Friday, August 2, 2013

HANDS OF THE RIPPER 1971 (SYNAPSE)

One hell of a movie!!

The daughter of Jack The Ripper continues her fathers murderous ways.

Angharad Rees is the young woman named Anna and when she grows up she is cared for by a John Pritchard, a doctor who thinks he can cure her. Pritchard is played by Eric Porter. Anna gets the urge to kill whenever she is embraced or kissed. Is she possessed by the spirit of her dead father, or is she just mad?

This version contains scenes never seen in America before and is completely restored by Synapse. I hadn't seen the movie for a little over 40 years and so it was like a Revelation to me. The murders are very graphic and includes knives in the neck, needles in eyes and much more.

This has been a sadly neglected gem in the Hammer horror history for a long time, and it's great to see Synapse finally bringing this out and in a Blu-ray/DVD combo. This is highly recommended to ANY horror fan. The extras include The Evolution Of Hammer Gore and a great featurette made by Ballyhoo Productions entitled "The Devil's Bloody Plaything: Possessed By The Hands Of The Ripper" which really goes in depth about the film.

These Ballyhoo produced featurettes are the best around and I hope they keep doing it. Also included are theatrical trailers, tv spots and the audio of the Severin Darden intro for the tv showing in 1974. Now I can finally watch this uncut and can relive the triple feature of "Twins Of Evil", Hands Of The Ripper" and "Night Of The Lepus" which is when I originally saw the film back in the early 70's.

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