This solid, high-quality period horror film from Allen and Albert Hughes won the critics over and was quite a hit in 2000. Based on the real-life exploits of serial killer Jack the Ripper in 1888, From Hell stars Johnny Depp - adopting his best London accent - as Inspector Fred Abberline, a man determined to track down the Ripper in Victorian east London.
Ably assisted by Sergeant Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane), Abberline is helped on his way by visions that he has while high on opium. And adding urgency to his investigations is "unfortunate" Mary Kelly (Heather Graham), a potential Ripper victim with whom the inspector is falling in love...
From Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins to Anthony LaPaglia in Frasier, overseas actors have long struggled with British accents. But The Observer described Depp's London accent as "unobtrusive and quite as convincing as most British actors' American ones."
The Observer also complimented the depth Depp brought to his role and Sir Ian Holm's "commanding performance" as physician and leading freemason Sir William Gull. But it reserved its highest praise for British production designer Martin Childs's "spectacular recreation of Victorian Whitechapel over several acres of Prague", which it described as "a triumph, one of those sets that should be preserved for posterity".
Well worth watching.
From Hell is a Film programme that first aired in 2001 and has been classified a 18 certificate.
