Hands of the Ripper

Beware: the daughter of Jack the Ripper is on the loose

In 1906 London the troubled daughter of Jack the Ripper (Angharad Rees) is taken in by a sympathetic Freudian psychologist (Eric Porter) who wants to study her condition and “fix” her, but she’s soon prowling the Whitechapel district. Jane Merrow, Keith Bell and Derek Godfrey are also on hand.

“Hands of the Ripper” (1971) is Victorian horror from Hammer that’s similar to their previous “The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll” (1960), but less psychologically fascinating or entertaining.

Actually the doctor’s mental condition is more interesting than that of the girl he’s studying: He pulls a "Vertigo" on her by giving her his late wife's room, providing Anna her clothes to wear and is obsessed with healing her because he couldn't heal his wife. At one point he nigh kisses Anna wearing his wife's clothes when the topic of life-after-death surfaces.

Moreover, his son has picked a ‘marred’ fiancé and not only can this woman not assuage the doctor’s guilt over being unable to heal his wife (since Laura is his son's bride and her 'flaw' is outside his field) he’s concerned that his son will suffer the same outcome as himself and it weighs on him.

The film runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot at Pinewood Studios, just west of London.

GRADE: B-