Jack The Ripper - Mark Whitehead [55]
More recently, John Eyre’s Ripper (2003) is an efficient slasher movie with a killer whose m.o. echoed Jack’s. Sort of. Students of a forensic science class (whose initials match those of the original victims) end up with their insides outside. Ripper makes some interesting points about contemporary consumption of true crime narratives while supplying the requisite twists and jolts. The increasingly cadaverous Jurgen Prochnow appears as a red herring. Not literally, you understand.
If you’ve ever wondered what a horror movie made by a bunch of goths would look like, then I Am the Ripper (2004) might give you an idea. An amateur French cast get killed, come back to life, and get killed again by a hooded figure who may be Death or possibly Skeletor. Exactly how Jack fits into the story may be just the result of an opportunistic retitling for this incomprehensible mess. At one point someone does appear wearing a top hat and a cape but by then our brains had shut down our retinas as a precautionary measure and we knew no more.
Television
Just as he does in crime books, the Ripper often crops up in TV series to fairly average and unimaginative effect. So far, these appearances have included:
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1955)
The Big Story (1956)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957)
The Veil (1958), episode titled ‘Jack the Ripper’
Cimarron City (1958) ‘Knife in the Darkness’.Western series, episode written and disowned, after directorial tampering, by Harlan Ellison
Thriller (1961). ‘Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper’, from the Robert Bloch story. Series hosted by Boris Karloff
The Green Hornet (1966) ‘Alias the Scarf’. Crime-fighting superhero stuff with Van Johnson and Bruce Lee
Star Trek (1967) ‘Wolf in the Fold’. Scripted by Robert Bloch
The Avengers (1969) ‘Fog’. Linda Thorson-era episode, directed by John Hough
The Sixth Sense (1972) ‘With Affection, Jack the Ripper’
Kolchak the Night Stalker (1974) ‘The Ripper’. Darren McGavin’s reporter finally electrocutes immortal Ripper in Chicago
Fantasy Island (1980) ‘With Affection, Jack the Ripper’. ‘Boss! Boss! It’s Leather Apron!’
Sliders (1997) ‘Murder Most Foul’
Babylon 5 (1997) ‘Comes the Inquisitor’
Plus Jack has had cameo appearances in shows such as Dave Allen At Large and Till Death Us Do Part. And how could we forget the sublimely daft Spike Milligan-scripted The Phantom Raspberry of Old London Town in The Two Ronnies (1976)?
And Jack the Ripper? Who was he really? After nearly a century of speculation, Amazon Women on the Moon (1987, Joe Dante, John Landis, Peter Horton, Carl Gottlieb, Robert K Weiss) puts forward its own final solution: the Loch Ness Monster.
Ripper Haunts
A visit to the True Crime section of your nearest first- or second-hand bookshop cannot fail to yield many books about saucy Jack, but below we list a bloody few to whet your appetite.
History/Sourcebooks
The following titles cannot be underestimated in their importance in accurately chronicling the Ripper case. However, even here, variations can occur and the dedicated Ripper reader will want to compare:
Sugden, Philip, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper, London: Robinson, 1995, Paperback, 542 pages, £8.99, ISBN 1854874160.
The definitive book on Jack the Ripper, no argument. Every single detail of the murders, the victims and the investigation has been meticulously researched and presented in an extremely readable form. Although Sugden leans slightly towards George Chapman as a suspect, he resists any attempt at a final solution. Highly recommended.
Rumbelow, Donald, The Complete Jack the Ripper, London: Penguin, 1988, Paperback, 310 pages, £8.99, ISBN 0140173951.
For those in slightly more of a hurry, ex-copper Rumbelow’s book is the thing. A well-presented overview of the case that, once again, resists the temptation to speculate. Rumbelow also works as master of