Movie · 2001 · Horror, Mystery, Thriller · 2h 2m · R · English
Curator score: 2.3/10 (245.8K ratings)
More than the legend will survive.
Overview
Frederick Abberline is an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper's true identity.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.3/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.07/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 57%
Metacritic: 54
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Production
Underworld Pictures, Don Murphy Productions, Amy Robinson Productions, Jane Hamsher Productions
Cast
Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson, Jason Flemyng, Katrin Cartlidge, Terence Harvey, Susan Lynch, Paul Rhys, Lesley Sharp, Estelle Skornik, Nicholas McGaughey, Annabelle Apsion, Joanna Page, Mark Dexter, Danny Midwinter, Samantha Spiro, David Schofield, Bryon Fear
Curator Review
Verdict
A moody, blood-soaked Victorian murder mystery with strong atmosphere and production design, but the film’s pulpy conspiracy plot and uneven tone keep it from fully landing. It’s worth it for viewers who like grim period horror-thrillers and stylized detective stories more than for those wanting a tight, historically grounded Jack the Ripper film.
Best for
fans of gothic period thrillers
viewers who enjoy stylized, grimy atmosphere over realism
people interested in conspiracy-driven murder mysteries
audiences open to comic-book adaptation aesthetics
Skip if
you want a historically sober Ripper story
you dislike uneven tonal shifts
you need a tightly plotted procedural
you’re put off by graphic violence and bleak subject matter
Overview
From Hell is at its best as a fog-choked descent into Victorian rot. The Hughes brothers lean hard into red-black imagery, alleyway dread, and a sense that London itself is diseased, which gives the film a memorable, oppressive texture even when the story gets unwieldy.
Worth noting
The mystery is built around a grand conspiracy theory, and that gives the film scale, but also some strain. It wants to be a detective story, a social critique, and a lurid horror film at once, and the seams show. Still, the visual control and sense of menace are strong enough to carry it through its weaker stretches.
Bottom line
If you’re drawn to grim period pieces with occult overtones, opium haze, and a fascination with corruption at the top of society, it has a lot to offer. If you want a cleaner, sharper thriller, this one may feel more like a fascinating mess than a satisfying solve.
Top Letterboxd reviews
jessica (3★) · 346 likes
just hagrid and grindelwald fighting crime
wersku (3★) · 248 likes
Literally straight from hell, a dreamlike...ish, but clear nightmare that reveals something surprisingly terrifying. The film’s monster, the familiar killer, is not just that. Because the monster becomes part of a greater machine that feels intimate in that clammy, almost personal way. The Hughes brothers have a clear vision of what they wanted to create with this film, and whether it works... well...
In a film like this, control is everything, it's the invisible hand that should guide every frame… more
Anna🍓 (3★) · 245 likes
Favourite part was the first shot of Depp getting high and my mum going “awe thats just a regular day for him” right at the same time I thought it. We are so in sync.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (2★) · 184 likes
This has been a long time coming. Another of those films they kept playing clips of on various TV segments and one with which I’ve been intrigued. So intrigued, I got the original Alan Moore graphic novel and the plan was to read that before watching the novel to compare and catch any easter eggs. Unfortunately, I found the graphic novel to be a bit of a chore to get through, and to this day I haven’t finished it, so… more This has been a long time coming. Another of those films they kept playing clips of on various TV segments and one with which I’ve been intrigued. So intrigued, I got the original Alan Moore graphic novel and the plan was to read that before watching the novel to compare and catch any easter eggs. Unfortunately, I found the graphic novel to be a bit of a chore to get through, and to this day I haven’t finished it, so… more
RanchoTuVu (4★) · 177 likes
"From Hell" presents a dark story behind the Jack the Ripper murders of prostitutes that suggests it was something more than acts of extreme violence committed by a madman. Like an Italian giallo that shows how sick society has become at its uppermost levels, "From Hell" takes you into the heights of London society and how it was permeated by anti-Semitism, arrogance, and the sanctioned license to commit barbaric medical experiments just so long as they were done on people… more "From Hell" presents a dark story behind the Jack the Ripper murders of prostitutes that suggests it was something more than acts of extreme violence committed by a madman. Like an Italian giallo that shows how sick society has become at its uppermost levels, "From Hell" takes you into the heights of London society and how it was permeated by anti-Semitism, arrogance, and the sanctioned license to commit barbaric medical experiments just so long as they were done on people… more