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.)  

I SAW JEKYLL AND HYDE 2021

As Bizarrechats readers may have inferred, I've gotten on a Steve Lawson kick, having since discovered the writer/director's Bram Stoker's Van Helsing and Wrath of Dracula. I've now come upon his Jekyll and Hyde, a 2021 High Fliers Films/Creative Films submission, which presents Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novella from a different, cinematic vantage. 

In this case, Lawson's retelling is filtered through Tom (Bram Stoker's Van Helsing) Hendryk's Gabriel Utterson (based on a character who carries much of Stevenson's narrative), as he reconsiders his relationship with Henry Jekyll, while defending the doctor's magnanimous reputation. 

Jekyll is, in fact, played faithful to the novella, with the doctor being more seasoned (rather like Boris Karloff in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), with both personalities enacted by Michael McKell. However, for a stretch of the retelling, Jekyll and Hyde drop from view, with Jekyll perishing due to an apparent suicide, but in the end, their combined presence can't be denied, thanks to McKell's supreme, nuanced division, even if it takes Utterson's amateur, investigative skills a hardy (yet engaging) spell to get there. 

Mark (Bram Stoker's Van Helsing/Wrath of Dracula) Topping's Inspector Newcombe joins Utterson in his quest. As portrayed by the ever adept Topping, Newcome is sometimes wary of Utterson, but entertains the man's quest, if only to get to the bottom of Edward Hyde's Ripper-ized victims. (As a counterpart to Newcome's by-the-book decisiveness, David Lenik's Endfield adds crass levity as an unscrupulous version of Stevenson's side character. Helen Crevel's Sarah Utterson and Francesca Louise White's streetwalker, Penny Keaton, are most effective in their supporting roles, as well.) 

Though Lawson's venture starts as a mystery yarn (which Stevenson's fable is at heart), the second half adapts a Thomas Harris strand, which opens itself to elements of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, but even with such said, this Jekyll and Hyde is its own affectionate thing. (It's a subtle reinvention of material, and therefore, a worthy path to reanalyze literary friends. Heck, even the late, great Ray Bradbury used this approach when revisiting his beloved characters.) 

For anyone who appreciate Stevenson's story and the many adaptations that have followed it, Lawson's Jekyll and Hyde is essential viewing. Because of its first-rate performances (and I might add, Hendryk's lead pulls it all together: a terrific characterization from start to finish), this will also be one worth revisiting. To say the least, I liked this redux very much, and I'm confident that those of my ilk will, too. 

I SAW WRATH OF DRACULA

Director/writer Steve (Jekyll and Hyde 2021) Lawson's Wrath of Dracula, a 2023, Higher Fliers Films/Creative Films release that's (re)surfaced in the wake of Nosferatu-mania, is, in fact, a reboot of Lawson's Bram Stoker's Van Helsing (a Lucy Westenra-leaning effort). Like Van Helsing, Wrath of Dracula experiments with various components of Stoker's novel, while keeping the mythological tropes intact (similar to Maximillian Elfelt/Michael Varrati's modernized Dracula: the Original, Living Vampire, though in Wrath's case, the doting brio comes with a rollicking aesthetic). 

Mark (Jekyll and Hyde 2021) Topping plays Van Helsing, as he did in Lawson's 2021, vampire-hunter epic, though in the later instance, he's teamed with Hannaj Bang Bendz's diary-driven Mina Harker. The two enter the Carpathian Mountains to rescue hubby, Jonathan, played with convincing anguish by Dean Marshall, as Sean Cronin assumes the role of the commanding Count Dracula and Ayvianna Snow, Marta Svetek and Jasmine Sumner perform as his siren-like Brides. 

Lawson's execution is Hammer-esque, with Van Helsing encouraging Mina to get into fighting shape, which references Hammer's Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter and its Run Shaw Shaw collaboration, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. Also, Topping's Van Helsing is cut straight from the Peter Cushing cloth, and he does a phenomenal job capturing the Hammer's star's erudite essence and determined glint. (It should go without saying that Topping achieves the same impressive level in Lawson's earlier, Dracula venture, even if it's displayed through a more conventional lens.)

To offset Van Helsing and the Buffy-ish Mina, Cronin makes an excellent Count, incensed, regal and slippery (rather like a fanged Ming the Merciless), though he's often relegated to the shadows and doesn't take centerstage until the tale's final phase. (For the record, Dracula was kept in the margins throughout Lawson's Van Helsing, being but a faceless insinuation and never a full-blown persona.) The Brides, however, are conspicuous and at that, beautiful to behold, adding believability to their lure and the parasitic danger they press upon Jonathan, Mina and the professor. 

Throughout it all, Wrath of Dracula never gets bogged down with selling a message, seeming content with serving no more than lurid escapism. On occasion, it even feels a bit like Marvel Comics' The Tomb of Dracula, albeit placed in a grounded, period setting. Lawson rolls it at a no-nonsense pace, but his writing also gives his fine cast the means to make the best of their characters, in particular Van Helsing and Nina, who by the mission's end form a steadfast, John Steed/Emma Peel bond. The culmination is, therefore, most satisfying, with a hint of a sequel (one featuring werewolves, no less), which I do trust comes about.