films adapted from comic books have had plenty of success , whether they’re about superheroes ( batman , superman , spawn ) , or geared toward kids ( casper ) or the arthouse crowd ( ghost world ) , but there’s never really been a comic book like from hell before .
for starters , it was created by alan moore ( and eddie campbell ) , who brought the medium to a whole new level in the mid ’80s with a 12-part series called the watchmen .
to say moore and campbell thoroughly researched the subject of jack the ripper would be like saying michael jackson is starting to look a little odd .
the book ( or ” graphic novel , ” if you will ) is over 500 pages long and includes nearly 30 more that consist of nothing but footnotes .
in other words , don’t dismiss this film because of its source .
if you can get past the whole comic book thing , you might find another stumbling block in from hell’s directors , albert and allen hughes .
getting the hughes brothers to direct this seems almost as ludicrous as casting carrot top in , well , anything , but riddle me this : who better to direct a film that’s set in the ghetto and features really violent street crime than the mad geniuses behind menace ii society ?
the ghetto in question is , of course , whitechapel in 1888 london’s east end .
it’s a filthy , sooty place where the whores ( called ” unfortunates ” ) are starting to get a little nervous about this mysterious psychopath who has been carving through their profession with surgical precision .
when the first stiff turns up , copper peter godley ( robbie coltrane , the world is not enough ) calls in inspector frederick abberline ( johnny depp , blow ) to crack the case .
abberline , a widower , has prophetic dreams he unsuccessfully tries to quell with copious amounts of absinthe and opium .
upon arriving in whitechapel , he befriends an unfortunate named mary kelly ( heather graham , say it isn’t so ) and proceeds to investigate the horribly gruesome crimes that even the police surgeon can’t stomach .
i don’t think anyone needs to be briefed on jack the ripper , so i won’t go into the particulars here , other than to say moore and campbell have a unique and interesting theory about both the identity of the killer and the reasons he chooses to slay .
in the comic , they don’t bother cloaking the identity of the ripper , but screenwriters terry hayes ( vertical limit ) and rafael yglesias ( les mis ? rables ) do a good job of keeping him hidden from viewers until the very end .
it’s funny to watch the locals blindly point the finger of blame at jews and indians because , after all , an englishman could never be capable of committing such ghastly acts .
and from hell’s ending had me whistling the stonecutters song from the simpsons for days ( ” who holds back the electric car/who made steve guttenberg a star ? ” ) .
don’t worry – it’ll all make sense when you see it .
now onto from hell’s appearance : it’s certainly dark and bleak enough , and it’s surprising to see how much more it looks like a tim burton film than planet of the apes did ( at times , it seems like sleepy hollow 2 ) .
the print i saw wasn’t completely finished ( both color and music had not been finalized , so no comments about marilyn manson ) , but cinematographer peter deming ( don’t say a word ) ably captures the dreariness of victorian-era london and helped make the flashy killing scenes remind me of the crazy flashbacks in twin peaks , even though the violence in the film pales in comparison to that in the black-and-white comic .
oscar winner martin childs’ ( shakespeare in love ) production design turns the original prague surroundings into one creepy place .
even the acting in from hell is solid , with the dreamy depp turning in a typically strong performance and deftly handling a british accent .
ians holm ( joe gould’s secret ) and richardson ( 102 dalmatians ) log in great supporting roles , but the big surprise here is graham .
i cringed the first time she opened her mouth , imagining her attempt at an irish accent , but it actually wasn’t half bad .
the film , however , is all good .
2 : 00 – r for strong violence/gore , sexuality , language and drug content