Next day Pritchard meets Dysart for an update. To Pritchard's dismay, Dysart has not discovered anything about Anna's past and still thinks she is possessed. He insists Pritchard attend an interview with Queen Victoria's medium Madame Bullard [Margaret Rawlings]. This being a Hammer film, however, there has to be a more complex explanation for Anna's criminality. Although Pritchard as a scientific rationalist would disdain any supernatural explanation for evil, it transpires that Anna is possessed by her father's spirit and that he is using her as a vehicle to carry out further murders from beyond the grave. Pritchard is guilty of the sin of hubris- the hubris of believing that his scientific methods can cure her- and he therefore has to accept the moral responsibility when Anna, contrary to his confident predictions, does indeed kill again. The film ends with a tragic yet fitting climax that takes place in the Whispering Gallery of St. Paul's Cathedral, the fatally wounded Pritchard calling to Anna to join him—which she does by climbing over the edge of the gallery and falling to her death. That's pretty much the movie: watch as the little slip of an adolescent girl commits bloody crimes. Very bloody, at that; I haven't seen all of Hammer's late filmography, but on first glance, I'd be inclined to say that Hands of the Ripper is the studio's goriest film. That's not setting the bar tremendously high, mind you: the Italian gialli pretty much all hit this level, and American films could on occasion rise to some extraordinary heights of gruesomeness. Still, there's at least one effect in the scene where Anna goes into the whore's quarter of London to continue Dad's work that has an effect that even made as jaded a horror veteran as myself perk up with a little "ew, that's gross".

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At a railway station, Michael meets his blind fiancée Laura [Jane Merrow] and they return to the Pritchard's house. At the police station the police inspector [Norman Bird] interviews those people who were at the séance. He is puzzled because it would have taken a very strong person to impale Mrs Golding. He establishes that Mr & Mrs Wilson left first, followed by Pritchard and Michael, but no-one saw Dysart leave. Although Pritchard knows the truth, he saves Dysart's embarrassment by stating it could have been possible for Dysart to leave shortly afterwards without anyone seeing him and that he does not believe Dysart was the man he saw leaving after the murder.U.S. Television Introduction" (7:07) is audio from the original ABC presentation of "Hands of the Ripper," where, to fill in the gaps caused by excised gore, Universal shot special scenes to help explain the setting and psychological profile of the characters. Due to a studio fire, the footage is presumed lost, but the audio, despite its rough quality, is intriguing.

Hands Of The Ripper (Official Video BLOODY HAMMERS - Hands Of The Ripper (Official Video

This good if not great Hammer production is efficiently entertaining, as it hits the ground running and offers up a provocative story of one forward-thinking person attempting to find an alternative way of dealing with mental illness. Some viewers may feel that the proliferation of elaborate, amusingly gory murders throw things asunder considering the more interesting aspects to the script (and Hammers' typically stylish period atmosphere). Also, one may grow impatient with the protagonists' stubbornness and sneakiness as he goes about doing everything possible to try to make his method work. At a church Michael and Laura rehearse for their wedding attended also by Pritchard and Anna. Outside afterwards, Anna is worried about herself but Pritchard asks her to trust him. Hands of the Ripper" brings a new twist to this theme. Dr. John Pritchard is an eminent psychiatrist in Edwardian London who brings one of his patients, a young woman named Anna, into his home. This might seem a risky thing to do, as Pritchard is well aware (although the police are not) that Anna is not only mentally unstable but also a murderess. Pritchard, however, is an enthusiastic Freudian who believes that the new science of psychoanalysis will enable him not only to find out the cause of her murderous impulses but also to cure them.

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This English production was directed by Peter Sasdy & was presumably an attempt by Hammer studios to try something different from it's well know Dracula & Frankenstein series of films, personally I really liked it for what it was even though I know it's not that well known or thought of that highly which is a shame. The script by L.W. Davidson was based on a short printed story by Edward Spencer Shew & seems to take itself very seriously which I thought it just about got away with, the basic concept is rather far fetched & silly but I thought it worked quite well & was something a bit different even if it unfolds in a slightly predictable & linear way. Some of the character's are a bit underdeveloped & some of them are a bit dull but that's probably how people behaved in Victorian London. The film moves along at a nice pace & is never boring plus it has a nice ending which seemed very fitting. The only thing which didn't really work for me was that it didn't take much for Anna to go into here trance & be possessed & since it was so easy why had it never happened before? Oh & I personally wouldn't let a person who had just slit my maids throat in cold blood walk around my house & do whatever she wanted especially while my family was there! Hopefully HANDS OF THE RIPPER will be a Hammer horror to arrive soon on DVD, complete, and well handled. With so much hooplah made about Hammer's most famous projects (HORROR OF DRACULA, CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, et.al.), it's a shame HANDS OF THE RIPPER often gets overlooked by fans, and therefore by the public as well. I am an enthusiastic fan of the Hammer Studios, and my admiration for this brilliant Production Company gets greater with each film I see. The Hammer Studios are most famous for their films made in the late 50s and 60s, most prominently for the (awesome) "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" series. As far as I am considered, however, some of Hammer's films from the early 70s are just as brilliant as their older successes. One of their greatest and my personal favorite of their films, the brilliant "Vampire Circus" was made in 1972, for example, and the early 70s also brought a variety of other classics, such as "Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde" or "Scars Of Dracula", which is easily the nastiest entry to Hammer's Dracula series. "Hands Of The Ripper" of 1971 is yet another great Hammer production that is immensely atmospheric, genuinely creepy, well-acted and stunningly suspenseful, and an absolute must-see for every Horror-fan. Anna's savage acts of violence are provoked by a flash of light and a kiss: Symbols of the most desirable of gifts -- enlightenment and affection -- that here become triggers for perversion. With having enjoyed the commentary that Kim Newman had done with Alan Jones for Dario Argento's The Bird With The Crystal Plumage,I started to search round for other commentaries that Newman was involved in,and I stumbled upon a title which was made during the last days of Hammer Horror,which led to me getting ready to shake hands with the ripper.