Unlike the former three adaptations in the Hallmark series, this one makes no pretense of even loosely 'following' any of Conan Doyle's works. This is the only reason that 'The Whitechapel Vampire' can get away with near heresy. The story involves ritual, possible demonic, killings in a monastery in Whitechapel, which was only recently deprived of Jack the Ripper.
Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate, but finds himself facing the possible unknown. A skeptic of anything supernatural, he fully believes that these 'vampire killings' can be proven the work of a human hand. Thus the story involves the Christian faith, and pagan superstition, as well as a medium, in attempts to satisfy viewers of all belief systems. What it does instead is trip over its own ambitions.
Christians like myself will resent that in the end, something the medium has said proves itself right. And skeptics won't like the 'divine intervention' at a key moment of the climax. As a full-length film, it's often hard to follow, and isn't entirely explained, but manages to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Frewer remains stereotyped, but it doesn't bleed through as often as in the first three adaptations. It is not the finest pastiche ever filmed but is worth seeing at least once.
