In the 1985’s The Ripper, a straight-to-video, regional production, Richard Hartwell (Tom Schreier) is a college professor who teaches a class on Jack the Ripper.  He discusses Jack the Ripper films, though he does at one point accidentally say that Murder By Decree starred Christopher Lee as Sherlock Holmes.  (Lee did play Mycroft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes).  He talks about some of the conspiracy theories that surround the Ripper.  He encourages his students to try to move beyond the version of Jack the Ripper that’s been sold to them by Hollywood.  Some of his fellow professors think that it’s a strange class and I kind of agree.  I mean, can you really do an entire semester on just Jack the Ripper?

One day, while shopping at an antique store with his girlfriend, Carol (Mona Van Pernis), Richard comes across an antique ring.  Even though the ring is way too big and kind of gauche, Carol loves it.  Richard decides to secretly buy it for her.  Unfortunately — and this is quite a coincidence considering Richard’s profession — the ring once belonged to Jack the Ripper.  And, by putting the ring on his finger, Richard is allowing Jack the Ripper to come back to life in 80s Oklahoma!

Soon, local women are being murdered in ways that duplicate the grisly crimes of Whitechapel.  The police suspect that it might be one of Richard’s students.  When Richard sleeps, he’s haunted by dreams about the crimes, with the Ripper always appearing in the shadows.  When the Ripper is finally revealed, it turns out that he’s …. TOM SAVINI!?

Well, kind of.  Tom Savini does appear as Jack the Ripper towards the end of the film.  Reportedly, he flew from Philadelphia to Oklahoma and shot his big scene in one day.  For the rest of the film, though, the Ripper was played by a stand-in who was always either seen from behind or seen standing in the darkness with his face usually obscured.  The few glimpses we do get of the stand-in’s face, it’s obvious that he looks very little like Tom Savini.  (He does have a mustache and a beard but they both look like they were pasted on.)  When Savini does actually play the Ripper, he seems slightly embarrassed by the whole thing.  Tom Savini has always been a pretty good actor but, in The Ripper, he’s not given much to do other than glower at the camera with an evil look on his face.  There’s little of the humor that Savini has brought to other roles and that’s a shame because Tom Savini can be a very charming actor when he’s allowed to poke fun at his image.

That said, I have to admit that I have a weakness for low-budget, regional films.  In this case, it helps that I’ve spent enough time in Oklahoma, as both a visitor and an occasional resident, that I felt like I could immediately recognize almost every location in the film.  There’s a DIY-charm to the film, one that is evident in both the stiff but likable performances and the gore effects, which are occasionally effective and occasionally rather cheesy.  (A decapitation scene manages to be both.)  Savini, I should mention, did not work on the special effects.  This is a silly, nonsensical horror film that runs about 20 minutes too long but it’s just such a product of its time and place (i.e., Oklahoma in the mid-80s) that it’s rather fascinating as a time capsule.  I mean, this may be the only Jack the Ripper film to feature an aerobics montage.  It doesn’t get more 80s than that!