Review: Jack The Ripper (1988, David Wickes)

"Jack", the notorious, unidentified London ripper of 1888, is committing a series of horrific crimes. For Inspector Abberline and Sergeant Godley, in face of the bizarre atrocities, and the obstacles they have to overcome, the hunt for the killer becomes an increasingly personal experience, that leads them to circles of unexpected significance...

This two-part mini-series was produced for Thames Television and CBS, and broadcast on British television, exactly 100 years after the actual events. This gives us a certain indication of what to expect - some lines won't be crossed, the budget is reasonably big, and there should also be at least a good, if not top-notch, degree of historical accuracy, unless it turns out the movie (series) is some loose interpretation.

It turns out it's not - which is great. Where "Jack The Ripper" takes some liberties, is in the portrayal of the individuals, and it adds a bit of a surreal element to the story, but in every other regard it stays really close to historic fact. (Albeit offering a sort of solution to the case that is neither fully proven, nor generally accepted.) There are countless adaptations of the material, most of them being generous with injecting new ideas and dropping parts of the real story - this "Jack The Ripper" isn't one of them.

The original material certainly is exciting enough, and the movie basically just follows the history book, so it's inherently an interesting watch. The presentation of Jack leaving his ugly marks, the authorities chasing after him, and the public reaction to the events, is very authentic and convincing, it creates a dense, complete picture and atmosphere. The movie retains a moderate tone and pacing throughout, this "Jack The Ripper" doesn't zoom in to, and blow up individual detail, but is more like a protocol of the events.

In parallel with the crime story is a very personal portrayal of Inspector Abberline, who struggles between honest motivation, and throwing in the towel. Michael Cane gives the character some good dynamics, going through the ups and downs of success and failure, becoming the focal point of the story.

The entire movie is in fact very nicely balanced in all regards. It's authentic, with some flashy moments thrown in, and even a hint at the supernatural, which is a nice nod to the superstition of the time. The horror and violence is there, but it's kept at a tasteful minimum, being mildly explicit, but not more than absolutely necessary. We get a little bit of romance, but it's down to earth and unobtrusive. 

All in all, "Jack The Ripper" is super solid, above average TV thriller material. Focusing on the police's work in 1888, it's probably a little too tame and traditional for the hardcore horror geek, but it's a great horror-esque thriller with lots of chills, a shock here and there, perfect Victorian London setting, a great script (mostly) based on actual fact, shaped into a personal story, and a great performance by the pretty much always great Michael Caine.

Verdict: Great TV thriller, and a little history lesson - nice! 7/10

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095388/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper_(miniseries)

> Watch the full movie for free in "Streaming Kino"...

Trailer video:

video source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJSpZT8IjE0

 

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Robert Redford dies at age 89

Legendary actor Robert Redford passed away just two days ago.

Countless colleagues from the film industry, and just as many from every other field of public life, are expressing their admiration, and sadness, in face of the loss. According to reports, he died peacefully in his sleep.

The well known, highly acclaimed, and universally liked actor, who played in timeless classics like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), "The Sting (1973)", "Out of Africa" (1985), or "The Horse Whisperer" (1998), which he also directed and produced, and many other great films, will be remembered as one of the originals of US cinema.

Still from "This Property Is Condemned" (1966)

Robert Redford (Aug. 18, 1936 - Sept. 16, 2025)

R. I. P.

 

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c07p8yle7pet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Redford

The Toxic Avenger (2023) trailer

In case you've missed it, here's the trailer for Troma's new, rebooting "The Toxic Avenger", filmed in 2023, released in 2025.

Actually it looks pretty cool. The casting, namely Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood, and Kevin Bacon, seems super adequate to the material, with all three actors having their own sort of cult status in the fantasy and horror community, and it levels up the acting quality quite a bit in comparison to the 1984 original. The appearance of the new Toxie is really convincing, and the poster artwork (see e.g. Wikipedia, link below) very nicely sets its own, gritty, toxic, low-budget tone for the movie. "The Toxic Avenger" is getting good ratings on IMBD - all in all, it looks like this is a fun watch, while keeping the legacy and feel of the original intact. A reboot done right!

Have you watched the full movie? Did you like it?

Watch the official trailer for "The Toxic Avenger" (2025)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKe0pep35gQ

Troma Entertainment

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1633359/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toxic_Avenger_(2023_film)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090190/ (original 1984 film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toxic_Avenger_(1984_film) 

The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) 4K restoration trailer

Hammer Films has just uploaded a trailer for their new 4K restoration release of the classic 1957 Lee-Cushing horror movie.

"The Curse Of Frankenstein" started the Hammer Films lineage of Frankenstein horror films, and an even longer list of great horror films featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. If you haven't seen "The Curse Of Frankenstein", you're missing out on some fantastic Frankenstein action, with some outstanding, meticulous acting by Cushing, and really some eye-popping visuals. Upon initial release, like many great films, it was panned by critics, but it was a financial success that spawned six sequels, and today is considered a cult classic, just like "Dracula", that was created just a year later by largely the same crew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CDF6AyAwvk

https://www.youtube.com/@hammer

Review: Emanuelle E Gli Ultimi Cannibali ("Emanuelle And The Last Cannibals", 1977, Joe D'Amato)

A bizarre incident at a hospital yields a link to a forgotten cannibalistic tribe of the Amazonian rainforest. Accompanied by a small team, investigative reporter Emanuelle tries to find the tribe and get a sensational story. It turns out not all members of the team share the same goals, and the law of the jungle is harsh, claiming many victims in cruel ways...

Director Joe D'Amato is sometimes hailed as the King of Sleaze. (Black) Emanuelle is the hottest journalist around, she's well known for her hard-boiled work ethic, and this time she meets cannibals in the jungle. Quite obviously, this movie is not for the kids, it's for adults, a half-erotic, half-horror production from the heyday of Italian exploitation cinema.

Before Emanuelle finds any cannibals, the movie shows us huge amounts of both male and female skin (pretty much every part of the body) in a seemingly endless row of medium-core erotic scenes. This might, or might not, be enjoyable for the viewer, but it's certainly expected from an Emanuelle movie, especially the Italian kind. If you like some vintage erotics, then it's probably a reasonably nice watch, but the amount of screentime is way beyond anything suitable for an adventure story.

In between all the nudity, we get little pieces of the story, and almost precisely at about half the runtime of the film, it takes a turn from erotics-heavy to hard adventure. The change in pacing is dramatic, and it becomes obvious that there's a real effort to make it a flashy, exciting deep jungle movie, complete with quicksand, nasty traps, hidden treasure, etc. Emanuelle and her team are trying to find their way through the wilderness in the usual manner, as seen in pretty much every such production, the animals are dangerous, the cannibals are deadly, ...

The material is great: The story has mystery, adventure, and cannibals, Laura Gemser's iconic, exotic looks perfectly round off the visual appearance of our jungle expedition team, the violence and gore scenes are sometimes gnarly, sometimes blunt, and certainly enough to provide noticeable shock value, there are a handful of nice zooms and edits adding a bit of an artificial touch, the film stock (mostly) looks great, fully saturated with a moody color grading (albeit quite dark in some scenes), the little ending "twist" nicely underlines Emanuelle's irresistible beauty and gives it a hint at the surreal - the design and atmosphere of "Emanuelle E Gli Ultimi Cannibali" is remarkably, and amazingly close to an actual fumetto per adulti come alive, both in aesthetics and in content, you can almost see the comic strip panels and feel the pulp magazine paper. If only...

Yeah, if only it was the entire movie. Before we can submerge ourselves in the primary-colored world of a good old horror comic, we have to sit through endless love scenes. A little bit of erotics doesn't hurt, and it's a classic ingredient of Italian pulp fiction, but in this case it's almost two separate movies in one. Maybe this sounds attractive for some viewers, but it just breaks the idea of both a satisfying erotic feature film, and a horror one. In fact, this split-theme movie format was used a couple more times, but it obviously wasn't successful.

"Emanuelle E Gli Ultimi Cannibali" is a bit of a wasted opportunity. If Joe D'Amato had devoted more of the runtime to telling the adventure story, this could've been among the top five oldskool jungle cannibal movies. Not as serious as "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale" (1977), not as disturbing as "Cannibal Holocaust" (1980) - but as a nasty, juicy comic strip that checks all the boxes with flying colors.

But, roughly speaking, it's just a ~45 minute movie that most people probably want to skip - and another one, that's actually pretty entertaining, if you like vintage cannibal horror. It still has some erotic scenes, but just the right amount to not bring everything else to a halt, and otherwise it's moving forward really quite steadily.

"Emanuelle E Gli Ultimi Cannibali" could've been a real classic, but as it is, it's a heavily mixed bag with basically two ingredients that don't necessarily mix too well. Or, that just aren't mixed well. What a pity. But if you can make it through a lot of skin-on-skin activity, you're rewarded with a nice little jungle shocker.

Verdict: Both a hit and a miss, if you like. The hit is good! 5/10

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075984/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuelle_and_the_Last_Cannibals

Trailer video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5C1AyoaT-k

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Review: Das Boot (1981, Wolfgang Petersen)

German WWII submarine U-96 leaves port in France, to go hunting the Allies' cargo ships in the Atlantic. The fog of war also covers the sea - not everything goes according to plan, and especially the men's return to safe harbor becomes a journey through the depths of hell itself... 

This is a review of the 1997 "director's cut" release of "Das Boot" with a runtime of ~208 minutes. The full runtime of the original TV mini-series is ~308 minutes.

If this movie doesn't get to you, you're already dead. Never before, and never after, has the claustrophobic intensity, constant near-death situation, and emotional hardship of submarine warfare been captured on film as exciting, gripping, and moving, as in "Das Boot".

Based on the book of the same name, which was written by Lothar-Guenther Buchheim, who was the actual war reporter aboard the actual U-96, the movie is a wild ride through the up and downs (actually more downs) of war duty at sea.

It's very interesting that most people agree that "Das Boot" is an extremely realistic depiction of life on a German WWII submarine - while the film actually uses a good amount of artistic freedom, and some very artistic, near-surreal imagery. One example, that was explicitly mentioned by Buchheim, is the party scene featuring two oranges. According to him, this would never have happened in reality. Another one would be the breaking bolts - in reality, in a submarine, a single cracked bolt pretty much equals instant death. There are even more obvious examples, like the fake, fixed camera view of the boat's sail (tower), and many more.

But there is still a very high degree of realism in "Das Boot", higher than in any other submarine war movie. The accurate historical setting, the on-location filming at La Rochelle submarine bunker, the perfect recreation of the inside of U-96 featuring some spectacular near-first-person camera work, the thick atmosphere, with sweaty, unshaved faces, accurate dialogue, local accents, dumb jokes, and grinding work, and much more, and maybe most of all the actual, real story, as told by an actual eyewitness. 

Many scenes in "Das Boot" are artistic, stylized, but - with just one or two exceptions - still don't feel artificial or forced, because they still accurately illustrate the reality of the movie. "Das Boot" is extremely effective in that regard. We don't know how an old sea-dog Captain-Lieutenant (KaLeun) on harsh duty actually reacts, when suddenly presented with an excessive buffet of delicacies, but having him basically say nothing perfectly underlines the grim irony of the situation. We don't know how it feels when your submarine gets hit with depth charges, but flashing figures in the dark, screaming, pain, blood, and water all over the place certainly is an adequate interpretation.

Buchheim didn't like the movie. He was the actual man, aboard the actual boat. It's impossible to recreate the actual experience of being on board U-96 - but it's possible to find an emotional, and historically and physically correct translation of what it was like. Maybe "Das Boot" has a handful of flaws in accurate physical depiction, but historically it's authentic, and it hits the bullseye in every other regard. 

"Das Boot" perfectly, and very scarily, translates the sometimes silent, sometimes ear-shattering terror of undersea war, into movie format. It's not a documentary, but an artistic, condensed look at a war submarine patrol. The degree of realism is very high, it becomes easy to suspend all disbelief that might have been left - creating a highly intense movie experience.

What stands out among the many great aspects of "Das Boot", is the acting. Not only does director Wolfgang Petersen manage to portray pretty much the entire crew of the boat, giving more focus to some, but still not losing sight of the other members. Also, thanks to the individual acting performances, we actually do care for each single one of them. There is some over-dramatization, but by far most of the time it feels like we're seeing the actual, real persons. Juergen Prochnow plays the role of his life as the KaLeun, Klaus Wennemann sends chills down your spine as the chief engineer working himself almost to death, Erwin Leder as Johann "Das Gespenst" ("the ghost") makes you hold your breath, ... the list goes on, and even musician Herbert Groenemeyer, playing the war reporter on board, gives a surprisingly convincing and moving performance.

Nice special effects, perfectly edited, an overall pacing that very nicely balances phases of calmness with phases of hefty, terrifying action, Klaus Doldinger's masterpiece sound score, with gentle tunes and variations of the epic, anthemic "Boot" theme - basically, "Das Boot" does everything right. As has been explained, it is a little bit on the over-epic side here and there - but only if you're comparing it to an actual real-time documentary. As a commercial film production, it's pretty much perfect. Realistic enough to adequately represent reality and even provide some education, artistic and dramatic to make it powerful, attractive, and digestible.

So are we rooting for the Nazis now? No, we aren't. "Das Boot" isn't about politics, it's about men, war, and death. It's immensely captivating, but also deeply saddening. It could've been a US submarine, a Japanese one, it could've been any war, at any time. Comradeship, fear, loss, and making sense of the insanity are timeless, universal themes. We are rooting for people, humanity.

Based on Lothar-Guenther Buchheim's book, Wolfgang Petersen has created the definitive submarine war movie. "Das Boot" is the mark by which all such films have been measured, for decades, and will be measured, for decades to come.

Verdict: Jawohl, Herr KaLeun! 9.5/10

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082096/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot

Trailer video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfyzlkzUBSA

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Zombi 2 ("Zombie Flesh Eaters", 1979) 4K BluRay by Arrow Video

A couple of weeks ago, Arrow Video has published a trailer for a new 4K restoration of Lucio Fulci's zombie movie classic, to be released on July 28th 2025.

The trailer has some modern editing, and it reveals a lot about the movie, it's not just an enhanced version of the original trailer. (Which, to be fair, also reveals a lot about the movie.) 

In perfect 4K quality, all VHS tape nostalgia is gone, but it certainly looks fantastic, with an unprecedented amount of detail, and vivid, but still natural color grading. 

The upcoming BluRay release also contains several audio tracks (english / italian / original / remixed), interviews and commentary by members of the film crew and film critics, trailers and TV spots, the original screenplay titled "Nightmare Island", and other bonus material, plus a nice packaging with both original and new artwork, a poster, a booklet, and a set of still pictures. 

Watch Arrow Video's new 4K trailer for "Zombie Flesh Eaters" (2025-06-23):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnDFVqNl2Mw
Arrow Video

Check out more details on Arrow Video's "Zombie Flesh Eaters" 4K BluRay release page:

https://www.arrowfilms.com/zombie-flesh-eaters-limited-edition-4k-uhd/16553796.html

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080057/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombi_2