From Hell (2001)

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 on 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. Hilarity ensues as 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?

Trivia: The crew built four blocks of Whitechapel on location in Prague, including half a church. The title refers to a letter sent to George Lusk, the president of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee from an unknown man who claimed to be the murderer. Instead of a sender's name and address "from hell" was written on top of the letter, and apparently a piece of victims kidney was enclosed. Great care was taken to accurately reproduce the actual sites of the "ripper" murders. Illustrations and actual photographs from 1888 were used. Similar care was used to reproduce the wounds inflicted upon the ripper's victims. Although both Sergeant Godley and Inspector Frederick Abberline were involved in the Ripper murders (Abberline being the lead Inspector), they never worked together, and probably never even met until the arrest of George Chapman, a Ripper suspect. Though there were many rumors (and speculations) as to whether the victims knew each other, there is no real evidence that they did. After the Ripper has killed his final victim, the police officer describes the scene so that it can be written down as evidence. Those lines are taken directly from the report of the actual crime scene. The final murder is the only one that is the only one depicted in the film that didn't exactly follow the wound patterns found on the actual victim in 1888. The scene was toned down because that murder, Jack the Ripper's last, was so gruesome that the producers feared an NC-17 rating had they actually shown a likeness of the victim, whose was found with both breasts severed, every facial feature slashed and torn, and the belly cut open. There is a well-known photograph of this victim, still in her death pose, that is included in almost every book about the Ripper murders.

Wow, I made it through the whole synopsis without mentioning Jack The Ripper. Would there be such a fascination about Jack The Ripper if he had been caught? No. He would just be a foot-note in the history of London. It is the unknown that really gets us going. And, since the murders happened so long ago, we will never know what really happened or why, which leads to speculation and that opens the door for movies to jump in. This is one of them. It is a very good movie and puts out a theory that in itself seems plausible. It was an interesting theory that the five Ripper murders were specifically targeted and not random. It did a very good job of creating a feel of 19th century Whitechapel, one of the "bad parts of town." Heather Graham did a decent job of playing the poor waif (Warning*Major Spoiler* although the fact that the last victim wasn't Mary Kelly but was mis-identified as her so she could leave London and live her life in seclusion but alive was a little too hollywoodish of an ending for me.) I liked Depp's drug enhanced clairvoyant inspector, but I always seem to like his roles. I thought I had seen more of Depp's movies but I went back and discovered that I have only seen 15 of his 36 movies, I need to get to work.