RIPPER TOUR (2018) (Short)

Directed by: Jason Read, Starring: Lynn Lowry, Dudley Sutton, Charlotte Mounter, Christopher Walker. Horror, UK 2018, 9mins.

A Robo Films & Misty Moon Production. 

“I guess horror was my destiny...”

Writer/director/cinematographer/editor/composer (phew!) Jason Read’s crowdfunded short is a cleverly conceived and executed take on the notorious Jack the Ripper murders which plagued the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. 

Setting his short, sharp and spooky story in the present day, Read gifts us with the character of Jackie (Jacqueline) Butcher, an American horror scream queen. Sitting in a East End cafe, Jackie (Lynn Lowry, THE CRAZIES, SHIVERS, MODEL HUNGER) explains to cafe owner Sam (Christopher Walker) that having attended a horror convention in London, she’s now planning on indulging in a little “real-world horror” by visiting the sites of the Ripper’s murders and sharing her tour live with her ‘Butcherooneys’ (fans) on Facebook. This isn’t just some random sight-seeing whim however, for Jackie’s great-grandfather used to have a butcher shop in Whitechapel before emigrating to America in 1889...

It’s not too hard to guess where Jackie Butcher’s misguided tour will take her, but it is undoubtedly great fun following Lynn Lowry’s character as she blithely re-traces a bloody past that’s ultimately a little too close to home for this particular ‘Butcher’.

Genre legend Lynn Lowry is simply fabulous as scream queen Jackie Butcher, reciting every gruesome detail with unbridled relish as she narrates her tour live into her selfie stick- mounted iPhone. Lowry serves up some juicy and witty dialogue e.g. “Keep an eye out for my new film, ‘Slitty Woman’ coming soon!” (an entirely plausible title given the smorgasbord of ripe genre titles on Lynn’s actual IMDb page). The ‘live’ Facebook interaction with fans, whose comments mount up on the screen along with the floating ‘likes’ is brilliantly realised, and Lowry totally sells the set-up with an irresistible twinkle in the eye.

The surprisingly effective shivers (“Behind you”) are provided by Lela Bergeron, Jen Morriss, Samantha Oci, Savannah Raye Jones and Charlotte Mounter - supplemented with some evocative make-up work from Maisie Palmer adding a layer of gravitas to their respective characters. Multi-talented Read layers the incrementally spooky narrative with an atmospherically haunting electronic soundtrack, channelling John Carpenter’s PRINCE OF DARKNESS which lends the proceedings heightened menace as twilight encroaches.

And then of course we have the glorious appearance from the one and only Dudley Sutton, sadly recently departed in real life, a genuine national treasure. Seeing him peer into the phone camera before maniacally laughing at the gradual realisation that his character will live on down the ages for all eternity is in a melancholic way a fitting tribute to a great artist who will be remembered with love and affection.

I particularly liked the fact that the cafe Jackie Butcher sets out from has a poster on the wall quoting Joseph (The ‘Elephant Man’) Merrick - fellow East End resident at the London Hospital around the time of the Ripper murders – a nice incidental detail. I also loved the cafe’s patrons being portrayed by the likes of the location photographer John Gaffen, Jen Morriss (enjoying a quick cuppa before playing Ripper victim Anni Chapman), and the producer and curator of Misty Moon, Stuart Morriss himself. It illustrates perfectly how this (very) modestly budgeted production was clearly a labour of love from a dedicated and close-knit team and I look forward to seeing Robo Films & Misty Moon future projects.

  

****(out of 5*)    
Paul Worts

P.S. to Jason Read, I just want to say to you: “dum dum diddy, dum dum do.” (Every time I watched RIPPER TOUR this got stuck in my head for hours).