I SAW RIPPER'S REVENGE

Ripper's Revenge is a 2023 sequel to writer/director Steve Lawson (High Fliers Films/Creative Films)' 2021 Ripper Untold: an intense study that focuses on one of the former's supporting characters, Chris Bell's Sebastian Stubb, an unscrupulous, London Morning Times/Ripper reporter. 

A year has passed since the last, Jack the Ripper slaying (the culprit revealed at the end of the initial chapter). This has left Stubb, who faked the Ripper letters, deflated and impoverished, living with his Whitechapel, lady-of-the-night girlfriend, Rachel Warren's Iris, to whom he can only promise better days.  

One morning, as he's guiding a young, upstart reporter, Lenny (Rafe Bird), with "editorial" advice, he receives Ripper letter, but how can this be, if Stubb was the one who fabricated those prior? The red ink, the florid verbiage, is even rendered in Stubb's cutting style. And then as his luck would have it, more "Dear Boss" letters begin to materialize, as well as new murders. 

A presumed copycat is on the loose, but if so, who among the cast of characters is the culprit? In addition to Bird's Lenny, we have Carl Wharton as the grudge-holding Inspector Wingate; Avianna Snow as his doomed daughter, Jessica; James M. Laurence as Stubb's judgmental editor-in-chief, Mr. Stimpson, and reprising his roaming-constable role from Ripper Untold, Marcus Langford. 

As the story progresses, Iris' involvement with the possible, neo-Ripper becomes more evident, though is she being blackmailed or does she hold a true, compliant link? No matter the answer, Warren gives her character an air of desperate realism, and her chemistry with Bell/Stubb is never too mushy or strained. It feels right throughout, despite its harboring deceit. 

That the movie presents Stubbs as a fated underdog builds the tale's momentum, in addition to structuring the events in such a way that Ripper Untold needn't be seen to appreciate the character's unfolding struggle. (I, for one, appreciate the idea of telling a tale from a so-called baddie's eyes, in order to reveal that the presumed villain isn't much of a villain, after all. Such was done in a 1980 episode of The Incredible Hulk, where fans saw from Jack McGee's perspective, and it change the series' landscape in a most positive way. I can say that the same applies in Ripper's Revenge's case, with Stubb still carrying his unsavory baggage, but also being humanized in way that would make his presence in Ripper Untold more interesting upon repeat viewings.)

On its right, Ripper's Revenge is both a satisfying mystery and an unsettling, slasher story, much of which is due to its commendable acting, Jon O'Neill's excellent photography, which mirrors that of the first film, and Lawson's fine, multilayered writing. Make it a double feature with Ripper Untold to instill an absorbing, dark experience. 

I SAW RIPPER UNTOLD

I've watched another Steve Lawson (High Fliers Films/Creative Films) effort: Ripper Untold. 

Though the account doesn't adhere to historic names or precise events as they unfolded in the Jack the Ripper case, writer/director Lawson creates a wicked tale that thrives from characterization, capped by a startling catch. 

The tale isn't only about the Whitechapel murders, but two, career men impacted by them: a Frederick Abberline-inspired, chief inspector named Edmund Rees, played by the affable and resolved Phil (Outlawed) Molloy and a coroner/medical examiner named Thomas Locque, played by Jonathan (Axed/The Fourth Musketeer) Hansler (who in this instance, exudes an apt, Gary Oldman/Sam Neill aura). Rees is diligent, principled and at times frustrated in his relationship with a caring madame named Miss Levine, played by Dawn Butler; Locque is sad and beleaguered, prone to drink and at odds with his desperate and dissatisfied wife, Elizabeth, played by Sylvia Robson. 

The men's hope to halt the killings leads to worrisome introspection, as they question their lives and abilities, facing obstacles that only worsen their predicament, such as Chris (The Mummy: Resurrection) Bell's Sebastian Stubb, a self-serving, London Morning Times journalist, and vigilant socialite/suspect, Barry Shannon's George Lowry. Meanwhile, Marcus Langford's steadfast constable is on hand to survey the murder sites and roam officious settings, while Jacob Anderton pushes the envelope as a corner's assistant, who finds inexplicable humor in the prostitutes' deaths.

Again, the precise, historical details are absent, but this is a melodrama, which like many Ripper dramatizations, makes utmost use of its gory foundation, inserting misleads and revelations where it can. At times, one will think one person to be the culprit, and the next, another. However, in the end, the tug of war snaps the leads in opposite directions: one destined for overwhelming despair; the other a chance at redemption. How they get to these pivotal places is part of the intrigue. 

The movie is sleek and credible in its look, due to Jon O'Neill's warm, if not foreboding photography. In this respect, Ripper Untold feels rather like a color version of The Body Snatcher, Corridors of Blood and The Flesh and the Fiends, while remaining on an aesthetic par with the radiant The Doctor and the Devils and Showtime's graphic Penny Dreadful.

This is one of those stylish productions that one should engage with a cup of tea on a chilly night: a movie that spurs the scares but never looses sight of the sort of depth that makes any movie worth indulging. (BTW: A sequel has emerged, which focuses on the unscrupulous Mr. Stubb; I'll be reviewing soon.)