Terror na Ponte de Londres

Another in a long line of Jack the Ripper returns movies. Every cornball cliche in the book was in this dull, routine, totally predictable yawner. A big city cop moves to Arizona as a way to avoid stress after a bad incident in Chicago. However, he runs into even more pressure when he gets on the trail of a serial murderer who slays in exactly the same fashion as the notorious 19th century London killer. Gad, what a stupid film.

The opening shot of the movie was made outside-at night when the desert temperature was over 105 degrees F. The opening shot for the movie depicted Jack The Ripper in a long black cloak running stealthfully down a fog ladden street in London. The scene skillfully suggested a clold damp evening in London. The actual special effects produced by the crew were classic Hollywood. It seemed very surreal to watch this scene being shot over and over between 12:30 and 1:30 in the morning. The final cut depicted cold when the entire crew was literally crumbling from the heat. It was truly a treat to watch the skill and professionalism displayed just to get a take on approximately five seconds of movie film.

Terror at London Bridge (1985)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly made-for-TV flick starts off in 1888 as Jack the Ripper has just killed another woman and takes off running. He only makes it to the London Bridge where he is shot, falls over the side and takes one of the stones with him. Flash-forward to 1985 and Lake Havasu City, AZ where the bridge is now located. It's a special day as that one, long-lost piece of the bridge has been found and returned to its place. Soon murdered women start turning up and a detective (David Hasselhoff) begins to think that the spirit of Jack the Ripper has returned. There's way too much attempted plot in this rather horrid flick that really insults anyone who is a fan of Jack the Ripper movies. I'm really not sure what the point of this film was but there's no logic that can be found here and the story seems to go off in countless directions. Part of the time it wants to be a serious horror flick and other times it wants to simply show off the body of Hasselhoff who is either shirtless, acting sexy or simply walking around with the buttons of his shirt undone. He certainly tries coming off more as a playboy than a detective and his performance isn't much better. The supporting cast isn't too bad with Clu Gulager (THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD), Adrienne Barbeau (THE FOG) and Lane Smith (MY COUSIN VINNY) having small roles. None of them have much to do but it's fun seeing them. The screenplay is the main problem here as the movie just never paints any type of mystery that one will be excited about and things get off to a bad start and never pick up. By the thirty-minute mark you'll be bored out of your mind and you've still got seventy-minutes to go. The direction by Swackhamer isn't too bad even if it has all those cliché made-for-TV moments.

I began watching this as a joke, but actually found it mildly enjoyable, like a more-bloody, supernatural-ish Murder She Wrote episode. Hoff is Hoff, with all that entails, but most of the other leads give competent performances, and I appreciated that Clu Gulager's role wasn't as one-note as you would expect. Stephanie Kramer is solid as Hoff's romantic object, and while I'm sure some fans would have preferred a more sexy turn from Adrian Barbeau, she's likeable as the town librarian. Yes it's a silly bit of made-for-TV nonsense, but I found it a less than terrible thing to have running in the background during a quiet spring afternoon. :)

'Bridge Across Time' aka 'Terror at London Bridge' is a pretty good 1985 made for TV film. It's a different twist on Jack the Ripper.

Basically, when The Ripper was shot and toppled over the London Bridge in 1888 he knocked over a stone with him into the Thames River. The original London Bridge was relocated to Lake Havasu City, Arizona and completed there in 1971. The film shows there was a missing stone, found and brought to Arizona in 1985 - this stone must have housed The Ripper's soul(?) or similar idea. Anyway, Jack is back in 1985 and he's killing the same way he did in 1888.

In away, The Ripper is resurrected via this stone and fresh blood (similar to the way a vampire is resurrected - ya know the dust of a vampire, fresh blood hits it and ta-dah we have a vampire - same with The Ripper and the stone in this film).

I quite liked this film - I can suspend my beliefs to see a vampire resurrected in a similar manner so it is easy for me to do that for Jack The Ripper as well.

The movie started out good, it hit a bit of a lull then picked back up into an exciting thriller.

Yes this is a good rainy day film.

7/10