Ripper 2: Ressuscitando o Medo

I watched Ripper 1 & 2 back-to-back on Tubi. While the first one started off with some promise, it soon dissolved into a convoluted mess with a confusing ending.

Which leads into the sequel. It could have fixed the issues with the first, and maybe explored more of the character of Molly and explain why she was the way she was. Instead we get a shallow movie with no real plot and a tone that vastly differs so much from the first, that I can't help but wonder if it was originally a different movie altogether that just ended up getting the Ripper title slapped onto it.

I can't even really give an opinion on the acting, because the actors had absolutely nothing to do. Their characters were basically cardboard cutouts lining up to get picked off one-by-one.

While the first had it's issues, it at least had an interesting initial mystery and characters that helped move the plot along. Ripper 2 comes off as simply lazy, and I wonder if the crew even wanted to make it.

The director of an asylum offers to the serial killer Molly Keller (Erin Karpluk) a chance to be submitted to a pilot unconventional experiment in Prague, in the Weisser Institute. Molly accepts, and she travels to the clinic, where Dr. Samuel Wiesser (Richard Bremmer) developed a treatment using a virtual world, and Molly and deranged youngsters would be trial subjects. However, something does not work well in the experiment, and when the patients die in their trip, the same happens in the real world. The explanation is a huge twist point in the very end of the story.

"Ripper 2: Letter from Within" is not so bad as indicated in IMDb User Rating. The ham actor Richard Bremmer is very funny with his horrible acting; there are many beautiful women and breasts; the death scenes, the special effects and the atmosphere are great for a B-movie; and the story has a great plot point in the end that makes a difference. I respect the other viewers' opinion, but I liked this slash movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Ripper 2"

As the intro credits appear, we see photos and news clippings of Jack the Ripper. Then we see a murdered woman on the street and the girl with the knife who did it.

In the present, a female mental institution patient is sitting in front of the institutions director. He asks her how she's doing, she lurches forward and slams a letter opener in his neck.

Then she wakes up still sitting there. The director tells her they are out of treatment options but he's going to send her to Prague to undergo an unconventional therapy.

As soon as she gets there, she gets something implanted in her brain. During the procedure she has visions of the Ripper. When it's over the weird Dr. gives her a tour of the castle and she meets the other patients- a forgettable bunch. During dinner they all attack each other. Oddly enough the castle walls are covered in weapons. The Dr. vaguely explains the procedure and that it will involve sleep and risky actions during sleep but there's no danger because they'll wake her up if things become too dangerous.

When the prettiest of the girls goes to bed she sees the ripper. She escapes out the window but slips and hangs for her life. Our girl comes to the rescue but the other girl falls to her death and ends up impaled on the fence. Our girl wakes up and sees the crew trying to resuscitate the "impaled" girl who's sleeping in the next bed. When she wakes up again later the girl is gone and the Dr. tells her she was let go, that treatment wasn't helping her. She of course freaks out, but oddly enough doesn't show an injury she sustained while trying to rescue the other girl.

Now all the other kids start seeing the ripper who's after them. The Dr. who can monitor all this through the implants notices that something is wrong, but can't fix it. Our girl notices that the ripper and she are connected and she also notices that she has some type of an influence over the experiment. She'll have to confront the ripper and the Dr. and there's a twist at the end.

Ripper 2 unfortunately sets itself in the world of dreams and mental patients, which rarely makes for a satisfying storyline. It's a bit below B-movie level. It doesn't look very good, has too loud sound effects, some cheesy visual effects, a weak cast. The story had potential had it focused more on the ripper rather than on dreams and experiments. But then the ripper angle isn't explained very well either. I did like the ending though because it brings us back to reality. For a horror movie, the death scenes aren't impressive. There should have been more gore. The movie does have some good nudity though, but it too isn't very well filmed. Why this movie needed two directors is a mystery. More should have been done with the setting in Prague. Ripper 2 could have been a decent B-movie but it just doesn't deliver.