Frederick Abberline is an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper's true identity.
It has the lush decrepitude of an autumn compost heap or an old Hammer werewolf flick.
– J. Hoberman,
Village Voice,
23 Oct 2001
rotten:
The only thrill, if you can call it that, is waiting to see who gets sliced up next.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
29 Oct 2001
rotten:
The Hughes boys blow it by burying a fine cast ... in stock scares, sappy romance and cliches that really are from hell.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
29 Oct 2001
fresh:
This wry, atmospheric procedural spawned by a real mystery would be thorny enough without also being an adaptation.
– Lisa Alspector,
Chicago Reader,
18 Apr 2007
rotten:
Anyone expecting the combo of Allen and Albert Hughes and the famed Victorian serial-killer to result in a gritty, stygian, skin-crawling horror movie will be severely disappointed