- In London in 1888, Jack the Ripper is killing prostitutes. The chief suspect is Dr. John York, who has become an absinthe addict after his misdiagnosis killed the daughter of a duke. However, the culprit is of an otherworldly nature.
- 19th century London inventor and doctor John York, driven to drink and drugs by a misdiagnosis that cost him a patient, discovers that the murderer of prostitutes in Whitechapel is caused by an alien creature that only he can detect. Only his fiancee believes him.—Gislef
- In 1988 London, the owner, Lady Li Yu, looks about her brothel and finds John York, sitting reading a Jules Verne novel. He says that he's dreaming of a woman and he says that he isn't interested in going upstairs with one of the woman. A prostitute catches John's eye and goes out, beckoning to him.
John goes out on the Whitechapel streets, and finds two women. One of them is having convulsions, and John goes to her aid. The ailing woman has been stabbed in the chest and vomits green bile, and a green energy force emerges from her mouth as she dies and enters the other woman, Annie Chapman's, mouth. She stares at John, then yells for the police and points at John, calling him a murderer. John runs off as the police arrive.
The next day, Inspector Harold Langford and his men check the crime scene. Langford talks to Chapman, who describes John. Chapman smiles in satisfaction as Langford says that he's going to catch the killer.
Lady Ellen goes to the home of her fiancé John, who is hungover. She tells him that the Ripper struck the previous night, and John remembers the previous night. Ellen warns him of the effects of the opium and absinthe he's been using, but John dismisses her concerns. She asks him if he wants to get married, and John says that he does but figures that she doesn't want to until he's recovered from his disgrace. Ellen denies thinking that, and John says that he doesn't want to return to practice because its quackery. She suggests that it isn't, but he tells her that modern doctors are no more than witch doctors and surgeons infect their patients with infection. John warns Ellen that her mother would never let her daughter marry him, and she hates him. Ellen tell John to prove her mother wrong, and the two of them embrace. John quickly covers up the splatter of blood on his from his previous night and cover it up, and says he'll get something to eat.
John soon takes to the streets, looking for Chapman. He finds a newsboy selling papers about the murder, the third in two days, and goes to the brothel to drown himself in absinthe and opium. Li Yu tells him to go home, saying that he made a mistake once. John points out that a little girl died because of him, and wonders if the Ripper is human. Li Yu says that Chapman was there the previous night, and John pours himself another drink and says that he drinks because he hated being weak. She says that he should give into it and John tells her that he plans to.
Later, John goes to bed with a prostitute, Lizzie Stride, and she kisses him. Green bile pours from her mouth, and John stares at her in horror and shoves Lizzie away. Lizzie attacks him, and John grabs his cane, shoves her away, and pulls a blade from his swordcane. "Lizzie" says she's old, older than London. Li Yu and two prostitutes come in, distracting Lizzie, and John stabs the prostitute in the chest. Lizzie staggers out and John yells that she's the Ripper.
Out in the street, Lizzie stumbles into another woman, who helps Lizzie away. John runs out and discovers that Lizzie is gone.
Ellen meets with her mother Julia, the Countess of Avonrill, and her friend Sophie, but John doesn't show up at the appointed time. She says that it's a sign of disrespect, and Ellen tells her mother that John meets no disrespect. Sophie talks about Dr. Freud, while Julia ignores her daughter and tells Ellen that John has wasted his fortune and is now wasting whatever goodwill he might have earned with her. Sophie claims that John said he was meeting with a solicitor about money, but Julia knows she's lying and calls her on it. Ellen says that John meant no disrespect, but he's been different since his patient died. Julia says that she knows John has been beset by tragedy, but should soldier on. The servants serve lunch.
In his quarters, John wipes his swordcane clean. Ellen comes in and says that he disrespected Ellen, and he tells her that he's going away immediately and wants Ellen to go with him. John looks at the cloth he cleaned the blood off with, and sees a bit of the green bile on it. He tosses it out of sight as Langford comes in with his men. Langford puts John under arrest. John says that the Ripper murdered them, not him, and Langford says that John is the Ripper.
The police take John to the station, and Ellen meets with Langford and tells him that John isn't the Ripper and she knows it because he was with her one of the nights that a prostitute was murdered. Langford brings up John's claim that the Ripper is a creature leaping from woman to woman, and Ellen continue, saying that John didn't say anything of their liaison because he's a gentleman. She says that her mother will bring up the matter with the home secretary, who will speak to Langford's superior Sir Charles, who will speak to Langford. Langford seemingly takes the hint and escorts Ellen out.
John is brought out and tells Ellen that he knows who the Ripper is. Ellen insists that there's no creature, and John tells her that there is and he has proof but the blood with the green substance would have further incriminated him. Ellen figures he was out drinking and walks away, and Langford watches them go.
Outside, John tells Ellen that it was the creature, and she tells John that he's tearing her heart out and it's not real. He says that Ellen and the creature are all that are real, and if he can prove the creature is the Ripper then it will end his disgrace. Ellen tells John goodbye and walks away. The creature, in the body of another woman, looks at John briefly and then walks away.
An aide, Albert, brings Langford newspaper files about the patient's death, due to John's misdiagnosis, and figures the tragedy drove John mad.
The blonde woman approaches Ellen as she goes into Julia's manor, and Ellen invites her in. The blonde woman spits up green bile before she goes in.
At his apartment, John analyzes the green bile, laughs in triumph, and puts the glowing cloth in a beaker. Ellen comes in and John says that he's found a way to detect the creature. She tells John that he was right, lets down her hair, and says that they should seize the opportunity. Ellen kisses John, and John sees his detection device make her handbag glow. He says that he knows what it is, and asks her where it came from. Ellen says that a strange woman came to see her, so Ellen kept her butler with her the entire time. The woman left her handkerchief there, and Ellen picked it up. John asks her what creature said, but Ellen says that the woman went but left her handkerchief behind. He hugs Ellen in relief, then says that she has to go far away for her own safety. John embraces her and says that she's his angel, and Ellen says that they'll be together until the end.
Langford meets with Julia, who tells him that she relies on his direction and Ellen is overcome by the weaknesses and passion of her age of 23. She insists that John is the Ripper, and she can guarantee Langford will be knighted for bringing in the Ripper. She thanks Langford for coming and tells him to remember who she is.
That night, John and Ellen search Whitechapel where the creature has killed, and John plans to take photographs of where the bodies have been found, and hopefully they can pick up its trail with his device. John goes to the last spot alone, leaving Ellen in the coach, and finds the blonde woman waiting for him. He draws his sword, and the creature says that she's not of this world. The creature says that it's stranded, and applauds Jack's persistence, saying it gives her a certain excitement. It says that it will keep planting enough clues to convict him of the murders. John attacks her and it easily knocks him away, and says that he doesn't want to kill it because they're too much alike: both outcast by temperament and choice. John says that he hates himself and lunges at it, and it catches his wrist, takes his pocketwatch, asks if Ellen always keeps her butler around, releases John, and walks off.
John returns to the coach and tells her that she should leave London at once, and not to come back until he calls for her. He says that the creature was there. Ellen wants to tell Langford, and when he refuses says that arrogance killed his patient. John tells her that he doesn't want her, saying that it's like having a child in her two, and insults her. Ellen slaps him and tells the driver to take her home. John watches her go and mutters "May God forgive me."
Later, Langford is called to the scene where the blonde woman has been murdered. John's pocketwatch is in her hands, and his name engraved on the case.
Ellen goes to Langford's office and when he returns, tells him that she was no with John on the night of the murder, and he says that he knew and now they have enough evidence to tie John to the murders. She says that they were out looking for the creature but had been separated, and insists that John is ill but not a murderer, and needs help. Langford says that John must be stopped but promises not to kill him.
John returns home and finds traces of the green bile on his staircase. He goes into his apartment, swordcane drawn, and the creature in another woman leaps out and attacks him, spewing bile. John stabs at her, and it says that it came back to destroy his detector. It smashes his detector and they struggle, and John finally stabs her, and screams "Die!" Langford and his men come in, and they take John away. Ellen is with them, and cries in horror. John insists that the woman is the Ripper, and they take him to a sanitarium and lock him in a cell.
Ellen comes to see John and tells him that she's going away, and she still cares for him but she can't stand it any longer. Langford comes to the cell door and tells John that he's retiring and going to America for his health, and will escort Ellen there. He coughs up a bit of green bile and John sees it, and the creature tells John that Ellen will hardly feel a thing, winks, and walks away.
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