Ripper Anniversary: What To Watch

Amateur "Ripperologists" can enjoy a list of movies and documentaries on the still unsolved case. Illustration from The Illustrated London News.

The series of unsolved bloody murders of poor women left smokey, Victorian London terrified and transfixed 130 years ago. The obsession also made for great fiction and wild speculation as to who the killer was and his reason for the murders. 

Movie makers and TV documentarians continue to wring the obsession for entertainment value. Here’s a list of the best, some of which you can watch right now. Click on the movie titles to watch trailers, the Watch the movie! link for the movie, and on the documentary titles to watch the docs. 

Top Ripper movies

A Study in Terror (1965)

Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper. Sherlock wins.

Watch the movie!

From Hell (2001)

Based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel, the movie’s strength is in the look and performances. 

Jack The Ripper (1988 British TV movie)

A two-parter made for U.K. and U.S. TV screens starring Michael Caine. 

The Lodger (1926)

Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film take on the Ripper case.

Watch the movie!

The Lodger (1944)

Based on the same novel as Hitchcock’s film, but with more melodrama and creeps.

Watch the movie! 

Murder By Decree (1979)

Sherlock takes on the Ripper again. This time with Christopher Plummer and James Mason. 

Time After Time (1979)

H.G. Wells meets the Ripper meets 1970s San Francisco. 

Top Ripper Documentaries

The case remains unsolved, but that doesn’t mean that documentarians and TV networks can’t provide chilling docs with reenactments, crime scene animation and their own speculation.

Jack The Ripper The Definitive History

Extensive 3D animation gives the most vivid documentary 

Real Stories: The Whitechapel Murders

Biography’s Jack The Ripper: Phantom of Death

History Buffs: From Hell

As much an examination of the 2001 film as a look into the actual murders.