From Hell (2001)

"From Hell" is a horror film that makes it's own guesses as to who Jack the Ripper might have been. Adapted from the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and directed by the Hughes Brothers, "From Hell" stars Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline, a brilliant but moody man who uses his slight psychic visions to help him solve cases. The role was a perfect fit for Depp, an actor who started out in a horror film ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" and who has since revisited the genre from time to time. Ian Holm ("Alien") is another great fit, portraying Sir William Gull, a retired surgeon who worked directly for the Queen and her family. The odd choice in casting is Heather Graham as Mary Kelly. one of the five prostitutes who become the focus and victims of the famed Ripper; she is an odd choice only because she never really looks the part. She is able to keep an accent throughout the film and has her own sense of presence when sharing the screen with Depp, but the way that her face and her clothes never look as dirty or worn down as the others becomes annoying after you notice it.


Inspector Frederick Abberline is rudely awoken one day in an opium den by morning by his friend Sergeant Peter Goldy, who needs his help in solving a gruesome murder of a prostitute in the Whitechapel District. It appears that the body was stabbed, gutted, and had an organ removed. Abberline realizes that the murder has to be someone educated and trained in surgical techniques considering how the murder and removal of the organ was completed. Soon another prostitute is killed in a similar fashion as well as having a different organ carefully removed in the dead and dark of night. Abberline finds the remaining prostitutes that had been friends and worked together. With the help of Mary Kelly, Abberline eventually discovers that they may be involved with a plot conducted by the Royal family, or those loyal to it, to cover up a scandal and to take revenge upon those who have "wronged" them. When Abberline begins to fall in love with Mary Kelly, he begins to take the case very seriously, ignoring the direct requests of his superior to leave the case and forget all the he has already seen. But of course that's not going to happen....