Fancy A Shag Guv’nor: The Nerd Initiative Ultimate Guide to Jack the Ripper Movies

In 1888, the Whitechapel district of London fell victim to horrible atrocities. On top of the high levels of poverty that led to things like necessitating child labor and forcing young women to turn to sex work as a means to survive, the area was menaced by a serial killer named Jack the Ripper. Primarily targeting a number of these young women, his modus operandi mostly consisted of slitting the throats of his victims and in some cases, the removal of internal organs. This sent the East End of London into a panic. 

Though the killer was never caught, the speculation around his identity has fueled more than a century of theories, along with a sprawling cinematic legacy. Like most historical documentation, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Many films have been made with differing narratives in many genres. Join Nerd Initiative as we talk about London’s most infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper.

The Lodger (1927)

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger is a silent-era thriller and one of the earliest films about Jack the Ripper. Based on the book of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes and the play “Who Is He?” that she co-wrote, Hitchcock’s film sees Mr. and Mrs. Bunting, the owners of a London hotel, who suspect their newest guest is the infamous serial killer known as The Avenger. He has shown up after seven young blonde women have been murdered in the surrounding area. More worrisome to The Buntings, is the charm this new stranger has over their daughter, Daisy, and her attraction to him.

The Lodger is considered Hitchcock’s first thriller. While the famous director made a handful of silent movies early in his career, his take on the thriller and suspense genre that he would later master didn’t show up right away. His use of imagery runs rampant in a story that can’t lean on the delivery of his witty dialogue, but rather on the use of graphic cards to convey it. The Lodger also features the first of one of Hitchcock’s trademarks, with a cameo from the director in his own movie.

Ivor Novello plays the quintessential, ambiguous Hitchcock character, paired with the suspicious duo of the Buntings. Novello would play the character again in the talkie remake of The Lodger in 1932. Hitchcock wanted to remake the film himself in 1942 but was unable to get the rights. It would eventually be remade three more times: in 1944 by John Brahm, in 1953 (Man In The Attic) starring Jack Palance, and in 2009, but it’s hard to hold a candle to the “Master of Suspense.”

Murder by Decree (1979)

Mashing up historical figures with fictional characters has always been a staple in storytelling, so it only makes sense that England’s most infamous serial killer would be pitted against English literature’s most famous detective and his assistant in 1979’s Murder by Decree. Christopher Plummer and James Mason portray Holmes and Watson, respectively, in a movie directed by Bob Clark, director of the horror classic Black Christmas and comedies such as Porky’s and A Christmas Story.

When the number of Jack the Ripper’s victims starts growing, Scotland Yard goes to its most dependable source in unsolved crimes: Sherlock Holmes. His meticulous and unusual way of peeling back the layers of a case does clash with the normal conventions in England’s most prestigious institution for solving crimes. Holmes’s investigation has him cross paths with anarchists and Freemasons. While the performances of Christopher Plummer and James Mason are nothing short of fantastic, the script is very much of its time.

Another Holmes versus the Ripper story had previously been released in 1965, featuring a young Judi Dench, but Bob Clark’s mash-up of fact and fiction is superior in direction, script, and acting. It links the mystery of Jack the Ripper to a much more conspiratorial conclusion than Hitchcock’s The Lodger, which was a much smaller story in comparison. Unfortunately for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation, it is one of the few ways to keep him relevant in a world and genre that was evolving.

Hands of The Ripper (1971)

As decades progressed, filmmakers grew bolder, leaning into bloodier, more sensationalized interpretations. Never one to turn away an idea, British exploitative horror studio Hammer Studios did its own take on Jack the Ripper. If you don’t know Hammer films, they operated similarly to how Roger Corman and his studio operated: almost as a low-budget genre factory. Hammer had a distinct style that is respected now, despite being written off by critics during their time. Their take on Jack the Ripper with Hands of the Ripper is definitely on-brand for a studio that took some wild swings on fiction, but also non-fiction.

After running away from his latest victim, Jack the Ripper runs home and murders his wife after she confronts him, revealing his identity as the Whitechapel Fiend. Unfortunately, this act is done in front of his young daughter, Anna, imprinting on her the urge to continue her father’s dastardly deeds when she gets into a trance. After one of these accidental murders, Anna is put under the care of Dr. Dysart, who tries to help her overcome her dark urges.

Hammer Films was founded in 1934. While they are mostly known for their horror and sci-fi catalog from the 1950s to the 1970s, Hammer Films also dabbled in war, noir, and comedies. A studio with that much time and experience under its belt can tell Jack the Ripper’s story that’s as bloody as our minds can imagine without actually having the man commit the murders. One of the first explicitly violent Ripper-related stories, but definitely not the last, movies starring Klaus Kinski (Jack the Ripper, 1976) and horror icon Anthony Perkins (Edge of Sanity, 1989) would delve into the more horrific aspects of Jack the Ripper’s killings.

Time After Time (1979)

The 1970s were ripe with Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper movies. If it was weird that Sherlock Holmes was chasing Jack the Ripper, 1979’s Time After Time doubles down. Malcolm McDowell stars as H.G. Wells, tracking down David Warner’s Jack the Ripper to modern-day San Francisco. Mixing fact and fiction in a completely different way, the movie features Mary Steenburgen as a modern-day woman who helps H.G. Wells and is named after Amy Robbins, Wells’ real-life spouse.

HG Wells shows off his time machine to a group of peers, including Dr. Stephenson. While Stephenson is initially skeptical about this time machine. When it is revealed that Dr. Stephenson is Jack the Ripper, he escapes in the time machine. Later, the time machine appears back in Wells’ basement. It’s up to him to go into the future and stop Jack the Ripper from committing more murders in 1970s San Francisco, a place Wells mistakes for a utopia.

Being one of the less violent Jack the Ripper stories, Time After Time is a great popcorn movie. It’s high concept but low budget has this film drip with cheese. David Warner is an absolutely fantastic Jack the Ripper, even if his scenes as Saucy Jack are sometimes shown from a first-person POV. However, it’s Malcolm McDowell’s performance as a bumbling H.G. Wells that carries this movie and will almost make you forget his turn as Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange.

Jack the Ripper (1988)

Miniseries were all the rage from the mid-1970s to the 1980s. It wasn’t unusual to have a longer story told with closer to movie production values broadcast on multiple nights. In 1988, CBS, in conjunction with Thames Television, released this two-night event as a way to mark one hundred years since the Whitechapel Murders. The story itself comes from Stephen Knight’s book, Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, which postulates that the identity of the murderer involves a royal cover-up.

Starring Michael Caine as Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard, who has been put on the case to find out who is committing these heinous crimes as the mutilated bodies of sex workers keep stacking up. Played more like a police procedural than a mystery story, this retelling posits that Jack the Ripper was part of the Royal Family. The investigation and Abberline’s personal relationship to the case are as important as solving the murders. There is no shortage of suspects, but it keeps the victim list down to the five confirmed Jack the Ripper killings.

As with most detective procedurals from the United Kingdom, this one is well done. Seemingly unaffected by his role in the failure that was Jaws: The Revenge, Michael Caine carries this production as Chief Inspector Abberline with great ease. He doesn’t do it alone, though. Acting greats like Jane Seymour, Armand Assante, and Hugh Fraser all lend their talents to this production. Eagle-eyed viewers of British mystery TV shows would recognize Hugh Fraser from the many episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot as Captain Hastings.

From Hell (2001)

One of the most popular and recent adaptations of the Jack the Ripper story is From Hell. Released in 2001 and directed by The Hughes Brothers, the film stars Johnny Depp and Heather Graham as Inspector Abberline and Mary Kelly. Two names that come up frequently in these adaptations of Jack the Ripper stories. While the story of Jack the Ripper is clearly dark, the Hughes Brothers’ interpretation of Jack the Ripper’s story is an adaptation of comic writer Alan Moore’s graphic novel of the same name, and is a bit colorful due to its main character’s methods of finding “The Leather Apron.”

Set up more as a horror-thriller type of story, From Hell turns Inspector Abberline into an opium-addicted sleuth on the chase of one of England’s most famous serial killers. He’s put on the case when he starts having visions as to the identity of the killer due to the amount of opium he’s consumed. Abberline becomes friendly with Mary Kelly, a prostitute who’s lost friends to Jack the Ripper. However, the further he digs, the bigger this conspiracy gets.

From Hell almost feels like a darker and amped-up version of the Jack the Ripper mini-series starring Michael Caine. Caine’s Abberline was a recovering alcoholic, Depp’s Abberline spends his days in an opium den. While definitely more graphic in content and violence, The Hughes Brothers’ adaptation does stray from Alan Moore’s source material and uses the same theory of Royal Conspiracy. The movie itself looks great, what shines is the supporting cast of Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, and Jason Flemyng. It’s not the best adaptation on this list, but it was definitely given a boost by the hot streak that Johnny Depp was on in the early 2000s

Jack the Ripper’s Legacy

There is no lack of adaptations of Jack the Ripper in all sorts of different genres. There are plenty that we’ve missed including 1988’s Jack’s Back which puts a Jack the Ripper copycat in modern-day Los Angeles. Sherlock Holmes isn’t the only famous literary detective to chase after Jack the Ripper. Another comic adaptation, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight sees the Caped Crusader chasing after Jack the Ripper in a Victorian Era Gotham was adapted into an animated movie in 2018.

Jack the Ripper’s legacy lives on in film; try searching the killer’s name on any streaming app and you’ll get plenty of results that are about or inspired by the Whitechapel Murders. While these films run a gamut of guesses as to who Jack the Ripper was and what his motive was, one thing remains certain: Jack the Ripper’s story is as fresh now as it was in 1888.

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