Sunday, May 13, 2012

Ripper: Letter From Hell (2001)

Formerly the leading profiler of serial killers before dropping off the map, Professor Kane is teaching a class on - what else -  serial killers.  He teaches his students they must think outside the box or become a victim.

During a party at an old warehouse, one of the class members is murdered.  One of the study groups in class decides they want to try to solve the murder.  But Molly,  the only survivor of a killer five years earlier, opts out as it's now real and not just theory.

After more students in the class are murdered, the policy believe the killer is targeting the class. Molly suggests that the killer is mirroring Jack the Ripper as the wounds on the students match the wounds on the Ripper's victims in order of their death.  The professor doesn't listen to Molly's Ripper theory so a classmate who works in the morgue decides to inspect the body of the latest victim.  Before she meets a similar fate, she is drugged and hallucinates Cockney prostitutes.

The study group, or what is left of it, heads up the the Professors cabin in the woods.  A cabin which has no phone and no way to contact anyone in case there is a problem, oh like say... a killer in the woods.  While discussing the case further, Molly notices that the Rippers victims and her dead classmates have the same initials and are dying in the same order.  Instead of sticking together to stay safe, they start fighting and split up.

The odds of the students in the same class having the initials of the Rippers victims is astronomical.  I'm guessing they thought they were clever by coming up with this angle, but instead it makes it seem so contrived.  Also the professors whole class revolves around thinking outside the box to avoid being a victim, and studying the methods at which serial killers gain the trust of their victims.  So I guess none of them did much studying because everyone ends up doing things that put them at risk.  I guess the one thing you can say about it is that it's way better than the absolutely horrible sequel.

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