Serial killers have fascinated people for many years. They may not have always been known as serial
killers, and the psychology behind them may have only been deeply researched
over the past few decades, but the idea of someone killing numerous people for
seemingly no reason is one that has filled people’s minds with curiosity and
anxiety for many years.
One of the most notorious serial killers in history was Jack
the Ripper. The unknown killer murdered
five prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888. Or so people think. There may have been more or less, but the
five that are generally considered to have been Jack the Ripper’s victims
shared many similarities in how they were killed.
The legends behind serial killers can inspire many people to
write stories sharing similar traits.
There are books, short stories, movies, and television shows that
chronicle the brutal deaths caused by the serial killers. Jack the Ripper is no different. Fictional tales have been made time and time
again that have some sort of a connection to the British murderer. This week’s movie was one of them.
From Hell to the Wild
West was a movie that didn’t necessarily scream Jack the Ripper before it
began. It felt like it would be a
western about a cowboy fighting off demons or something. Instead, it was a what if scenario where,
after committing the murders in London, Jack the Ripper moved to the wild west
and continued his killings. Two
researchers in the present discovered the connection between Jack the Ripper
and a serial killer in the wild west, as the story of the past played out on
screen.
Robert Bronzi starred in From
Hell to the Wild West as a cowboy trying to hunt down the killer and clear
himself of suspicion for the deaths.
Many lawmakers had thought that he was the person murdering women
throughout the open land, but he knew who the real killer was. He teamed up with a US Marshall to save some
women and get rid of the killer for good.
The thing about Robert Bronzi was that he bore a striking
resemblance to Charles Bronson. He knew
that when he changed his name to Bronzi from Kovacz. The similarity in their looks wasn’t
something unique to them. Robert Bronzi
wasn’t the first actor to try and cash in on how much he looked like someone
else. When Bruce Lee died, there were a
bunch of Bruce Le and Bruce Li actors who popped up. It’s just something of note that the main
star of this movie was that kind of thing for Charles Bronson.
The story wasn’t all that strong in From Hell to the Wild West.
There was a murder followed by a chase followed by a shootout followed
by character introductions right before the characters were killed followed by
the researchers, and back to the chase to start the loop over again. There wasn’t depth and there wasn’t any real
way to connect to the characters because they ended up dying almost as soon as
they were introduced with only the smallest amount of backstory given to
them. It’s hard to care for a character
that isn’t fully formed.
As for the Jack the Ripper story thread, it felt
unnecessary. It was disconnected from
what was happening in the past, which could have been the whole movie by itself. It felt like the theory was tossed into the
movie simply to pad the runtime because the movie would have been about an hour
and ten minutes otherwise. They wanted
to be closer to the hour and a half, feature film time, and added the scenes in
order to get the movie there. That said,
it contained the best acting in the movie because everyone that was in the wild
west turned in bad, overwrought performances.
So there was that.
From Hell to the Wild
West was not a good movie. It posited
an interesting idea. What if Jack the
Ripper had moved to a different place to continue his murders? The execution of that idea wasn’t the
greatest. The stale acting and the main
plot’s disconnection from that idea made the movie feel like a poorly put
together conspiracy theory.
Serial killers have captured the minds of people all over
the world. With the rise of true crime
shows and podcasts into the forefront over the past few years, fictionalized
films were poised to go to the same places.
Some of them ended up being successful.
From Hell to the Wild West
wasn’t one of the successes. It has its
place among the David DeCoteau and Jim Wynorski horror flicks that have come
out in the past decade. It’s not much
more than that, though.
Here are some notes:
- From Hell to the Wild West was suggested by @einsteinsarcade.
- Charlie Glackin was in From Hell to the Wild West. He was in another western with horror elements called Jonah Hex (week 249).
- Have you seen From Hell to the Wild West? Have you seen other movies about Jack the Ripper after his five known murders? What did you think of any of it? Let me know in the comments.
- The comments are also a place where you can suggest movies to be covered for the Sunday “Bad” Movies. Comments or Twitter, that is. Let me know what you want to see me write about.
- Sometimes when I watch bad movies, I’ll share clips from them on Snapchat. Add me (jurassicgriffin) if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
- Next week, we’ll be finishing up another month of horror for the Sunday “Bad” Movies by checking out a movie about an asylum called Hellriser. For some reason, I had expected it to be about an elevator. I think the “riser” part made me think that. It’s not about an elevator. I’ll tell you about it in seven days. See you then.
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