From Hell

From Hell (2001) tells the Ripper murders through a detective. Inspector Abberline uses opium and treats the visions it brings as evidence. The film frames the killings not as a puzzle to solve but as the murder of women nobody cared about in the poorest district of London. The source is the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. Moore disowned the adaptation, consistent with his refusal to associate himself with film versions of his work. The book uses the royal conspiracy theory as a frame while really being about the nineteenth century itself; the film puts the conspiracy at the centre and takes only a small part of the book's scope. Albert and Allen Hughes directed. Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm and Robbie Coltrane star. It was shot in Prague, where Victorian London was built. It runs 122 minutes. Good for: period atmosphere, serial killer thrillers, and visually dark films. Less good for: the violence and the murders are graphic. For anyone who has read the book the adaptation is a serious loss. The royal conspiracy has no historical basis and the film presents it as fact, and Heather Graham's character does not belong to the period at all.