Ripper (film)

Ripper

DVD cover
Directed by John Eyres
Produced by John Curtis
Evan Tylor
Written by John Curtis
Evan Tylor
Screenplay by Pat Bermel
Starring A. J. Cook
Bruce Payne
Ryan Northcott
Claire Keim
Kelly Brook
Emmanuelle Vaugier
Daniella Evangelista
Music by Peter Allen
Cinematography Thomas M. Harting
Edited by Amanda I. Kirpaul
Distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment
Release dates
 29 October 2001
(United Kingdom)
29 January 2002
(Canada)
Running time
 112 minutes
Country Canada
United Kingdom
Language English

Ripper (also known as Ripper: Letter from Hell in the United States) is a 2001 Canadian-British horror film, directed by John Eyres.[1] The film stars A. J. Cook and Bruce Payne. It was written and produced by John A. Curtis and Evan Tylor and by production companies Prophecy Entertainment and Studio Eight Productions.

Plot

Molly Keller (A. J. Cook) narrowly avoids being murdered by a serial killer, after managing to escape an island. Five years later, she takes a forensic psychology class taught by Marshall Kane (Bruce Payne), a world-renowned expert on deviant violent offenders. Also taking the class are Jason Korda (Ryan Northcott), Chantal Etienne (Claire Keim), Marisa Tavares (Kelly Brook), Eddie Sackman (Derek Hamilton), Mary-Anne Nordstrom (Daniella Evangelista), Andrea Carter (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and Aaron Kroeker (Courtney J. Stevens). During one lesson, Marshall pranks his class by pretending to murder one of the students, his intention being to demonstrate the potential of anyone to be a killer. The unorthodox lesson prompts Aaron to reveal to Molly that he is aware of her past, which angers her as she does not want to discuss the trauma she endured. Her mood is further upset by Eddie when he attempts to hit on her, only to be firmly rejected.

Later that night, the group, excluding Aaron, meet up for a study session, which soon degenerates into an argument over Molly's overtly hostile attitude. To ease the mounting tension, they decide to go to a party taking place in a nearby abandoned building. Here, Jason makes a genuine attempt to get to know Molly better, but she remains distant. Marisa, meanwhile, has sex with a masked man, after which she overhears Chantal and Andrea talking about her. Feeling hurt, Marisa decides to leave, but the elevator instead takes her up to an isolated floor of the building. Upon stepping out of the elevator, Marisa is attacked and viciously stabbed by a masked assailant. In her panic, she stumbles and falls out of a window, but a chain wrapped around her ankle catches her, enabling the killer to hoist her back up, where he brutally and graphically stabs her to death, before sending her body crashing through a window into the party below.

The next day, the group mourn Marisa's death, while deciding they will try and identify who the killer is. Molly meets Detective Kelso (Jürgen Prochnow), who was part of the investigation of the previous murders. The pair go to the murder scene where Detective Kelso warns Molly that he believes the killer is back. Mary-Anne is driving home to see her family when a black truck begins to ram into the back of her car. She attempts to drive away, but the truck pushes her to the side of a cliff. As she attempts to get out, the truck hits her car again, causing her to crash through the windshield and plummet to her death. Detective Kelso finds her body in a nearby shed, where the killer has stabbed her repeatedly.

Molly challenges Marshall, and shows the killer is following the pattern of the famous serial killer Jack the Ripper. Jason manages to persuade the group to continue investigating despite their doubt. Molly and Jason discover a murderer previously held Marshall hostage. Chantal kisses Jason, but soon apologises to Molly for doing so, and the pair make friends. While Andrea is at the morgue identifying Mary-Anne's wounds, she is pursued by the killer, who drugs her before gutting her.

Jason, Chantal, and Eddie find out about Molly's past, which causes an argument resulting in Molly removing herself from the group. An upset Molly is comforted by Marshall. The following night, Molly, Jason, Eddie, Chantal, and Marshall are taken to a cabin where they realize the victims share the same initials of the victims of Jack the Ripper. Suspicion falls on Aaron, who was the one that assembled the study group. They attempt to phone Detective Kelso, but the phone is not working. After Molly and Chantal fall out, Eddie, Jason, and Chantal leave to try and fix the phone satellite on top of the mountain. Their car soon breaks down, forcing Jason to proceed on foot. Eddie attempts to fix the car, while Chantal remains inside. The killer soon appears and knocks out Chantal before Eddie's hand is trapped inside the bonnet of the car. Chantal wakes up and panics, driving the car forward into a tree which crushes Eddie's back, killing him. The killer chases Chantal to a factory, where she accidentally activates a log splitting machine. She bumps into Aaron, who warns her he knows who the killer is. She tries to escape, but they fall into the machine, where they are both mutilated by the circular saws.

Back at the cabin, Molly becomes suspicious of both Jason and Marshall. As Jason arrives back, Molly knocks him out before running into the forest. She encounters Jason again and flees while the killer hacks him to death with an axe. Molly discovers Marshall standing over a murdered Jason, before Detective Kelso arrives and knocks out Marshall. Molly then hallucinates and sees her younger self in the forest, gesturing to the two men and suggesting that Molly is the one who killed them all. Later, Marshall is executed for the murders, and due to visible mental problems, Molly is put in an insane asylum.

It has been said that the killer was never definitively named in the film, and there is suggestion that Detective Kelso is actually the killer. During the opening murder scene, as the young Molly escapes on a boat, she stabs the killer in the hand while he attempts to climb onto the boat after her. Detective Kelso is seen in every scene in the movie to be wearing only one glove on the same hand that the killer was stabbed in. However, in the film's sequel it was revealed that Molly was indeed the killer.

Cast

Release

The movie was Rated R for violence/gore, sexuality and language, while being a certificate 18 in the UK. It was released Direct-To-DVD in the many countries such as the UK, but received a theatrical run in some countries like Canada.

Sequel

Ripper 2: Letter from Within is a 2004 British horror film, featuring, again, the character Molly Keller, and it is about a treatment for her in a virtual world.

References

  1. ↑ "Ripper". The New York Times.
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