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From Hell
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From Hell (2001) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 151 | slideshow) Videos (see all 8)
From Hell (2001) -- In Victorian Era London, a troubled clairvoyant police detective investigates the murders by Jack The Ripper.
From Hell (2001) -- In Victorian Era London, a troubled clairvoyant police detective investigates the murders by Jack The Ripper.
From Hell (2001) -- Cine.gr - Trailer (Flash)

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Overview

User Rating:
6.8/10   48,466 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Writers (WGA):
Alan Moore (graphic novel) and
Eddie Campbell (graphic novel) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for From Hell on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 October 2001 (USA) more
Tagline:
Evil has a new address... more
Plot:
In Victorian Era London, a troubled clairvoyant police detective investigates the murders by Jack The Ripper. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
8 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(148 articles)
International Book of Eli Movie Poster
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The Notable Films of 2010: Part One
 (From Dark Horizons. 15 December 2009, 7:47 AM, PST)

User Comments:
Simply a fantastic movie more (507 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Jack (USA) (working title)
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MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence/gore, sexuality, language and drug content.
Runtime:
122 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The crew built four blocks of Whitechapel on location in Prague, including half a church. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: Frederick Abberline is depicted inaccurately as a young man who is an opium addict and psychic as well as dying soon after the Ripper murders. The real Frederick Abberline was a middle aged man in 1888 with no known opium addiction and who claimed not psychic abilities. He lived another forty years after the Ripper murders. more
Quotes:
Sir William Gull: One day men will look back and say that I gave birth to the twentieth century.
Abberline: You're not going to see the twentieth century.
more
Movie Connections:
Spoofed in Shanghai Knights (2003) more
Soundtrack:
Duke Street more

FAQ

How does the film differ from the book?
How did Abberline die at the end?
A note concerning spoilers
more
117 out of 147 people found the following comment useful.
Simply a fantastic movie, 1 October 2003
9/10
Author: johnnyparker from Oxford, England.

The critics, nit-pickers and historical pedants who've trashed this superb piece of truly cinematic movie-making have totally missed the point.

So what if Johnny Depp's English accent isn't exactly "right" for his character? (English accents have always been problematic for all but the most skilled of American actors: Depp pulls it off entirely passably, way way better than - say - Keanu Reeves, risible in Coppola's Dracula. Think of Kevin Costner, who didn't even bother trying in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.) I'm a Londoner by birth, and for me the accent in no way detracted from Depp's excellent performance.

As for history, again, who cares if the filmmakers have employed a degree of dramatic licence? This is a movie, not a documentary. Nobody knows for sure who Jack the Ripper was, and in order to make the film interesting and enjoyable the writers have speculated a little. Fine by me.

OK, so Heather Graham was impossibly glamorous, but movies with big budgets need a little bit of star appeal. The notion of the "tart with a heart" is a cliché, sure, but nevertheless her character works in the context of the film. (Contrast the depiction of prostitution generally in this film with the utter garbage that is Pretty Woman.)

What's so great about this film? The quirky, literate script; the performances (all, with the possible exception of Graham, excellent); the wonderful photography and production design; the depiction of the murders themselves - elliptical, shocking, mesmerising; and above all the aura of brooding menace, gloom, cruelty, darkness, melancholy and downright despair running through it as deeply as the veins through a block of marble. This is marvellously thoughtful, evocative film-making, very bold and brave. No happy Hollywood ending, no phoney saccharine or cheap laughs to satisfy the popcorn brigade. This is a proper grown-ups movie that probes some of the darkest regions of the human psyche, places mainstream filmmakers like Lucas, Spielberg, James Cameron and their ilk don't dare to go, or couldn't go even if they wanted to. To me it appeals almost on a subconscious level, forcing us to confront our deepest fears and taboos - death, pain, suffering, human wickedness. I can't think of a recent major release that is so relentlessly downbeat.

Don't let the detractors put you off. It's hardly surprising a generation weened on MTV - folk with the the attention span of a gnat and the emotional depth of a paper cup - didn't like it. They've got their Screams and their Scary Movies, and they're welcome to them. This is super stuff, and the Hughes brothers and their collaborators should be heartily congratulated for it.

A classic, not so much for the plot, which is a little contrived, but for its sure command of cinema as a visual storytelling medium.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for From Hell (2001)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
The Identity of Jack The Ripper??? Benji725
Elephant Man Question sareroam2002
Serial killer performances that could give Tony Hopkins Lecter comptiton glemay25
Anyone see the Discovery Ch. Special on Jack The Ripper last night glemay25
Frederick Abberline's Death lisamitchell-2
How they could have made this a different sort of series glemay25
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