Synopsis
An old antique ring turns a college professor into a homicidal maniac when he puts it on. The ring originaly belonged to Jack the Ripper, and the Ripper's spirit possesses whoever wears it.
1985 Directed by Christopher Lewis
An old antique ring turns a college professor into a homicidal maniac when he puts it on. The ring originaly belonged to Jack the Ripper, and the Ripper's spirit possesses whoever wears it.
The 2nd of three low budget horror movies made by Christopher Lewis in the mid-80s, collected in the VCI DVD release The Ripper Blood Pack, The Ripper is about a cursed antique ring that allows Jack the Ripper to possess a college professor and go on a killing spree. Jack the Ripper is played by horror icon Tom Savini.
Well, sort of... Savini was only paid for one day of shooting so he doesn't appear until the last ten minutes. For the majority of the movie, there's a stand in with his face hidden in shadows playing him. He also didn't work on the effects which are not up to par for something with Savini's name on it and can…
Was that summer my friends and I were following the old railroad tracks cause we heard there was a dead body!!!
And I found a magic ring that turned me into Tom Savini
I love it when I look up some old b-horror movie on letterboxd that i haven't heard of, and find a wall of 1 and 1.5 star reviews talking about how shitty and unenjoyable it is - because if i read the reviews and then watch the movie, my expectations are so dramatically lowered that chances are I'll end up liking it!
Such was definitely the case with The Ripper, so thanks everybody! Honestly it's not that bad!! Tom Savini only being in it for a few minutes isn't important, his acting isn't that great to watch anyway... however, his involvement meant that the gore effects in this no budget video jam were pretty excellent (not a lot of them…
There's a rumor that Savini won't sign copies at conventions. Anyone able to validate those claims? 5.1/10
The idea of a student having my personal phone number and aspirations at becoming an issue of TV Guide?
a red flag if I've ever seen one, is a student who calls his teacher numerous times to remind him that Conquerer Worm is on TV -- regional SOV slasher that skates by with Tom Savini's name and likeness despite barely being in the movie (and when he is, it's because he's an embodiment of Jack the Ripper that is summed by some gaudy cursed ring which sounds about right)
Apparently The Ripper was made by the same folks who brought us the straight-to-video classic Blood Cult (1985). The budget was bigger—$70,000—and they took two whole weeks to make it (Shumate 50). The Ripper also boasts about five minutes of Tom Savini as said Ripper. And I don't know if he's responsible for the gore effects, but they're pretty good. (If you don't want to see people's necks get slit open, don't watch this movie.)
A college professor, Richard Harwell (Tom Schreier) is teaching a class titled Famous Crimes on Film. I say teaching, but he only teaches for about five minutes before telling the students that he's ending class early. (Why didn't I ever think of that?! All these…
As far as modern SOV revivals of Jack the Ripper go, this approaches the concept with better ideas than Night Ripper did. Unfortunately, it's also half-an-hour longer and does nothing to earn that extra runtime. Besides, it'll always be difficult to top the episode of Star Trek where Jack the Ripper is revealed to be an omnipresent space entity who was responsible for history’s worst serial killers - human and alien.
It was pretty funny though when they show the characters watching the Vincent Price movie The Conqueror Worm and the sounds from the TV are not The Witchfinder General but in fact a made-up sci-fi movie about a literal conquering worm.
THE RIPPER (1985)
"An old antique ring turns a college professor into a homicidal maniac when he puts it on. The ring originaly belonged to Jack the Ripper, and the Ripper's spirit possesses whoever wears it."
Released the same year as Blood Cult (1985), both of these low-budget pseudo-slashers directed by Christopher Lewis, The Ripper has Tom Savini playing the evil spirit of Jack The Ripper...what's more rad than that, I ask you?
A bit too elongated in many scenes, much of the film feeling like filler content stretched to the max. At least, the murder sequences are pretty gruesome for such an amateur effort. That and all the horror related trivia flying around like winged monkeys gone nuts after…
From the team that brought us Blood Cult comes its shot-on-film follow-up released the same year, a story about a college professor who becomes possessed by an antique ring once worn by Jack the Ripper.
A definite upgrade from its predecessor, The Ripper ups the gore, budget, and charm. It even shows a little ambition by throwing in a period-piece prologue. The lead is much more interesting than the old fogey from Blood Cult (who our lead calls "Potato Head" while watching the movie on TV), and although the runtime is like 15 minutes longer, the pace feels faster. Tom Savini pops up at the end to chew scenery, for what it's worth.
Full disclosure, I am a pushover when it comes to regional slasher flicks from Oklahoma. I've kind of hit a dead end when it comes to finding more of them out there from this era, so I'm rewatching the ones I own and I'm really loving it.
Man, these SOV movies have a very "specific" look to them. They remind me of those porno tapes I used to watch. I think the acting was better in most of those though. I'm a big Dr. Gore Tom Savini fan, but he isn't much of a thespian. Jack The Ripper has come BACK to the 80's to kill your ladies! The gore is pretty crazy looking but it's few and far between.