Jack the Ripper may be dead and gone, but the British film Hands of the Ripper passes the torch to the Ripper's offspring for one more round of slaughter in London.

Anna (Angharad Rees) saw her father murder her mother when her mother discovered that he was Jack the Ripper. When he finished killing her mother, he walked to her bed, bent down and kissed her. She was traumatized for life.

Anna was taken in by a woman who claims to be a medium and who makes a living from gullible persons by holding seances. She has Anna to assist her with these charades until Anna goes into a schizophrenic trance and kills her.

A local psychiatrist, Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter), gets Anna released from jail and takes her to his home to study and treat. He believes he can cure her. But even if he cannot, it is the opportunity for extensive research into the relatively new field of schizophrenia. He is totally willing to risk having her murder again if it means he can make and document radical discoveries in his field. It will save countless lives in the future.

And kill again she does ... and again ... and again. It’s like Jack the Ripper all over, beginning with Pritchard's housekeeper and ending with his son's fiancee, Laura (Jane Merrow) in her grasp.

Too late, the doctor realizes what triggers her schizophrenic episodes. Once she is in that state, a kiss causes her to kill the person standing nearest to her.

Hands of the Ripper is a case of bad writing killing what could have been a great movie. The acting is good. The photography is good. The supporting sounds complement without overwhelming. Everything is right except the writing.

The movie starts off with a bang. We see the Ripper kill his wife and traumatize his daughter. We know it is going to be a good movie. We are hooked into the story.

We move to the current time with Anna living with a supposed-to-be medium. Still a lot of intrigue and action. The tension is maintained as Anna goes to jail and Pritchard works to free her. When he brings her to his home, the story begins to slow and the tension evaporates. By the time they get back on track with the next killing, the tension is gone ... along with the attention of the viewer.

Anna's escape into the streets of London is too little too late. It's a last ditch effort to recapture the viewer. It failed miserably.

There are far too many Ripper movies on the market to waste your money on this one. My advice is to forget about Hands of the Ripper and get Jack the Ripper or Terror at London Bridge.