Murder By Decree is the superior film. From Hell has a lot of excellent things about it, but after reading into the murders, I find it so frustrating at how lazy it is.
I'm not asking for a 100% historical accurate film, but come on, the people who made this movie really made barely any effort in research. But, before I get into it, I'll explain what I did like. I thought it was well made, & I particularly like the visuals & cinematography. The art direction is superb, as are the costumes.
It is entertaining enough, & Robbie Coltrane is wonderful in this, but apart from these aspects, there isn't much to praise. My main problem is they took a very interesting & frightening murder mystery, & reduced it to a slasher film. Now, compared to junk like the Halloween sequels & any Friday the 13th movie, it is definitely superior, but there is so much more they could have done with it.
The story is a cliche & long discredited joke by the time they made it. If they used the Royal conspiracy drivel but added in tonnes of information & history, such as JFK, or an intense thriller like what Fincher did with Zodiac, it might have been okay. But, they didn't. There is hardly any historical details, fact or theory, so there is nothing thought provoking or mysterious.
Both JFK & Zodiac have a lot of historical mistakes, but they are extremely well made, & have so much information that they're thought provoking. From Hell has nothing.
Murder By Decree also takes a lot of liberties with the facts, but with changing the names of some of the characters, & the addition of Holmes/Watson, it feels like the filmmakers intended it on being entirely fictionalised. I recall on the extras of From Hell, they were talking about how accurate they were.
Also, MDC also has some real spooky moments, like the first killing we see, & when we see the killers at Mary Kelly's lodgings. I do quite like the bit where the Ripper picks up one of the victims in the hansom cab, & we see it disappear in the fog.
The psychic visions were also done much better in Murder By Decree. I felt they had an eerie dreamlike feel. I didn't think the ones in From Hell were very good at all.
I must add though, I do also like the shot in From Hell where the Ripper starts to walk away from Buck's Row, then fades out & disappears.
Although I do think this Royal conspiracy drivel does hurt Murder By Decree a bit, I did think Plummer & Mason were perfectly cast as Holmes & Watson. By the time we got From Hell though, this theory was long discredited & had been done before. Why bother doing it if they had nothing new to add?
I recently finished reading Donald Rumbelow's updated 2013 book, & was disgusted when he mentioned movies like MDC, Jack the Ripper (1988), & From Hell, idiots watched them & desecrated Sir William Gull's Grave. I know filmmakers aren't responsible for idiots doing things, but it is really annoying how some filmmakers are just incredibly lazy, & resort to the cliche nonsense. From Hell had the potential to fix the things that the previous films got wrong, but they didn't bother.
Actually, the game Sherlock Holmes Vs Jack the Ripper is much better than both of these films. Not only does it stay far away from the conspiracy crap, but I found it incredibly suspensful & haunting.
Randy Pigford says a dream project requires embezzling funding, lying & ripping off the fans
reply
share
Moscoso1967
9 years ago
I agree with most of what you've said. "Murder by Decree" is a much better film and one of the reasons is because (although it contains some facts) it is presented as a fictional story, so I'm less bothered by the Royal conspiracy drivel in it (plus one can possibly read more - a more general message so to speak - into Plummer's final speech).
It's annoying to hear filmmakers going on about how (historically) accurate their film is when clearly it isn't (e.g. this movie quite literally didn't even have the guts to depict Mary Kelly's murder as it really happened, "Jack the Ripper" handled it much better). It's like when they released the "Robin Hood" version with Russell Crowe, they always went on about how accurate it is but actually it is about as accurate as "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
You're also right about those people who believe this (or any other) theory, just because they've seen some movie(s) or read some books and therefor think they've solved the case.
reply
share
psalmverse6-844-865746
9 years ago
As of THIS VERY MINUTE, I feel no reason,at all, to believe any of it. What I feel, Right now ,is that The Hughes Bros. Lied. So far, I have found NO CREDIT for the FIRST, (nearly identical film), in the "credits" of the FIRST film. I LOVED "From Hell", and NOT just because of Depp, although he was a major factor....for ME, anyway.
I'm just so seriously BUMMED that Albert and Allen co-opted this movie...script, scenes and all.
Man...I hope I am WAAAY WRONG!!
There are scenes with the black horse galloping, that I REMEMBER hearing those guys talk about....like it was an original idea!! HORSE CACA!
SOOO SOOO very sad and disappointed.....guys...you BROKE my HEART.
reply
share