Oh, it never fails, does it? You grow up in squalor, the young teenaged ward of a nefarious phony séance mistress who frequently lends your nubile assets to the demands of oversexed men of parliament. Worse still – and somewhat unbeknownst to you, at that – you turn out to be the orphaned child of the one and only Jack the Ripper, who murdered your mother before your very eyes the night he disappeared off the face of the Earth once and for all; an act that has, as that already bad twist of luck would have it, resulted in you becoming a cold-blooded killer yourself every time a jeweled object shines into your eyes and someone kisses you. And believe me, I should know. It’s happened to me several times.
But for young Anna (the beautiful Andharad Rees), such a terror is only too real – as she actually is the daughter of one of the best-known serial killers of all time. And every time someone waves a gem before her and gives her a tender smooch, she gets taken over by the Hands of the Ripper. Deducing the young lady (who has to have some of the perkiest little breasts I’ve ever seen in a motion picture – something I’m sure you all needed to know) is suffering from some truly messed-up mental issues, Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter) takes the orphaned lass in – hoping to figure out what makes her tick and how to fix it. Sadly, though, his curious method of hospitality unleashes a wave of brutal killings at the hands of our cute little murderess.
That’s all fine and dandy, of course, so long as the victims are of the lower-class element – but when Anna’s uncontrollable unconscious behavior begins to set its unwitting targets on several more-prominent folk, things threaten to go all kinds of bad-like. Jane Merrow, Keith Bell, and Derek Godfrey also star in this Hammer Horror classic directed by Peter Sasdy (Taste the Blood of Dracula) that was shown in the US as the second half of a double bill with the acclaimed Twins of Evil.
Synapse Films brings us its latest bloody entry to The Hammer Horror Collection with a glorious HD transfer that includes footage that was initially excised from its original US theatrical release. The video quality included in this new Blu-ray/DVD Combo set is a joy to behold, presenting the film in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio with no noticeable distractions. Likewise, the 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless English Mono soundtrack delivers the sounds of this quirky early ’70s horror flick, and optional English (SDH) subtitles have been included. Bonus materials for this killer title consist of an isolated music/effects audio track (Blu-ray only), a new featurette, still galleries, a handful of trailers and TV spots from both sides of The Pond, and a listen to the rare US ABC television opening (which featured the late Severn Darden) – the latter of which is quite literally just a listen: the original element is believed to have been destroyed in the Universal fire, so only the audio has to suffice in this instance.
As is quite common with releases from Synapse Films, this BD/DVD set comes with reversible artwork. Also quite common with Synapse releases, this ones comes highly recommended – especially to classic horror movie buffs.
