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From Hell

From Hell

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hell yeah
Review: i thought this movie was a great film. it came out about the right time... october and, in my opinion, was probably one of the better films to come out this year before harry potter (*****).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super! A grotesque piece of movie work!
Review: When I first heard "From Hell" was being put to the movie screen, I was jumping for joy. I was a big fan of the graphic novel and read it and was pleased to know it was a good book. When I saw the film, I noticed the differences between the movie and the book but to say, I thought the film was better than the movie. The movie was excellent. A pure five-star film. It's absract style was marvelous. Johnny Depp made a great performance and Heather Graham is just beautiful. I recommend this film to everyone except horror-haters because the film is bery gorey. This is a great film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fascinating, but bloody
Review: By now the gimmick of the brilliant, renegade investigator whose special insights into the nature of serial murder border on, if not actually cross into, the paranormal has become rather tiresome. However, this type of character has apparently become an indispensible part of the serial killer genre (what does it say about us that such a genre exists?), and directors Allen and Albert Hughes have presented an interesting twist by making it necessary for Scotland Yard inspector Abberline (Johnny Depp), hot on the trail of Jack the Ripper, to use opium in order to access his gift. This adds to the overall dark and hopeless tone of this fine film, and ultimately makes Depp's character rather tragic.

This is a very stylish, atmospheric film that occurs almost entirely at night on foggy London streets. I enjoyed the sad romantic subplot, although Heather Graham's Mary Kelly is too well-scrubbed to be a convincing Whitehall prostitute. I also enjoyed the Freemason angle and way the Hughes brothers focus on the importance of class distinctions and how the wealthy fashion their own brand of justice.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant
Review: It is not important if this movie doesn't agree with what really happened in Whitechapel. Have you forgotten the main purpose of a movie? A movie is here to thrill, to scare, to make us laugh or cry, if you want to see actual facts, then you need to watch a documentary. The true fact is that this movie is out of the ordinary, I have never seen an actress such as Heather Graham (the kind only good to play a character like Felicity Shagwell) give such a great performance. Trully, she deserves some recognition for her great english accent and superb performance, she has proven me wrong. Johnny Depp is also fantastic, he is trully one of the greatest actors today, he has a way to play each character differently, and get inside the minds of those he plays. Finally, we have an out of this world performance from Ian Holm, trully great, and I mean Oscar great (although, we all know this will not happen, since the academy often stereotype thrillers, and only consider box-office bombs, such as The Sixth Sense and Silence of the Lambs) The story is great, and I think anyone in look for a thrill should watch thrillers of this sort, (the artistic, edgy, well acted and directed, hitchcockian type thrillers) and not thrillers with no plot, only looking for money(there are a thousand examples, such as The Glass House, Joy Ride, The Skulls, etc.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent betrayl of history
Review: My daughter and I went to see this numerous times, because it is wonderfully depictive of the 19th century in England. Johnny Depp and Heather Graham give an outstanding performance and one would begin to believe they were the characters themselves. It is a movie full of suspense and action that is enjoyable to the horror movie lover in al of us.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FROM HELL
Review: Inspector Frederick George Abberline has been put on the trail of the first serial killer recorded in our history, Jack The Ripper. As the bodies of mutilated prostitutes begin piling up, Fredrick gets emotionally and romantically attached to one who is on the Ripper's murdering list, Mary Kelly. Can he catch the Ripper and at the same time save the woman he has fallen for?

This film is a slice of movie heaven! It is terrifying, dramatic, suspenceful and very gory all at the same time, while managing to pull off the very risky tale of Jack's walk of mayhem throughout the streets. Johnny Depp and Heather Graham give terrific performances, both are at their best in this film! Believe me, you don't want to have a big meal before seeing this film, it is very gory and somewhat disturbing. But looking past that, is a work of art that will definitly be considered a classic horror film one day.

Overall: A work of art that really dives deep into the mind of our first recorded serial killer...JACK THE RIPPER. From Hell delivers!

Grade: A+

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: From Hell it is...
Review: From Hell is a disturbing film about a disturbing man. It is brilliantly executed, though, and if you have ever been curious about Jack the Ripper, then this is one to watch. Definitely not for the faint of stomach, From Hell deals with a very realistic side of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Johnny Depp is fantastic as the tragedy plagued inspector. He carries the film in grand style, as always, and brings intrigue and mystery to the screen.

The film is better if you have a basic knowledge of the Jack the Ripper murders, and theories regarding who the killer was. While living in London, I learned about the murders and was intrigued by the theories, and the lack of any decisive evidence.

The film combines several of the theories, and makes for an intriguing guess as to who the killer may have been.

The direction in this film is superb. The screen aches with the eerie Whitechapel London setting, making it understandable how these murders could have occured while people were nearby. It is a dark film, but this darkness is used in a brilliant fashion, highlighting and lowlighting particular scenes.

All in all I give it ****, because it is a remarkably well-done period piece, with a courageous plot, although Heather Graham's performance was her usual standard. The supporting cast was fairly good, and therefore, it merits its rating. See this one in the theaters... Enjoy! [Although that might not be the appropriate word.]

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: HAHAHAHAHHAHA
Review: Taken on its own terms...this film is bad. When compared to the book it is based on, it simply becomes a joke.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: From Hell....with Love.....
Review: Johnny Depp is a versatile actor who puts in an excellent performance as the tormented Police Inspector, Fred Abberline working on the infamous Jack the Ripper case during the reign of Queen Victoria. Taking many Jack the Ripper legends, the Hughes brothers have created an amazing patchwork quilt of interlinking stories that are drawn together to reveal the identity of a mass murderer who was never bought to justice. The most famous legend is that the Queen's son and heir to the throne married a commoner, Annie Crook and she bore him a child, and it is this setting that sets the film off on a ride to hell and back. Abberline doggedly searches for a killer who has taken on mythical qualities, and bit-by-bit he puts together an intricate plot, of royal intrigue and scandal, insanity and corruption in high places. Not that Abberline is uncorrupted himself, addicted to opium and haunted by the death of his wife in childbirth, he is already half-way to hell himself but redemption comes in the form of Mary Kelly, a beautiful fallen Irish girl who he strives to protect against all odds. But Abberline is up against the British establishment and the might of Her Majesty's empire, in the guise of Sir Charles Warren played excellently by Ian Richardson and Sir William Gull, Ian Holm at his schizophrenic best. We are treated to a tour around Victorian London with all its vices from drug taking to rampant prostitution whilst we head for the shattering climax that will reveal everything. "From Hell" is a film of extraordinary color and vicious vitality. The camera work is superb and the constant shadowy silhouette of Jack the Ripper gives an eerie feel to an already creepy film. Blood is aplenty in this film and it is not a movie for the squeamish. The worst scene is at the end when Jack kills Mary Kelly (there's a little twist here that will amuse those of a dark nature) and Ian Holm just explodes on the screen with the madness of someone on a holy quest for the British Empire. The lobotomy scene where Annie is driven into madness is also quite disturbing, but there is justice for Annie in an ironic twist at the end of the film. This movie isn't a horror film though it has horrific qualities. I do think that many scenes were cut out which I hope will be incorporated onto DVD in the future because I notice from the cast list there are characters we never saw on screen like Annie Crook's parents. However, despite this minor detail "From Hell" is a truly amazing film, with just enough suspense to make you sit on the edge of your seat, and just enough gore to make you, swallow hard and think "oh gross" before being distracted by another scene that makes you think real hard because of its complexity. On a final note, Robbie Coltrane is the bomb as Abberline's cynical but good-hearted Sergeant, Peter Godley whose understanding of human nature is understated and truly awesome. A cast of quality actors all the way through, from the doomed friends of Mary Kelly, through to little Alice Crook, the daughter of the ill-fate Annie and her husband, Albert, aka the future King of England.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Reviews for this looked decent, so we took a chance on it. But it was soooo dark, as in looming, evil, negative.

Being big into positive psychology (my website is positivepsychology.net) I'm not much of a film noir fan, nor a horror fan, so keep that in mind in reading this review. I found the premise for this Jack the Ripper film intriguing and smart. The sets portraying the Victorian era were excellent. That's why I gave it a two instead of a one. But the gory, excessive violence of the film was unnecessary. We don't need this kind of energy put out by the film industry.

Most films are strongest at their beginning and ending. This one did best in the middle. The ending was disappointing and unsatisfying.

The romantic aspect of the film was pathetic, the relationship development was millimeter deep.

Johnny Depp gave a mixed performance, below his usual quality, probably due to the script he had to work with.

If you are feeling depresed or angry and want to feel more of the same, watch this film.

Bottom line, I'm glad I only threw away five bucks on a matinee performance.

While most of my reviews are positive, I find that the three or four negative reviews I've written get "not useful" feedback far more than my glowing reviews. If you disagree with my review, write your own review. Don't just say it wasn't helpful, when you really just disagree with me. Or at least, write me and tell me why you disagree.


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