Is Jack the Ripper Dead Again and Fatally Attractive?

From Ripper Lady

The first time I saw the Direct-to-Video horror saga Hell's Gate (a.k.a. Bad Karma), I found it to be an interesting take on the Jack the Ripper story. I guess it's just that, well, you know, when you've seen as many Ripper movies as I have, you're ready for something that's a little bit different. So the first time around, I really enjoyed the ride. Now that the novelty has worn off, though, I think I can measure the movie more accurately.

THE BASIC PLOT: A young girl is abducted and electrocuted into remembering her previous life as "Agnes"--Jack the Ripper's lover/accomplice. Assuming the "Agnes" persona, she seeks to reunite herself with the man she believes is the current incarnation of her former love--i.e. her psychiatrist in the High Security wing of a mental institution where she's been incarcerated since murdering four prostitutes. When the psychiatrist, Trey Campbell, goes on an island vacation with his family, she escapes, horrifically murders a bunch of people, and shows up at the island to terrorize/abduct Trey's wife and daughter. In the ruins of the "Capilla Blanca" ("White Chapel") monastery, she finally convinces Trey of his former identity as Jack, but he doesn't respond in quite the way she had hoped. But with his former identity revealed to him, the audience is still left to wonder whether he, too, will assume that old identity in his new life.

THE GOOD: Interesting concept for a Jack the Ripper film, even though it rather transparently blends the reincarnation drama of Dead Again with Fatal Attraction. Here, we've got a a former mistress--from a former life(!)--terrorizing the family of the man she is obsessed with (with the man of her obsession, naturally, not sharing the obsession).

Despite the plot similarities to Fatal Attraction, though, the chills here are more intense because this woman... well... she's a slasher. She may not boil any bunnies, but she does have a penchant for removing people's internal organs. Consequently, she's just a whole lot scarier than Fatal Attraction's Alex. And you can put that on the plus side for this film.

Article Author: Cindy Collins Smith

Cindy Collins Smith is a writer/editor with contributions in several Midnight Marquee/Luminary Press books—including the recently published You're Next: Loss of Identity in the Horror Film. She is known in Ripper circles as the owner of the Hollywood …

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