From Hell (film)

Plot

In 1888, Mary Kelly and a group of London prostitutes endure daily hardship. Their friend Ann Crook, a former prostitute now married to wealthy painter Albert and mother to a daughter named Alice, is kidnapped. This event draws the women into a conspiracy linked to high society. Ann's kidnapping is followed by the murder of another prostitute, and it becomes clear that each of the women is being hunted and killed by Jack the Ripper.

Inspector Frederick Abberline, a troubled man aided by psychic visions and still grieving his wife's death in childbirth, investigates. His colleague Sergeant Peter Godley tries to follow Abberline's theories. Abberline discovers the killer is educated and knowledgeable in human anatomy due to the surgical precision of the mutilations. Ann is found in a workhouse after being lobotomized, likely to silence her.

Abberline consults Sir William Gull, a royal physician, who deduces Abberline's opium addiction and points him toward a deeper conspiracy. Abberline falls in love with Mary. He concludes that Freemasons are involved, and his superior, a high-ranking Freemason, suspends him. Abberline persists and learns Gull is the killer, ordered to eliminate witnesses to the forbidden marriage of painter Walter Sickert—revealed to be Prince Albert, grandson of Queen Victoria—to Ann Crook.

Albert is dying of syphilis, making baby Alice the heiress to the throne. Gull boasts he will be remembered for giving birth to the 20th century. Abberline draws his gun but is knocked out by another Freemason before he can shoot.

Cast

Johnny Depp plays Inspector Frederick Abberline, a sympathetic police officer whose drug use gives him visions of the murders but who investigates rationally. Heather Graham portrays Mary Kelly, a young prostitute who falls in love with Abberline. Ian Holm is Sir William Gull, a retired surgeon and physician to Queen Victoria. Robbie Coltrane plays Sergeant Peter Godley, Abberline's humorous and literary-minded assistant.

Ian Richardson appears as Sir Charles Warren, Abberline's stiff bureaucrat superior. Jason Flemyng plays John Netley, the Ripper's coachman and stooge. Other cast members include Samantha Spiro as Martha Tabram, Annabelle Apsion as Polly Nichols, Katrin Cartlidge as Annie Chapman, Susan Lynch as Liz Stride, Lesley Sharp as Kate Eddowes, Estelle Skornik as Ada, Terence Harvey as Benjamin Kidney, Paul Rhys as Dr. Ferral, Vincent Franklin as George Lusk, Ian McNeice as coroner Robert Drudge, David Schofield as McQueen, Sophia Myles as Victoria Abberline, Joanna Page as Ann Crook, Mark Dexter as Prince Albert Victor, Peter Eyre as Lord Hallsham, and Anthony Parker as Joseph Merrick.

Production

The path to bringing From Hell to the screen was a long one, with two different studios holding the rights before 20th Century Fox finally took it on. The Hughes Brothers initially wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play Inspector Abberline, and Alan Moore mentioned in a 1997 interview that Sean Connery had been cast. After Connery left the project, the directors met with both Brad Pitt and Jude Law before settling on Johnny Depp. The Hughes Brothers took on this film after deciding not to direct Planet of the Apes.

Filming started on June 5, 2000, in and around Prague, Czech Republic, and at Barrandov Studios, where a large backlot set recreated London's 19th-century Whitechapel district. Additional outdoor scenes were shot in the United Kingdom, including locations at Crackington Haven, Boscastle in Cornwall, and the Goldings estate in Hertfordshire. Nigel Hawthorne was originally set to play Sir William Gull, but on July 26, 2000, he withdrew from the role due to terminal cancer.

Ian Holm replaced him, and the significant height difference between Hawthorne and the much shorter Holm required changes to some scenes. Hawthorne passed away two months after the film's release. Because some critics found the film excessively violent and gory, it was trimmed to avoid an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. It ultimately received an R rating for strong violence, gore, sexuality, language, and drug content.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2001. During the September 11 attacks, Heather Graham was flying to New York City for meetings with film directors and saw smoke coming from the World Trade Center. Marilyn Manson had planned to remix parts of the score with composer Trevor Jones for the film, but this could not be completed before the release date. Instead, he contributed a remixed version of his song The Nobodies, which plays over the end credits.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 56% of 151 critics gave the film a positive review, with the consensus calling it visually impressive but dull and far from scary. Metacritic gave a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, indicating mixed or average reviews. CinemaScore audiences gave an average grade of B−. E!

Online described it as two hours of gory murders, non-sequitur scenes, and undeveloped romance, giving a C−. The New York Post called it a gripping and stylish thriller. Roger Ebert gave three stars out of four. Leonard Maltin gave three stars, calling it colorful and entertaining.

Joe Leydon of The San Francisco Examiner gave three stars, comparing it to Sleepy Hollow. Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun gave one and a half stars, suggesting Bram Stoker's Dracula as a model. Robert W. Butler of The Kansas City Star said the film had visual flourish that puts Tim Burton to shame. Empire's Kim Newman awarded four out of five stars, praising the British acting talent but noting the script could not sell the killer as both purposeful assassin and mad killer.

Philip French praised Depp's performance and the production design and cinematography evoking Whistler and John Atkinson Grimshaw. Alan Moore criticized the replacement of his gruff Abberline with an absinthe-swilling dandy. The film grossed $31.6 million in the US and $74.6 million worldwide. It opened at number one with $11 million, dropping to third in its second weekend and seventh in its third.