ERIC MCNAUGHTON reviews Hands of the Ripper (1971)
TITLE: Hands of the Ripper
YEAR RELEASED: 1971
DIRECTOR: Peter Sasdy
CAST: Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, Jane Merrow, Keith Bell, Derek Godfrey
Hammer films never got round to making a film about Jack the Ripper as such, which is surprising really.
This is the nearest they came, with the Ripper himself appearing only in the pre-credits sequence.
Angahard Rees (who sadly passed away very recently) is wonderful as Jack’s daughter who seems to have inherited a murderous affliction from her father.
This results in a number of gruesome and surprisingly gory murders (the killing of the maid and the stabbing of Long Liz with the hatpins are particularly shocking).
Eric Porter plays a Freudian psychoanalyst trying to help her, who for his troubles gets skewered with a big sword.
Wonderful lush cinematography and a wonderful score make this one of the better latter day Hammers.
The same year they also gave us “Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde” which mixed Dr J with Burke and Hare and the Ripper murders.
Read about Eric McNaughton’s other favourite Jack the Ripper films here.
ERIC McNAUGHTON fell in love with horror films when he got Dennis Gifford’s “Pictorial History of Horror Movies” for his 10th birthday. In the mid 90s he produced “We Belong Dead”, a zine for all lovers of the classic age of horror, which ran for 8 issues. “We Belong Dead” is back and you can find out more about it at the We Belong Dead group on Facebook.
Watch Hands of the Ripper 1971 trailer
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