Few films are as aptly titled as “From Hell.” After seeing the movie you wonder if it could come from anywhere else. When thinking of late 19th century England, many might conjure up whimsical images of romantic poets and well dressed ladies with parasols.
Based off of the acclaimed comic series by Alan Moore and Eddie Campell, “From Hell” paints a much more grim picture of the period, complete with gritty streets filled with prostitutes and desolate mental hospitals where lobotomies were performed.
The story mainly revolves around the infamous Jack the Ripper, the first internationally recognized serial killer who was responsible for the horrific murders of at least five prostitutes of London’s Whitechapel district.
The true identity of the killer is still unknown to this day. Still, countless works of fiction and non-fiction–everything from documentaries to Sherlock Holmes novels-endlessly speculate on the subject.
“From Hell” is directed by Allen and Albert Hughes, who have been largely responsible for what have been stereotyped as African-American movies, such as “Menace II Society” and the documentary “American Pimp.”
Common themes in most of their films are poverty and social discrimination. From the outset, it appears that the Hughes brothers are entirely stepping out of their genre, with a 19th century murder mystery starring an entirely white cast.
However, if one looks deeper, the issues important to the Hughes brothers are central to the film. The poverty of the whitechapel district is comparable to any contemporary ghetto, and throughout the movie the poor and the outcast are discriminated against by the police and royalty. In one particular scene the chief of police even tries to scapegoat the local Jews with the crimes of Jack the Ripper.
The tragically deformed John Merrick, better known as the Elephant Man, makes a cameo appearance. The exploitation of Merrick is exemplary of the time, when sensationalism and degradation ran rampant.
The main stars of the movie are Johnny Depp and Heather Graham.
Depp plays Inspector Fred Abberline, the lead investigator of the Ripper case. Abberline receives horrific psychic visions of the murders while getting high on opium. These nightmarish scenes use cutting edge cinematography, with bright greens and reds shrouded by distressed film scratches.
Depp does a decent enough job as Abberline, yet he just reprises the typical disturbed outsider role he uses in several other movies such as “Sleepy Hollow.”
Graham does the best job in the movie though. Even though she is usually stuck with pretty shallow roles, this one has allowed her to shine though. She plays prostitute Mary Kelly, who manages to hold her dignity despite her job. And she keeps it together pretty well despite the fact that all of her friends keep getting killed. However, its hard to explain why she keeps her perfect skin and snow white teeth while her fellow prostitutes look like they’re covered with mud and never had dental care in their life.
Despite its good points, “From Hell” still had too many serious flaws to be considered a good movie. The pacing is somewhat slow and unnecessarily drawn out. The movie pretends to be a whodunit mystery, but most amateur sleuths could figure out the identity of the killer after the second half of the movie. After revealing the killer’s identity, the movie ends on an unfulfilling and anti-climatic note.
Another important thing to note, if you are slightly faint-hearted and don’t like the site of blood or disturbing violence then maybe it’s in your best interest not to see this movie. There’s enough bright red plasma flowing in this movie to keep a blood bank busy for days, so squeamish people stay away.
Also, it is not exactly the type of movie to leave a smile on your face. It is rather grim and depressing, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, if you like to exit the theatre with that giddy “Sound of Music” feeling, then this is the wrong flick for you.
In summary, “From Hell” is a mediocre movie that could have been a good one with a few modifications. It had everything going for it: interesting source material, good actors, good camerawork, great cinematography, top-notch directors, etc. Yet, it still lacked something. It paid too much attention to style and not enough to substance, and with a few changes to the pacing and plot it could have been exceptional.
