Terror na Ponte de Londres

'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

Certainly not the level of a Hitchcock thriller, this movie was still kind of fun if you don't expect too much. Typical 80s style and fashion and a silly plot make this the kind of movie I remember seeing at an 8th-grade sleepover. If you are a

Randolph Mantooth fan like me, you'll appreciate seeing him in anything full

length. Unfortunately, his character is a bit goofy, but I'll take it. Don't bother if you want something that is scary or asks you to figure anything out. I would

recommend it only for a young group (contains nothing as gruesome as some of

today's treasures) or as background while you clean the house on a rainy

Sunday afternoon.

The story of the "Terror at London Bridge" is pretty ridiculous but it held my interest. The plot is a pretty weird, the London Bridge (in real life) was dismantled and shipped to Arizona. Yes Arizona. Anyway, a tourist couple are staying near the bridge and the wife cuts her finger and Jack the Ripper is resurrected and starts his reign of terror again in Arizona (of all places)!

It's pretty cheesy, but David Hasselhoff was easy on the eyes. Stefanie Kramer held her own, although overly tanned and the hair, the shoulder pads, but hey, it's the 80's. Adrienne Barbeau was not utilized as much as she could have been, but did a decent job. Randolph Mantooth was fair enough as the co-cop friend of Hasselhoff.

This was a TV movie, which I realize young people can't comprehend these days. I grew up watching the "ABC Movie of the Week" back in the 70's, which actually have some fantastic movies, which are cult classics now. This isn't a classic, no way near that, but it was okay, and had a few suspenseful moments. Would I go out of my way to watch this, no. But if it came on, I had nothing else to do, yeah, sure.

Terror at London Bridge (1985) is a movie that I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows a Chicago detective who transfers to Lake Havasu, Arizona after a traumatic shooting. Lake Havasu has the London Bridge (true story) which a philanthropist purchased and moved there for tourist purposes. When a piece of the bridge is found in England in the River Thames, it is transferred to Lake Havasu and added to the bridge. Little do the residents know that piece of bridge is haunted and triggers the return of Jack the Ripper. When a killing spree starts like Lake Havasu has never seen can the Chicago police officer overcome his inner demons and stop Jack?

This movie is directed by E. W. Swackhamer (The Dain Curse) and stars David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider), Stepfanie Kramer (The Man with Two Brains), Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog), Barbara Bingham (Jason Takes Manhattan) and Randolph Mantooth (Killer Holiday).

The is a very random and odd movie. I will say I did like the opening kill, depiction of the bridge and use of fog. They do a good job of using fog machines throughout the film. However, the plot is flimsy, writing is average to bad, acting is mediocre and the ending is horrendous. The Scooby-Doo who done it elements and reveal was "so bad it's bad" and the love story didn't work for me.

Overall, this is a rare 80s David Hasselhoff horror movie, thankfully. I would score this a 3.5/10 and recommend skipping it.

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.