User Reviews

The legend of Jack the Ripper gets a modern updating in this tale from the Thriller series. Set in New York City of 1961, the story recasts the legend with an unusual twist - Ripper expert Sir Guy (John Williams) theorizes that the infamous killer has received a boon of eternal youth in exchange for ritual killings involving blood sacrifice. In other words, Jack is still alive, and performs his grisly mission on a rhythmic cycle every three years and eight months. In addition, the locations of each murder wind up forming a sign that might provide a hint as to where the Ripper might strike next.

I have to admit, the idea of a ninety year old Jack the Ripper seems quite intriguing given the premise presented by Sir Guy. With tension mounting and authorities on high alert, it appears that the killer might finally be caught in the act. Ah, but there's a twist here, and astute observers will probably be able to narrow down their guess. In order to strike again and fulfill his latest cycle of murder, Jack the Ripper actually has to stray from his usual game plan. Purists might say that the ending was a bit of a cheat, but you'd have to admit, it wound up being a thriller.

***SPOILERS*** Scotland yard's top criminal psychologist and expert on the Jack the Ripper murders Sir Guy, John Williams, has come up with this strange theory that the infamous Jack the Ripper who terrorized London back in the 1880's is alive and well now in 1961 doing his dirty or bloody work right here in the USA. It's all elementary to Sir Guy since he's been studying a series of murders that spanned some 80 years across the globe that are identical to the Ripper killings back in London in the summer and fall of 1888. Feeling that the Ripper is some kind of indestructible force of evil age doesn't slow him down and it's in murdering and in some kind of blood ritual that he preforms on his victims that he gives himself eternal life. Captain Pete Jago, Edmon Ryan, who's in charge of the investigation of the latest string of Jack the Ripper murders feels that Sir Guy is talking through his hat but as the Ripper murders continue exactly as Sir Guy predicted he starts to believe that there's something to his findings.

With five murders already on the police blotter the sixth and final one, the Ripper always kills in groups of six, is due any day now and it's determined by Sir Guy that tonight is going to be the night for the Ripper to make his final appearance. That until, according Sir Guy's calculations, the murder cycle by the Ripper begins again three and a half years later.

With both Sir Guy and his good friend fellow police psychologist Dr. John Carmody, Donald Woods, together with some dozen policemen staking out this girlie or strip joint where it's expected that the Ripper will strike it seems that there's no way he can commit his latest butchery without him being caught. Not knowing who the Ripper really is he can be a woman, a Jill the Ripper, as well as man the Ripper is a Jack of all trades as well as identities. He's also on to what's going on, on the part of the police, and as we soon see will act or rip when ever the right time for his latest murder present itself to him.

****SPOILERS**** Clever and disturbing final with the Ripper coming out of the fog and shadows to strike or rip up his sixth and last victim. He was there on the scene all the time but nobody noticed him. Not even Sir Guy who should have known better and who made the fatal mistake by thinking that he only murders women. This time the Ripper made an exception in that his lust for blood was so overwhelming, for him to stay alive, that it didn't matter to him whom, male or female, he murdered!

The 1979 time travel fantasy "Time After Time" featured H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) figuring out that his friend Stevenson (David Warner) was really Jack the Ripper, escaping in Wells' time machine to get to present day San Francisco. Being the polite soul he was, Stevenson/Jack sent the time machine back just so Wells could follow him there. This "Thriller" episode, made nearly two decades before that cult classic, is very similar in several ways, except that it is New York City that Jack somehow is present in, perhaps re-incarnated, or perhaps the identity of some mad man who wants to take off from where Jack left off.

This episode stars Donald Woods ("A Tale of Two Cities", "13 Ghosts") and John Williams (a veteran of several Hitchcock films), and after a brief sequence in foggy old London (featuring J. Pat O'Malley singing a music hall type song about the legend of Jack) moves to the modern United States where British historian Williams discusses the legend of Jack with his friends, claiming that he sees the possibility of Jack having moved forward in time, hence his reign of terror stopping as quickly as it started.

Sure enough, a lady of the streets is brutally murdered, and Williams and friend Woods find themselves gathering clues that point towards another series of Jack the Ripper like murders, and for a brief moment in time, the night streets of the Big Apple become as foggy as old London. This episode is fast paced and exciting, directed by Williams' "Dial M For Murder" co-star, Oscar winning actor Ray Milland. The ending has a shocking twist, so be prepared.