Director: José Luis Madrid
Year: 1972
Country: Spain/Italy
Alternate Titles: Jack el destripador de Londres; Jack the Ripper of London
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Following a rash of brutal murders, a Scotland Yard inspector attempting to solve the case finds that the evidence pointing to the legendary Jack the Ripper implicates a former trapeze artist as the main suspect and forces him to find the real killer to clear his name.
Review:
This one was quite the enjoyable Giallo effort. One of the film's better aspects is the fact that this one manages to tie into the historical connections and works itself into the modern setting. Despite knowing early on that the clues point to the mythical killer through the style of knifings and the connection with the blades found at the crime scenes, the inherent inability to see past that and focus on the one character for the vast majority of the running time with a series of improbable tactics to try to place him at the foot of the killings as there's no real reason why he should be placed squarely in the blame for the incidents which all ties together into the workings of the genre.
That also extends rather nicely into the film's stalking scenes which are quite fun and enjoyably in the giallo vein, from the opening shock murder of the prostitute thinking she's with a client only to pull a knife unexpectedly, a later stalking of a woman in her flat who is completely unaware of the killer approaching her room and then taking her out makes for a chilling sequence and the great attacks in the school gym and a woman alone in her apartment all come off much creepier than they should which really enhances the stalking action in here. The manner in which he gets implicated, being found the morning after a night with a dead prostitute and her blood on him which forces a daring escape into the night that keeps him having to dodge the police after him, and along with a solid brawl with a gang of youths attempting to bring him to justice also giving this one some solid action alongside the stalking. That leads into the film's other great aspect in the finale which is the highly enjoyable brawl in the killers' lair as there's plenty of hand-to-hand brawling that makes for a truly enjoyable time and gives this a strong finish.
Still, even with these great elements there's some minor troubling factors. The biggest issue with this one is the rather stilted and one-note investigation that carries on throughout here which renders a vast majority of what's going on really bland to get through. The insistence on the circus performer as the killer is inherently ludicrous as the physical feats performed renders his career-threatening injury the perfect scapegoat to place him beyond the scope of investigation as a simple search realizes that quite easily. It's so weak in fact that there's even the mention of this in the final showdown when they make mention of the fact that the case is rather mysterious in how it lead to the killer and they just gloss over it.
The other flaw is the rather troubling lack of sleaze and violence here, as the attacks leading into the revelation about them being prostitutes leaves this with little to no nudity and utterly cheap-looking gore effects that ruin any illusion of realism by showing a knife actively carving up animal meat due to the consistency and color that's far beyond what human skin looks like. These do drag it down, but otherwise it was quite fun.
Overview: ***.5/5
An enjoyable if slightly flawed early giallo, this one is fun enough and manages to get some incredibly worthwhile factors involved that hold this one up against some slight drawbacks present. This one is worth a shot for fans of this style of Eurohorror genre fare or of the creative crew while most others out there might want to heed slight caution in favor of other titles first before going for this one.
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