Ripper:Letter From Hell

AKA: Letter from hell (2001) (USA: promotional title)

Genre: horror/thriller/mystery

Studio: Prophecy Entertainment

Director: John Eyres

Written by Pat Bermel based the story of John A. Curtis & Evan Tylor

Origin: Canada

Length: 113 min

Release Date: 29 January 2002

Rating: violence/gore, sexuality & languange

Cast:

A.J. Cook .... Molly Keller

Bruce Payne .... Marshall Kane

Ryan Northcott .... Jason Korda

Claire Keim .... Chantal Etienne

Derek Hamilton .... Eddie Sackman

Daniella Evangelista .... Mary-Anne Nordstrom
Emmanuelle Vaugier .... Andrea Carter

Kelly Brook .... Marisa Tavares

Jürgen Prochnow .... Detective Kelso

In the era of the resurrection of slasher movies, any kind of thriller now became a tremendous splatter. Ripper: Letter from Hell has an interesting premise, it’s the return of Jack the Ripper in the 21st Century or perhaps someone just copycat him. The conflict revolves around Molly, a girl with a horrific past.

PLOT

In a hard-pouring rain, a 16^th old Molly Keller (A.J. Cook) shrieking through the woods. It looks that she’s been running away from a bloody massacre, because there’s a lot of dead body within the wood. She manages to survive that supposedly a peacefully school retreat though, but she’s now possess a traumatized past behind her.

In 5 years later, disturbed by her horrific past, she’s now studying forensic science at Berkeley researching the psyche of serial killers, underneath the guide of the fame author and manhunter, Professor Marshal Kane (Bruce Payne) whose have an extremely “interesting” class. Molly is a student with an insightful thought, which make her one of the finest students.

She willing to burry her past deep inside, only the existence of Aaron Kroeker (Courtenay J. Stevens) keep bothering her, because the dorky guy is one of the part of her past because she and Aaron were in the same High School together.

She’s completely solitaire and unwanted to make a certain relationship, even with the campus ladies-man Eddie Sackman (Derek Hamilton). When a group of study club, led by Jason Korda (Ryan Northcott) tries to invite her became one of them, Molly refuses it, because she prefers to study alone. It clears that Jason shows certain affection to Molly.

In a party, one of the member of the study club, the sexy Marisa Tavares (Kelly Brook) killed by a mysterious person after having sex with a masked man in the rest room. The death of Marisa shocks all of her friend, but on the contrary, Chantal Etienne (Claire Keim) takes it as a chance to them for a real case study. Reluctantly, Molly now joins them.

All that happen is getting turbid, when Detective Kelso (Jürgen Prochnow) comes to investigate the killing and the presence of the detective is annoying Molly. Molly then decides to visit the killing scene and find a message written by blood on the wall. Once again she’s bump with the mysterious detective. He does discover the horrible past that Molly kept and that’s made Molly more hesitate.

The next victim is Mary-Anne Nordstrom (Daniella Evangelista), which on a trip out town. Her car been pushed to a cliff by the killer. Her body then is found in an old barn outside the town. The detective started to suspects that the killer is from the college community. He even shadowing the Professor, because he know that Professor Kane himself also keep a dark secret.

Meanwhile, up to her research, Molly founds that the killing has many similarities with the killing method that Jack the Ripper used to do. She’s suspect that someone is copycat the method of that notorious killer. Obviously, this is really a shocking for them, but because it immense possibility, Andrea Carter (Emmanuelle Vaugier), one of the gang, go to the local morgue to examine the bodies of their late friends to convinced the explanation for Molly’s theory. Nevertheless, precisely the killer kill her unmerciful there.

The third killing make Molly more disturb. Professor Kane try cheers the hesitatively Molly. It’s clear that their relationship is getting deeper. That night they are cherish for each other.

For the sake of their life, the rest of them then choose a remote house outside town for hide. Secretly Detective Kelso following them. Even the suspecting Aaron manages to keep them on his track. Things are getting weird, when Molly finds that the killer kills the victims according the similarity of the name of Jack the Ripper past victims to those latest, and since the name of the rest of them also have similarity, yet they are the perfect target. Everything is become worse when the killer cope to start to strikes again. One by one they meet their fate, and then there’s Molly once again enduring a breaking loose hell.

The unclear identity of Jack the Riper make Ripper:Letter from Hell have a good premise. The mystery surrounding him (or her?) make the writer Pat Bermel feel free to explore the dark side of the notorious killer. Despite the absurdity that the film holds, John Eyres still run the flick with an elegant style. The result is a dark and gothic suspense-thriller in the name of boogey-man slasher. In my opinion, Ripper: Letter from Hell could be much better if it develop in much simple thriller. But in the awakening of slasher frenzy post-Scream, make it cloaks that way.

The direction is average. The cast’s performance is also average. Only Jürgen Prochnow as Detective Kelso and Bruce Payne as Professor Kane demonstrate a great performance as senior actors. A.J. Cook fairly fine and she could be the next scream queen. Her next project is Final Destination 2 and she was in Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell as well Daniella Evangelista and Emmanuelle Vaugier.

The characters development is okay and it seems to avoid the cliché as much as it can. The killer it self somewhat unclear visualized, but the eerie atmospheres are builds in a sufficient amount and the killing adequately gruesome, even it's not so gory, but still scary.

Ripper: Letter from Hell is a mediocre but still manages to entertain and chills actually could be better, but definitely better than any other slasher comes lately.