This Hammer film is not a typical Hammer film by any stretch. It is more like a Hitchcock film on a Hammer budget. The daughter of Jack The Ripper (Angharad Rees), who is plagued by nightmares and bouts of schizophrenia, is adopted briefly by a sympathetic doctor (Eric Porter) who is keen to understand what is provoking her murderous heart. Peter Sasdy, who also directed the inferior "Countess Dracula", directs with an assured, creative hand, and constructs some excellent suspense sequences. The murders are quite bloody and sudden, and the atmosphere is thick with dread and subtle eroticism. The tight script also features one immortal line: "Modesty is an affectation of the ugly." The climax, occurring in a theater, possesses a welcome grandiosity that lifts "Hands of the Ripper" above typical Hammer fare.
Review of Hands of the Ripper
