Hammer Films of the late 50’s, and throughout the 60’s, had one of the most solid track records for horror and thriller pictures of any studio of any era. Then the 70’s came, and things unraveled quickly and thoroughly.
The early Hammer horror films outraged British censors and shocked audiences. Most of them were given the UK “X” rating (which, admittedly, was hard to avoid in those times), which prevented those under 16 from seeing them.
By the 70s, they were trying to keep up with the output of other studios, especially the independents. Standards were being relaxed everywhere, so Hammer ramped up the gore and went from barely concealed bosoms to an explosion of tits all over the place.
1971’s Hands of the Ripper starts with a woman being stabbed in the chest while her young daughter watches. Turns out the man who just dispatched of mommy is Jack the Ripper, which would result in a bizarre answer if anybody asks that girl, “Who’s your daddy?” Cue opening credits and a piece of music I can only describe as “Love Theme from Hands of the Ripper”.
Later, the girl (Angharad Rees) has been adopted by a medium who uses her in the act. Rees is a spry 17-year-old girl of 27, judging from appearances. Her mother also tries to turn her out, except the client makes a huge mistake by offering a brooch as payment.
Turns out sparkly stuff enables the spirit of her deceased father to possess Rees and carry on his work. She can’t remember what happens once the murder is finished. It’s like she roofies herself using paste jewelry. Is this why raccoons are obsessed with shiny things?
Rees’s first victim is the medium who adopted her, courtesy of a fireplace poker through the abdomen and straight through the door. You know, those doors were solid wood back then. That a fireplace poker was also so solid it could skewer a woman to such a door shows how things used to be of much higher quality.
I was already having trouble suspending my disbelief over what the movie had shown us by this point, so I found myself completely separated from it when Eric Porter takes her in. Porter is a wealthy scientist of some sort and he takes her in despite believing she killed her mother. He even continues to cover up additional homicides, as he wants to determine why one person murders another.
So, he doesn’t do anything when Rees kills his housekeeper. He even has his son and his blind fiancée staying with him and doesn’t them them the girl as his guest is a murderer. A murderer of women. So, I guess we don’t need to worry about the blind woman also in the house. *cough*
Per my earlier comment about the sorry state of Hammer films at this time, there is very little nudity, but there is a bit of gore that made my jaw and stomach drop. At one point, a prostitute is putting the moves on Rees and feeling her up. That surprised me, as there weren’t many lesbian scenes, even implied ones, in pictures at that time. What surprised me more is Rees grabbing a fistful of hatpins and stabbing the other woman through her hand and into her eye.
Can’t say I found much to recommend here. While far from the worst of Hammer’s 70’s output, it was still disappointing, especially when compared to the output of the studio’s heyday. Still, I have to give Hands of the Ripper some props for an unusual twist on an old trope, as a woman carries on the work of Jack the Ripper. I didn’t realize the women’s suffrage movement began in such deeply weird ways.
Dir: Peter Sasdy
Starring: Angharad Rees, Eric Porter, Jane Merrow
Watched on blu-ray