Hands of the Ripper

Hands of the Ripper (1971) starring Angharad Rees, Eric Porter

Hammers Hands of the Ripper deals with the fictional story of the daughter of Jack the Ripper.  Orphaned at a young age, at the age of 17 starts to be influenced by the spirit of her dead father.  While a kindly psychiatrist tries to help her with tragic results for his household.

In short, Hands of the Ripper deals with the story of Anna (Angharad Rees). She watched her father Jack the Ripper murder her own mother at the age of two or three, and was orphaned shortly afterward. She is taken in by a fake psychic, who uses Anna as the voice of the spirits.  The “psychic” is about to sell her as a prostitute at the age of 17.   When the Rippers rage asserts itself for the first time.

Well-meaning member of Parliment and psychiatrist, Dr. John Pritchard (Eric Porter), takes her into his own home, hoping to discover the root of her problem and cure her. At the same time, the doctors adult son Michael (Keith Bell) prepares to marry his fiancee, the blind Laura (Jane Merrow). Predictably, the doctor’s efforts fail, and there’s a string of gory, violent murders throughout the movie.

One question that kept leaping out to me is what is the doctor’s motivation? He’s not only attempting to help the young woman, but hiding her trail of corpses and covering up her murders.  Up to the point that he’s assaulted by Anna.  While bleeding to death from internal injuries turns to Michael to help rescue Laura from the insane Anna.

Conclusion

Although the sets, the costumes, and the cinematography are lovely, I don’t recommend Hands of the Ripper. It is very gory and violent, and although the acting is fine, the pace is slow. Even worse, the central character Anna goes through the bulk of the movie like a mannequin in a trance. Had her character been given some personality, the audience would feel sorry for her. And the tragic ending would have had a greater impact.