn't get the chance, but oh well, I think I enjoyed it more in my HT on a dvd that has one of the best transfers i've seen yet! Clean, rich colors, and the absolute deepest of blacks! It ranks right up their with 'Sleepy Hollow' IMO.
I was always facinated by this case. The name 'Jack the Ripper' inspires thought's of mist enshrouded London streets, back alley's, and the mysterious man himself, usually in the form of a tall man in a cape, wearing a tall gentelman's hat in my mind's eye, just as they portray him in the film, which I loved! I always wondered why it is they never could identify and catch him. This film doesn't answer that question, but it does speculate a bit, and does offer some insight into this madman who slaughtered 5 young prostitutes.
The gore in this film is often very disturbing, especially one of the most realistic and shockingly horrific scenes of a person getting their throat slashed I have ever see in a film!! I actually did a double take when I saw that!

Johnny Depp was great as usual, as was Heather Graham. The atmospere, costumes, and production design were all first rate in this film, they really put you in London at the turn of the century and made you believe Jack the Ripper was lurking about.
About the only thing I didn't care for was the speculation on his identity since they never caught him in real life, but I just dismissed that for the sake of the storytelling, this was a movie afterall.
All in all, it's a great film and if you havn't seen it yet, you should definatly check it out for yourself.
But I warn you, it's not for the sqeamish!

 

[Ben Motley]

It always so amazes me when I like a film, everyone trashes it to hell, and then it comes out on home video, and everyone starts liking it. What, have all the bashers gone on to bash other movies, and totally forgot From Hell? I'm serious, when this came out, there seemed to be a unanimous decision online that it sucked raw eggs, but now since it's release on dvd, all I pretty much see are positive things about it. It boggles my mind.



Anyway, I'm glad you liked it John.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

That's precisly why I don't really rely on reviews, if I see a trailer for a film and it looks interesting to me, or concerns a particular subject matter that i'm interested in, then i'll see it. Besides, let's face it, just about every movie that comes out get's bashed, if I passed on every movie that got bashed to hell here, the only movies i'd be left with are the original 'SW' trilogy, '2001 ASO', and 'Lord of the Rings'!
That's extreme I know, but you get my point.

 

[Tom Rags]

I'm not really too squeamish in general, but I felt like the violence and gore was a bit too excessive in this movie. It really turned me off to the movie...I am all for gore when it is "necessary," (i.e. Saving Private Ryan, etc) but I felt like they didn't have to show as much as they did in this one :frowning:
I really wanted to like this one, but this will not be a rewatcher for me :frowning:
Just my opinion of course
Edit: In rereading my post, I don't want to appear as if I am thread farting...the concept of "necessary" violenece could be opening up a can of worms...I guess my point is that in my opinion, the gore was excessive and didn't add to the movie....but I can how many would enjoy this picture.

 

[Ben Motley]

That's extreme I know, but you get my point.

Unfortunately, I think that's more the norm than extreme. I agree entirely, and it's getting so old. You can't say you like ANYTHING anymore without instantly getting slammed. Very tiring. Anyway, this thread should be about how good From Hell is, and not how much flamers suck, so I guess I'll just leave it at this. Unless of course some flamers start bashing From Hell.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Tom,
that's perfectly understandable. For me though, I felt that the gore in this film was warrented. Jack the Ripper was a monster, he completly butchered those women, in order to show us, the audience, what he was like, and what he did, it was sadly nessasary to show it in all it's depravity IMO.
It had the desired effect on me that's for sure, after I saw this movie, I had a small idea of what kind of psycho he was, and why he was so hunted by Scotland Yard.
Incidentally, I agree with one Jack the Ripper historian on the dvd that was convinced that JTR was a doctor who fled London and came to America. Everywhere this guy went, murder followed, plus he used to keep jars in his home with body parts in them!
I think it's safe to say he was the man.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

DOAH!! Ya know, I don't get over to the Software area as much as i'd like, and I can see that Ron has a pretty good thread going over thier already on this great film, so if a moderator chooses to close this one, it's cool by me. :b

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Paging Valentino Capone. Mr. Capone, please report to this thread.
~Edwin

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Is Tino a Jack the Ripper buff too!?

 

[Jason Quillen]

I hate to be the voice of dissension, but ugh, I could barely watch the whole thing (and it wasnt the violence that bothered me).
I'm a history major, so I think I couldnt get past the complete revamped, Hollywood, butchered version of Jack. Sure, they got a few facts right, but mostly it was completely wrong (like the fact that Jack the Ripper was a gentlemen or noble of some kind. This is completely false, a London prostitute would never have ever come near someone dressed like that. Esp. after a murder or two had happened and everyone was scared). All they did was manage to connect a whole bunch of Jack the Ripper theories together...not my style.
If you want to learn about the real Jack the Ripper you should check out "Histories Mysteries: The Real Jack the Ripper" on the history channel. Excellent program which gives accurate background about the killer and presents all the theories about who he might be.

Sorry, I really didnt mean to thread fart. I can see why people like this movie, but the historical inaccuracies were too much for me to get past. I'm sure it was my loss...
JQ

 

[Carlo_M]

I stayed away from the movie based on the negative word of mouth. Now based on Ron's early review of the disc, plus a word or two from friends who actually SAW it in the theater, I bought it sight unseen on release day (damn at $15.99 it's hard to pass up).
Anyway we finally popped it in this weekend and I liked it! Sure it's not historically accurate, but what Hollywood creation is? For what it was, I thought it was a well made thriller with good acting and a good mixed use of the Ripper myth and fact.
Not a great movie, but a good one, and I don't regret the purchase of it at all.

 

[Ben Motley]

Jason, this is the very point that gets me the most about all the "dissention". The movie was never, ever intended to be historically accurate... at all! The comic book that it was adapted from was historical fiction, and so the movie followed in the same vein.
I too love history, but I also love literature and comics, and don't mind when the mediums use historical scenarios to tell a story, even while not religiously adhering to historical facts.
Would I like a good documentary on Jack the Ripper? You bet your bum I would, but I had a pretty good idea going into From Hell knowing it wouldn't be that. Let alone the fact I had read the comics, but this was obviously a highly polished, very commercially driven Hollywood movie, which in fact never let on that it was factual in the advertising, and that should have pretty much been enough to deduce that it wouldn't be a documentary, docudrama, or anything remotely like that. Case in point, Shadow of the Vampire. Can you not get past that one because Max Shrek was never really a vampire? I personally almost couldn't get through it because the story for the most part was boring and the writing was mostly crap, but the photography and Willem Dafoe kept me in it. But I digress - my point is that Shadow of the Vampire doesn't "suck" because it's not historically accurate, for the simple fact that it never sets out to be in the first place. It's the same with From Hell.
Okay, I'll shut the hell up now.
p.s., I would in fact love a documentary or a historically accurate drama about the making of Nosferatu, and would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed when I first found out that Shadow of the Vampire would be fictitious. But I did get over it pretty quick. It was, after all, Mr. Cage & Co.s movie, and not mine.

 

[Sam Hatch]

I too love this film, and I have the added bonus of listening to friends trash it for destroying the history and the comic book.

The cool thing about historically inaccurate movies is that they can actually get people interested in the subject matter -- sometimes so much so that they'll go to a bookstore and library and find out more about the real history.

I know that they can be a drag to sit through for folks who already know the history - but after a lifetime of hearing about 'Jack the Ripper' as a concept and nothing more, a film like this breathed life into the subject for me. The facts and stats of a history won't involve me until I can experience it on some level of what it was like to have been there. (Though I have run across some great writers of history that bring that feeling across in non-fiction print. TV documentaries tend to pull it off well too -- cable TV has made history infinitely more exciting than when I was in school.) Even if the film gets that aspect wrong, it's too late -- you're emotionally interested. And there's no harm done in learning about the inaccuracies after the fact. I prefer it actually, since I tend to enjoy both the fiction and the history immensely. If I know about the history ahead of time, I may constantly fixate on that element and miss the rest of the film.

So it's not detrimental in any way as far as I can see -- the people it will 'misinform' (like myself) were already mis(or un)informed to begin with. If they then choose to watch some documentaries and read some books after that then bravo! If not, then they probably never would have anyhow. For the folks that want pure truth, then the documentaries are already out there. No matter how hard an historical movie tries, it will always be fiction and will never be able to please everyone with regard to the facts.

 

[Tino]

Edwin.
John, yes I too am a "Ripper" buff if you will, and I am glad that you enjoyed this film.
However....I don't wish to derail this thead with how much I HATED From Hell. And boy, did I hate it.
I'll wait for Time After Time, a much better "Ripper" film instead.

 

[Berk]

Thanks for the info that the film was not meant to be accurate in the historical sense. That makes me appreciate the film a bit more.

 

[Matt Pelham]

I'd like to point out that although the whole theory presented in From Hell wasn't the most historically accurate, other things were. For example the victims' wounds and injuries, body positions, and exact locations where they were found were painfully reconstructed to be 100% accurate, much more so than any JtR movie before. The Hughes brothers did a lot of research and even faithfully built the streets of London as accurately as possible down to the alleys and pubs.

Some things were "Hollywoodized" for the movie, other details were very true to the actual events.

And just for the record I loved From Hell.

 

[Jerry Gracia]

Ben,

At Rotten Tomatoes the majority of the reviews were positive (58% out of 100%) along with a very positive quote from Roger Ebert.
Even at the Internet Movie Database the film (FROM HELL) got a very good 7.0 out of 10.0
Just thought I'd throw this in.

 

[Adam Tyner]

However....I don't wish to derail this thead with how much I HATED From Hell.

Tino, would you consider starting another thread detailing your thoughts? I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say.

 

[GregC]

The reason that Jack was never found was because THE VORLONS TOOK HIM For further info please watch Babylon 5 for details or better yet purchase the season DVD coming soon.

 

[JohnAD]

Jason, Ben

The 'From Hell' comic books and graphic novel were based on a non-fiction book which is discussed in the extras (the old documentary bits, not the new ones). The fact that the evidence doesn't generally support its findings is reported in the (new) documentary in the extras. I definitely think From Hell is more of a 'what if' kind of movie, rather than an attempt to portray the events in a completely factual manner.

John.