dave_hillman

This is probably the best Jack the Ripper movie ever made.

Granted, there aren't that many.

But "From Hell" establishes that queasy Whitechapel aura almost immediately, sustaining it throughout, and it has Johnny Depp as a drug addicted detective. I need say no more.

Depp is dashing and spaced out here, but he is also focused and committed to all genre aspects of this enterprise. Well directed by the Hughes Brothers, on a generous budget, "From Hell" reasonably theorizes about the Ripper's origins while at the same time spinning a bloody, entertaining and robustly atmospheric yarn that elevates this movie to one of the better big studio horrors of recent years.

When this was made, the Hughes Brothers had no experience in horror films as far as I know. Seeing the results, you'd never know it, watching this confident creepshow hit almost every mark with satisfactory precision. The brothers are blessed with a very good screenplay by Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias, but almost every directorial choice here is very pleasing in its unsettling way.

Comparable to another Ripper movie, Nicholas Meyer's superb "Time After Time" (but far gorier), "From Hell" brazenly borrows a key twist from that Malcolm McDowell classic, but this can be forgiven because (a) it works here as well and (b) it's not far-fetched.

Great supporting turns by Robbie Coltrane and a bravura Ian Holm add to the luster of this memorable picture, and Heather Graham is great as a prostitute dodging not only the Ripper but unpleasant pimps breathing down her neck. She's also a great romantic partner for Depp. The large supporting cast, mostly Brits, sell this macabre material as only they can.

Refreshingly, "From Hell" does not flinch from the gruesome nature of the Ripper saga, so it's not for kids. Unless they're six-year-old budding horror buffs, which I was. My parents' first movie choice for me in a movie theater was a re-release of the 1960 "Psycho", and it was love at first sight to this day. When I dragged them to "The Exorcist" years later because I couldn't get in alone, they realized what they had spawned.

But it's close to a home run for the Hughes Brothers and yet another dazzlingly memorable performance by Johnny Depp.

If you liked Tim Burton's work, particularly "Sweeney Todd", you will enjoy this thriller.

All tech credits, and the score, are top-notch. For a studio horror film, "From Hell" is a big, slashing cut above.

Well, OK, not really, but you get the idea.

"Match Point" is Woody Allen's late-career bulls-eye. A quiet suspenser set in London, it is a story about love, lust and (mild spoiler) murder among the upper class.

Jonathan Ryhs-Myers has a career role as an ambitious, and lucky, young tennis instructor who becomes obsessed with his male student's fiance (played with verve by Scarlett Johansson, a last minute replacement for Kate Winslet, but you'd never know it).

Trouble is, the student (Matthew Goode, sexy and excellent) has a sister, and she falls for Jonathan hard. Envious of the lifestyle he's being drenched with, Jonathan marries her while still pining for Scarlett. A superb Emily Mortimer plays the adoring but somewhat clueless new wife of Jonathan, and all four of these young leads have a field day with Allen's no-frills, razor-sharp, dialogue-heavy screenplay.

Rhys-Meyers and Johansson have indelible sexual chemistry and, although Woody avoids nudity, their sizzling love scenes are the hottest Allen has ever put on screen (it doesn't hurt that both Rhys-Meyers and Johansson are gorgeous to behold in every scene). Rounding out the terrific cast are Brian Cox as the family matriarch and Penelope Wilton as his wife, an unfiltered but genteel lush.

Allen mounts suspense pretty well, as he did in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (which shares several similarities to this film). The tennis motif provides a wicked twist near the end, and the disquietingly ironic ending is quite satisfying unless you're a die-hard moralist.

Woody takes to London very naturally. His location shooting is every bit as worshipful here as it is in any of his New York films. The almost entirely British cast (Johansson is cast as an American actress) acquit themselves seamlessly both in the Allen universe of lush locations, great music and stylish costumes, and the everyday rhythms of UK police stations, pubs, museums, and so on.

Allen's Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay was well deserved indeed. If you're into nifty, smart suspense movies, this will be your cup of tea.

"The Godsend" is a typical evil child flick from the UK. For what it is, it's a good rainy day chiller.

For a Cannon release, this is fairly tame in terms of sleaze and gore, but "The Godsend" establishes a queasy little shroud of unease from the beginning with a hice opening featuring impressive overhead shots of a countryside accompanied by a rather sad, melancholy score.

Angela Pleasance has only a few scenes, but she is the main villain, an ethereal pagan type with piercing blue eyes and a round angelic face. Angela's thing is to pick a healthy family preferably with multiple young kids and then give birth "accidentally" in their house and then disappear promptly, so that the unlucky family inherits by adoption Angela's babies, who apparently are all little murderous cupids, also with piercing blue eyes. No further origin story is provided, aside from a brief smattering of theorizing dialogue, which actually makes the story a bit more unsettling.

The aspect of the killer child, while familiar, is handled intelligently, and while some may find the shots of Bonnie, the little girl killer (played by two different young blonde kid actors) a bit repetitive, always presented with eerie music that pretty much spells out that this brat is up to no good.

The movie is suitable for young horror fans, as it could easily have been made for television. But it can't denied that "The Godsend" has its own offbeat charm, and it's sincerely acted, particularly by Malcolm Stoddard as the father who finally realizes Bonnie is a bad bad little girl.

Keep your expectations low and you will enjoy this if you like low-key British horror.