![From Hell [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51X5PN9GNWL.jpg) |   Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen Publisher : 20th Century Fox Company : Fox List Price: Our Price: $9.95 You Save: $15.04 (61%) Used Price : $8.43 |
Description
A clairvoyant police detective must stop the most notorious serial killer in history - Jack the Ripper - before it's too late! Johnny Depp and Heather Graham star in this "engrossing, stylish thriller" (People) that "grips tighter than a chokehold and cut as deep as a knife" (Washington Post)Amazon.com
Heavy on atmosphere and light on everything else, From Hell is visually impressive while lacking the depth of the acclaimed graphic novel it's based upon. Making their third feature since 1993's Menace II Society, twins Allen and Albert Hughes approach the Jack the Ripper case with physical precision, re-creating the gritty Whitechapel district of 1888 London in meticulous detail. What they've forgotten is the sheer terror that gripped Whitechapel in the wake of the Ripper's slaying of five prostitutes, investigated here by a Scotland Yard sleuth (Johnny Depp) who uses opium, laudanum, and absinthe to fuel his semiprescient visions of the slayings. Heather Graham attempts a slippery Cockney accent as a would-be victim, while Ian Holm steals the show as a has-been surgeon with devilish delusions of grandeur. Violence is obliquely suggested or briefly graphic, but no matter how you cut it, From Hell is only marginally thrilling as it treads familiar territory. --Jeff ShannonSimilarProduct
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Customer reviews
Meticulous and Thrilling Depiction of an Incarnation of Evil 
by .. CreepyT (Colorado, United States)
Jack the Ripper is perhaps one of the most famous (or should I say infamous) serial killers known. His has indeed become somewhat of a household name that has withstood the test of time. The Whitechapel murders, to this day, remain unsolved, and many people find themselves morbidly drawn to this slew of ghastly occurrences. The Hughes brothers are no different from the countless others who seek to dissect the facts surrounding these heinous crimes, and they approach this fascination with cinematic fervor, creating an excellent movie from the excellent comic book.
There have been countless books, movies, and PBS specials produced that delve into the Jack the Ripper tales and theories. This particular adaptation is the depiction of a detective named Inspector Fred Abberline (Johnny Depp) who is hot on the trail of the murderous monster. Enlisting the hallucinatory effects of absinthe, he can induce visions that aid him in his quests. Throughout his investigation, he gradually begins to fall for one of the Whitechapel prostitutes at risk (Mary Kelly played by Heather Graham), and this serves to up the ante regarding the challenge to find the villain and, furthermore, accelerate his efforts. Sir William Gull (Ian Holm) is a doctor who contributes to Inspector Fred Abberline's profile of the meandering butcher. Add to this an illegitimate marriage and a royal scandal, and this equates to an enticingly dour, moody thriller that one can't help but to enjoy.
The sets on this film are incredible, and included in the two disc edition within the extras existing on the DVD is an intriguing explanation of the recreation of the sets from actual photographs and maps from the period. The props and attire were also quite well done. The acting and casting were superb. The dark lighting created a potently thrilling and disturbing atmosphere, and the excellent cinematography only served to strengthen that sinister ambiance, as well as create an almost overwhelming sense of impending danger. The blood and gore effects are incredible as well, yet they never take precedence over the story line, which is very much appreciated. Though fairly predictable, this film is still an exhilarating, if somewhat fictitious, romp through some dreary and obscure pages in history.
This movie is a must for fans of horror, true crime, and dark thrillers. I very highly recommend this film to those with any kind of brooding fascination for the macabre. Not for the easily disturbed.
Chasing the Dragon by .. D. Mikels (Skunk Holler)
After watching the first few minutes of this spellbinding film, I pushed away the meatlover's pizza. Suddenly lost my appetite. But that's quite all right: FROM HELL's fascinating story--along with its mercurial cinematography--rapidly overwhelms and consumes all the muck and the gore of London's notorious Whitechapel district of the late 19th Century.
Yes, this is (yet) another film about Jack the Ripper, yet it presents the brutal murderer with a most bizarre twist, along with a plot suggesting a motive for the crimes as farfetched as an elephant swimming the Atlantic. But the zany story works--a story about a small click of Whitechapel prostitutes harboring a secret and subsequently murdered, one by one--in part due to the ingenious visual devices employed by directors Allen and Albert Hughes, and in part due to the spine-tingling acting of Johnny Depp and Ian Holm. Depp portrays Inspector Fred Abberline, a Scotland Yard detective who, aided by his dependency on opium, laudanum, and absinthe, has an uncanny ability to solve crimes. Through his drug addiction, Abberline is "chasing the dragon"; when the fragile vulnerability of his character is exposed, the viewer learns the detective is chasing much, much more.
Holm plays Sir William Gull, an aging physician of Britain's royal family. The good doctor is so calm, cold, reserved, detached, and calculating I'll wager he could freeze the mercury on a thermometer. Holm and Depp easily carry this movie, augmented by haunting images of avarice, brutality, and a less than complimentary portrayal of the freemasons. FROM HELL is a seat-squirming, stomach-twisting thriller. And the film gave me an added bonus: I now have plenty of cold pizza for breakfast.
--D. Mikels
Red Jack Gets Done Up a Treat! by .. Archmaker (California)
Okay if Jack the Ripper doesn't interest you, than skip the movie and ignore the 5 stars. If you do find the tale of the never-caught, premier serial killer still fascinating then this is your flick. The Hughes Brothers have dusted off the old boy's story and done him up a treat!
Quite crazily fanatical in their devotion to detail, the Hughes Brothers have confessed to an enduring obsession about Red Jack. I, rather shamefacedly, must admit the same. There is something about the fog-shrouded lanes of Whitechapel, prowled by the diabolical and demonic murderer, dressed to the nines in formal cape & top hat (we imagine) with black surgeon's bag hiding the long slim razor sharp scalpels with which he does his horrid work, that is so chilling and creepy. And that he does his villainy on poor, broken-down prostitutes with such a ferocity, that deep & dark motives must be at play here. It is the fuel for both nightmares & movies.
Others must share this fascination, for we have had him as a fixture in our imagination from The Lodger on to dozens of film and television treatments and riffs on the theme, i.e., encounters with Sherlock Holmes etc.
Well, the Hughes's have done a job here, in some instances with absolute brilliance. This is a dark and moody meditation on the Ripper, as stylish and delirious as Johnny Depp's Inspector Aberline's fever-dream hallucinations. Beautifully shot and composed with clever uses of the camera and an evocation of those foggy streets, filled with terror and panic.
Certainly not for everyone. This is a superbly crafted film of an admittedly peculiar interest. Jack the Ripper has provided a Hannibal Lecter-like fascination for audiences for 100 years now. The granddaddy of them all, Red Jack was the real deal, and the true fascination is in his unrevealed identity which leaves him open to any interpretation imagination can take us. He is the monster half-hidden in our nightmares.
From Hell (Two-Disc Special Edition) by .. in1ear ()
I have both the single disc widescreen edition and this issue. The extra bonus material is well worth having. Check out some of the Amazon sellers for GREAT prices if you already own the single disc version.
I especially enjoyed seeing how accurate the scenes were from line drawings from police reports or newspapers of the time and from crude photographs depicting the murder sites. The brothers Hughes did an EXCELLENT job recreating late 19th century London's White Chapel district.
I'm happy with this buy. The movie disc is exactly the one in the single disc version with the same bonuses which actually are pretty decent. The 2nd Disc is loaded with lots of interesting info on making the movie, "Ripper-ology", possible suspects, etc.
John Row
in1ear
Finally - A great Jack the Ripper movie by .. Dan Butler (Reading, PA United States)
Having read several books on the subject, I have been very disappointed by the few "stabs" Hollywood has taken at Jack the Ripper in the past. This time they got it right. The facts are a little twisted and the theory they use (which was, perhaps, the best on which to base a movie) has been repeatedly discredited, but it doesn't matter a bit. I found the movie beautiful to look at, suberbly crafted and well acted. Johnny Depp is excellent as a fictional equivalent of lead investigator Inspector Frederick Abberline and is well-supported. Heather Graham also does a fine job as Mary Kelly, the last Ripper victim, and cited to be the prettiest, although no pictures of a living Kelly exist. The attention to detail is meticulous and the directors maintain a high degree of tension throughout the film, quite a trick with a well-known story. There is quite a bit of gore, but then how can you do a Ripper movie without gore? All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with this effort, no doubt the best Jack the Ripper movie ever made.