Hands of the Ripper!

August 26, 2013 | By

What she's about to do with knitting needles I'd like to do to the bug in my throat. Boo!

Okay: so it’s the last week of August, it’s still summer, and yet I have a wintry ailment. A sore throat that inhibits the consumption of nothing more than cream of wheat in baby-sized globs, and maybe ice cream (which I don’t have, but technically can make, perhaps with a special cinnamon–Chloraseptic fashion flavour for the current situation).

The good news is the pounding headache from yesterday has subsided, which means I was able to throw out the incoherent review for Twilight Time’s Body Double and redo the thing before sending it off for an upcoming Rue Morgue issue. Took 6 hours to edit and rewrite 3 small paragraphs Sunday, and took about an hour to redo the thing sans headache. (All I remember from yesterday were long periods of staring at the screen, with my brain droning a kind of ‘uhnnnnn’.)

Still sick and eating minimally, but there is this wad of reviews that has to get uploaded, so between rest periods I’m doing quick edits and posting the lot. Any related Editor’s Blog will be brief, if not perfunctory.

First up is Hands of the Ripper [M] (1971) from Synapse Films on Blu. Surprisingly solid nonsense with a great cast. Yes, it’s billed as one of Hammer’s goriest productions, but knitting needle incident aside, it’s not that shocking. Big plus for film music fans is the inclusion of an isolated music & effects track with Christopher Gunning’s score.

Peter Sasdy’s direction is also solid, and he seems to have been among the last of Hammer’s directors to have remained with the studio during its final years, directing several episodes of Hammer’s last two TV series. I reviewed Hammer House of Horror [M] (also from Synapse) a while back, and am working my way through their last production before a long period of stasis – the uneven but sometimes effective Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense / aka Fox Mystery Theater from 1984.

Coming next: reviews of Tom Hank’s double-header of 1993 – Philadelphia and Sleepless in Seattle on Blu from Twilight Time.

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Category: EDITOR'S BLOG, FILM REVIEWS

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