Film

Hands of the Ripper

Name: Hands of the Ripper
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 1971
Cast: Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, Jane Merrow, Keith Bell, Derek Godfrey

A 1971 British horror film that marries two genres with brutal efficiency: the psychological thriller and the supernatural slasher. A psychoanalyst treats a young woman whose violent episodes suggest something far darker than trauma—possession by her father's malevolent spirit. It's visceral, atmospheric, and genuinely unsettling, made for audiences who want their horror grounded in character and dread rather than jump scares.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy slow-burn gothic chills where the menace lives in talky consulting rooms and Freudian theorising, the way early seventies British studio horror did it.

Skip it if you want quick scares or modern pacing, since the talk-heavy middle is slow and the period psychology now feels more quaint than unsettling.

What it asks of you: Expect a brisk 85 minutes that spends much of its running time in clinical dialogue before the blood arrives, so patience with the talk is the price of admission.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Psycho1960

Hitchcock's masterpiece established the template for psychologically motivated horror. Like Hands of the Ripper, it finds terror in the fractured mind and traces violence back to a wounded past. Essential viewing that deepens your appreciation of what came after.

But It's been so thoroughly dissected and referenced that the shock has worn thin for modern viewers. The pace is deliberate, not frantic.

The Wicker Man1973

Another British horror film with genuine unease at its core and a protagonist who misreads everything until it's too late. The atmosphere is suffocating, the folk-horror elements disturbing, and it builds to a finale that hits harder than any gore.

But The music and some performances have an oddness that can feel dated. The pacing requires patience.

The Exorcist1973

Possession horror done with absolute conviction and theological weight. The battle between faith and science mirrors Hands of the Ripper's psychoanalysis-versus-supernatural tension. Terrifying not because of effects but because of what it suggests about forces beyond our control.

But At nearly two and a half hours, it's a commitment. The infamous images have been parodied so often they've lost some potency on first viewing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hands of the Ripper

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Diary of a Madman1963

Both films use camera, sound design, and visual distortion to make mental illness and loss of agency absolutely visceral. The horror comes from being trapped in a deteriorating consciousness.

This Soviet adaptation of Gogol (not a Ripper story at all) visualizes mental disintegration with hallucinatory precision that predates modern horror cinema. Like Hands of the Ripper, it makes subjective reality terrifying—we're trapped in a mind unspooling. Completely different in era and register, but spiritually akin.

But It's in Russian, presented as an avant-garde text, and deliberately disorienting. Not a conventional narrative experience.

Repulsion1965

Polanski's descent into madness through a woman's deteriorating mental state. Like Hands of the Ripper, it visualizes psychological breakdown with visceral precision and makes you complicit in her unraveling without offering easy explanations.

But The body horror and sexual violence are genuinely distressing. There's no catharsis, only mounting dread.

Carrie1976

De Palma's breakthrough channels 1970s horror's best instincts: supernatural violence erupting from psychological damage, teenage rage, and parental cruelty. The final act is operatic destruction that earns its power through character development.

But The prom sequence has been imitated and referenced to death. Some of the '70s satire feels thin on repeat viewings.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death1971

Released the same year as Hands of the Ripper, this indie horror examines whether Jessica's paranoia is real or psychological—and leaves you genuinely uncertain. Eerie, understated, and built on character rather than spectacle.

But The low budget shows in every frame. The pacing is glacial and will lose viewers hunting for conventional scares.

Don't Look Now1973

Roeg's masterpiece of atmosphere and dread. Two grieving parents in Venice glimpse their dead daughter—or do they? It shares Hands of the Ripper's obsession with vision, trauma, and whether the supernatural intrudes or imagination betrays us.

But The plot requires attention and rewards multiple viewings. Some find the pacing self-indulgent rather than hypnotic.

The Killing of Sister George1968

A dark psychological drama about power, performance, and identity that predates Hands of the Ripper's exploration of fractured selves. British, theatrical, and far more uncompromising about its subject matter than contemporary American cinema dared.

But It's a chamber piece, not a thriller. The lesbian content, while important, is depicted through a predatory lens that feels uncomfortable.

The Flesh and Blood Show1972

An obscure British proto-slasher that uses theatrical artifice and supernatural hauntings to explore violence and guilt. It shares Hands of the Ripper's willingness to blend exploitation with genuine atmosphere and psychological complexity.

But The film is genuinely hard to find in good quality. The plot is convoluted and the filmmaking uneven.

The Possession of Joel Delaney1972

Both films use possession as a metaphor for inherited trauma and cycles of violence. Both suggest that the distinction between psychological and supernatural explanations may be false.

A possession thriller that abandons supernatural explanation halfway through and suggests trauma and inherited violence as the real culprit. Starring Shirley MacLaine, it's pulpier than Hands of the Ripper but wrestles with the same question: is she mad or possessed, and does it matter?

But It's campy and uneven. The tone swings wildly between serious drama and B-movie thrills. Many consider it a mess.

Alice, Sweet Alice1976

Both films center on a young woman whose violence may or may not be her responsibility. Both ask whether to pity or fear her—and refuse to let you choose.

A proto-slasher obscurity from America's answer to British giallo cinema. Like Hands of the Ripper, a young girl is central to mysterious violence, and the film refuses easy explanations about guilt and innocence. Grimy, low-budget, utterly committed to moral ambiguity.

But It's rough around the edges and the acting is variable. The film's treatment of its young female subject has an exploitative edge that's uncomfortable.