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American Ripper was an American Rip-Off

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The History Channel’s American Ripper series promised to reveal the identity of Jack the Ripper.  However, the eight-part series, which concluded its airing at the end of August, completely failed to deliver on any level.

American Ripper advertised the existence of credible evidence linking Jack the Ripper to H.H. Holmes, an American serial killer who is believed to have committed as many as 200 murders in the late nineteenth century.

American Ripper was spearheaded by Jeff Mudgett, Holmes’ great-great-grandson, who has spent more than twenty years trying to prove his theory that Holmes and Jack the Ripper were one and the same.  However, American Ripper provided no solid evidence to support this.

Did American Ripper prove that Holmes was in London during the Ripper murders in 1988?  No.  Did the series produce any evidence that linked Holmes to any of the Ripper victims?  No.

On the contrary, the series demonstrated that the pathology and psychology of Jack the Ripper is completely different than that of Holmes, who was careful, secretive, and not at all fond of advertising, of taking responsibility for, his gruesome deeds.  Also, a handwriting expert virtually dismissed the possibility of any match between the Ripper’s handwriting and that of Holmes.

American Ripper should have been called H.H. Holmes: America’s First Serial Killer.  All the series proved was that Holmes was a despicable human being, a conman and monster, who constructed a “Murder Castle,” a diabolical torture factory in Chicago, where Holmes hunted and tortured victims then disposed of their bodies in a cremation furnace.  While Holmes’ back story is certainly compelling and gruesome, it failed to bring the series any closer to establishing a link between Holmes and Jack the Ripper.

American Ripper unfolded as a series of blind alleys and rabbit holes.  It was embarrassing at times, completely exploitative and shameless, and it represents an extreme example of false advertising.

After more than 125 years, it seems impossible that the Jack the Ripper case will ever be solved to any degree of legal certainty.  The biggest question left over by American Ripper is: Why did it promise so much to begin with?

Images courtesy of the History Channel.

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

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The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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