The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire

2002

Mystery / Thriller

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 41%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 41%
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 1223 1.2K

victorian england serial killer whitechapel

Plot summary

The scene of the crime is Whitechapel, the same London district notorious for the recent attacks of Jack the Ripper. Three monks are found dead, the apparent victims of a vampire - now, someone else is out for blood. Or is it something else? As bizarre events unfold, the answer is left to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to find.

Director

Rodney Gibbons Photo
Rodney Gibbons

Top cast

Kenneth Welsh Photo
Kenneth Welsh as Dr. Watson
John Dunn-Hill Photo
John Dunn-Hill as Lamplighter
Julian Casey Photo
Julian Casey as Inspector Lestrade
Maria Bertrand Photo
Maria Bertrand as Woman in Cape
720p.WEB
814.59 MB
900*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
30 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 6 / 10

The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire

This starts off with a rather curious disclaimer stating it has taken the characters from the public domain and that no effort has been made to liaise with the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All perfectly legal, of course, but it did make me wonder what liberties they were about to take with the long established characters of "Sherlock Holmes" (Matt Frewer) and "Dr. Watson" (Kenneth Welsh). Well, as it happens, that intrigue is about as good as this gets as our super-sleuthing duo become embroiled in a series of murders that people suspect might be the work of a vampire. Frewer and Welsh are not Rathbone/Bruce, but they make for a decent pairing in this otherwise unremarkable drama that seems to draw more from "Cadfael" then from "Hound of the Baskervilles". The mystery develops pretty routinely, as you'd expect from a ninety minute television movie, before an ending that reminded me of "Scooby Doo". It isn't terrible, indeed the production looks fine, but the sum of the parts is underwhelming, with some pretty wordy dialogue and too many characters to clutter up any participation from the audience in the investigation. Maybe one for die-hard fans of these iconic characters, but otherwise just daytime telly fodder.
Reviewed by poolandrews 5 / 10

"The more violently twisted the mind the more violently twisted the logic." Average made for TV murder mystery.

The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire sees Sherlock Holmes (Matt Frewer) & his trusty assistant Dr. Watson (Kenneth Welsh) tackle yet another baffling mystery. Holmes receives a letter from a Brother Marstoke (Shawn Lawrence) asking for his help in the murder of Brother Sinclair (Norris Domingue) who appears to have been murdered by a Vampire. Holmes takes the case & discovers that while on missionary work in Guiana Brother Marstoke has encountered such Vampiric killings before, both Brother Lee & Thomas had fallen victim. Brother Marstoke thinks that a 'demon' of some sort is responsible & has followed him back to London to continue it's killing spree. Inspector Jones (Julian Casey) & Scotland Yard are clueless so Holmes begins his investigations & quickly finds a long list of suspects like Dr. Chagas (Neville Edwards) whom is Scotland Yards number one suspect & who both studies & adores Vampire bats & to further add suspicion has had run-ins with Marstoke before, but surely there's more to it than that? As the bodies continue to pile up Holmes must cut through the superstition to find the truth & unmask the killer!This Canadian produced feature length made for TV Sherlock Holmes mystery was written & directed by Rodney Gibbons this was one of four TV films by Gibbons to feature Frewer as Holmes apparently filmed for CTV television, first was The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000) then The Sign of Four (2001) after that came The Royal Scandal (2001) & finally this, the only one not adapted from an existing Holmes mystery. The script isn't overly complex or involving but it passes an hour & a half reasonably enough. It's a simple tale & isn't exactly edge of your seat stuff but it remains watchable, it entertains & at least I wanted to stick with it right trough to the end to find out the killers identity. The character's are as you would expect, Holmes is totally brilliant in every way, Watson is his slightly slow sidekick, the police are bumbling idiots & there are many people whom seem to enjoy acting suspiciously while a murder investigation is taking place. The final reveal & the killers motives are a little unadventurous & not entirely satisfying. Technically The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire is rather lame, the cast & crew obviously never went anywhere near Lonon & probably never set foot outside Canada which hardly gives the film an authentic feel or look, basically the whole atmosphere of a grimy Whitechapel just isn't there. It's painfully obvious that it was made for TV with bland static photography, a small cast, limited sets with little period detail & cheap production values throughout. Now a word about the casting, namely Matt Frewer as Holmes. Can you believe it? Isn't Holmes meant to be English? After you get over the initial surprise he ain't too bad actually & overacts with the best of them, in fact I started to quite like him by the end amazingly. Everyone else is bland & forgettable although Welsh as Watson is pretty good while Edwards as Chagas is pretty awful. Overall The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire is a passable made for TV murder mystery that entertains to an extent, I doubt anyone will want to watch it more than once though so try & catch it on TV for free, which is where it belongs to be perfectly honest. Worth a watch if your a mystery fan & there's nothing else on.
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