From Hell (2001)

Buy it at Amazon

Overall rating: 5/5

Director: The Hughes Brothers

Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane

Tagline: Jack the Ripper, absinthe and Heather Graham what more could Johnny Depp want?

The Film: Johnny Depp is tracking Jack the Ripper, whose victims are destined to include the lovely Heather Graham. A solid cast — even Graham rises to the occasion — runs pell-mell through a lavish, high-key recreation of Victorian London. The film oozes style and horror with surprisingly little full-frontal gore, exploring the complicated Ripper theory illustrated in the brilliant comic book of the same name. Superior filmmaking, excellent adaptation, combining slavish attention to the details of the Ripper murders with a creative and arguably plausible solution to this enduring mystery.

Rating: 4/5

The DVD: A lovely two-disc set that gives great background on the film and the Ripper case. The menu design is beautiful, though a bit hard to read. The histories of the Ripper case and absinthe are fascinating, though the latter is made complex by cutting together proponents of conflicting theories. The Hughes Brothers’ tour of their amazing Whitechapel set in Prague, and their discussion of the comic-book source of the film, are also interesting.

Easter Eggs: Disc one has hidden credits under the language selection menu. Highlight main menu and press your right arrow. Click the now-open eye. Also, in the special features menu, press 5. The silhouette of the Ripper leads to the same THX promo you get when you just play the movie. On disc two, rehearsal footage and outtakes are hidden, Use your players menu to access Title 4. Highlight the first documentary on disc two, “Jack the Ripper.” Sometimes, if you press the right arrow, instead of highlighting the next documentary title, a fishhook tool in the surgical kit will be highlighted. “Enter” gets you to the full 40 minutes of a painfully campy ’70s documentary interviewing the author who thought up the Ripper theory that later turned up in the comic and this film.

Rating: 5/5

Five Degrees of Separation

Bram Stoker’s Dracula — Copolla murders the story, Keanu spits on the corpse, but it has a great art director.

Moulin Rouge — Similar style and time period, has a prostitute in red, but with singing instead of slashing. Best justification for the DVD format to date.

The Ninth Gate — More Depp, with dark and brilliant Roman Polanski pulling the strings.

Angel Heart — Mickey Rourke made a good movie once, and it’s a masterpiece of murder and supernatural menace.

Dead Presidents — The Hughes Bros. didn’t start out in Victorian
London, it turns out.