Only the legend will survive.
It is 1888 in London, and the unfortunate poor lead horrifying lives in the city's deadliest slum, Whitechapel. Harassed by gangs and forced to walk the streets for a living, Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) and her small group of companions trudge through this daily misery, their only consolation being that things can't get any worse. Yet things somehow do when their friend Ann is kidnapped and they are drawn into a conspiracy with links higher up than they could possibly imagine.
The kidnapping is soon followed by the gruesome murder of another woman, Polly, and it becomes apparent that they are being hunted down, one by one. Sinister even by Whitechapel standards, the murder grabs the attention of Inspector Fred Abberline (Johnny Depp), a brilliant yet troubled man whose police work is often aided by his psychic abilities. Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case, which takes on personal meaning to him when he and Mary begin to fall in love. But as he gets closer to the truth Whitechapel becomes more and more dangerous for Abberline, Mary and the other girls.
Whoever is responsible for the grisly acts is not going to give up his secret without a fight... will they be able to survive the avenging force that has been sent after them from Hell?
Special Agent Matti
Not From Heaven, that's for sure.
From Hell is yet another take on the adventures of Jack the Ripper, told once again from the point of view of the policeman who has to find him. As everyone knows, said policeman will fail because Jack's serial killings are still unsolved, but that doesn't mean that there's no room for one more movie, especially one that goes along the conspiracy path and solves the killings but hushes it all up.
The good thing about From Hell is that it's as much about London society and English class divisions as it is about a bit of semi-random killing. Likewise, Fred's descent into Hell on the trail of the semi-random killer makes for a much desired bit of added darkness. The bad thing about From Hell is that there's a bloody romance between the two lead characters. Is it impossible for a heterosexual man and a heterosexual woman to spend time together without falling in love or having sex? In Hollywood, apparently so. Also, prostitutes have hearts of gold and are good girls who have fallen on hard times while the men who use their service are simply men, no morality about it.
It's a fun, dark serial killer flick, not quite on a par with The watcher but easily watchable.
MA 15+ (Medium level violence, drug use, adult themes, medium level coarse language)
118 minutes (1:58 hours)
Film: 14 February 2002
DVD rental: 10 July 2002
VHS rental: 10 July 2002
DVD retail: 13 November 2002
VHS retail: 13 November 2002
DVD retail: 6 August 2003
VHS retail: 6 August 2003
