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Christopher Lewis, who punished horror fans with tripe like "Blood Cult," and its sequel "Revenge," pulls a master stroke of bad cinema, using the good name of Tom Savini to sell an awful video.
I write video, and not film, because this production was shot on videotape. The opening scene has Jack the Ripper stalking and murdering a woman in Oklahoma, which is sadly trying to pass for Victorian London. The setting may be the late 1800's, but the traffic lights and automobiles tell us someone forgot to check their shot before hitting RECORD on the tape deck. Fast forward ninety years to an anonymous university where Professor Richard Harwell (Tom Schreier) is teaching a course entitled Famous Crimes on Film. The class is going to study real crimes, then see how Hollywood reenacts them. The class pet is know-it-all film buff Steve (Wade Tower), and his right hand girl is Cindy (Andrea Adams). Richard is getting it on with Carol (Mona Van Pernis), the university dance teacher. Richard calls her "honey" throughout the film, and I did not know her name was Carol until the climax. Carol and Richard shop in an antique store and Richard finds a garish ring. It just so happens that the ring belonged to Jack the Ripper, and Richard puts the ring on and cannot get it off. The town starts experiencing horrific murders, and Richard seems to be sleeping an awful lot. He dreams of the murders being committed by the world's most notorious serial killer. The desperate, laughable finale involves a character being taken hostage by the Ripper's spirit (Tom Savini).
Tom Savini, better known for his special effects makeup work, acting in films like "Knightriders" and "From Dusk till Dawn," and fantastic direction of the 1990 "Night of the Living Dead" remake is top-billed and appears on the video box cover. However, he does not appear onscreen until the final five minutes. Let me repeat that: he does not appear onscreen until the final five minutes. There is a dark figure who commits the murders throughout the video, but it ain't Tom. The gore effects are not great, as plastic skin and watery fake blood are used. The cast is awful, but they cannot be blamed- with this material, they are given nothing to work with. Savini looks lost. He wears weird contact lenses, and speaks with an American accent, playing Britain's infamous killer. Lewis tries to make this a bigger production than it is, but he is too lousy a director.
Taped in the 1980's, the video is a time capsule. Recoil as suspenseful calls are made on rotary phones! Delight in a dance number that makes "Staying Alive" look like Nureyev! Pant as major plot points revolve around such icons as Trivial Pursuit and The People's Almanac! "The Ripper" is awful in so many senses of the word, you have been warned.
Stats:
(1985) 102 min. (1/10)
-Directed by Christopher Lewis
-Written by Bill Groves
-Cast: Tom Savini, Mona Van Pernis, Tom Schreier, Wade Tower, Andrea Adams, Randall White, Bennie Lee McGowan, Jeffrey R. Fontana, Wilma Jeane Cummins, Karen Morgan Williams, Patti Beth Abbott, Alicia Todd, Vic Seals
(R)
Media Viewed: VHS
