Review of The Limehouse Golem (2016) by John S — 02 Oct 2017

BARELY RIPPED.

While many will revel in the gloriously lush presentation, "The Limehouse Golem" plays too much as a clever theatre piece, rather than a peek behind your hands thriller. This would-be serial killer horror film, suffers from endless self-inflicted stylish blows: it is costumed, staged and acted to death. But what a beautiful demise it is.

Leave it to Juan Carlos Medina (directing) and the Brits (acting) to bring forth such a grandiose, poetic, cinematic feast. Channeling his best Hammer era Peter Cushing, Bill Nighy as the anxious yet calmly methodical Scotland Yard inspector is exceptional, and almost elevates the film to a level it so deserves.

There just isn't enough grit and shock for the series of heinous crimes to get any juice flowing; even the gory corpses are presented as carefully arranged, colourful still lifes. Dialogues are poetic and unspontaneous, simple scenes are meticulously choreographed, sets are lavished, wardrobe is wildly bombastic. It is a wonderfully lush, over the top feast for the senses, that lacks proper plot delivery to create a deserving fog of mystery.

There's a nice, rewarding, twisty tale under all that distracting sheen, though it requires much work from the viewer.

- hipCRANK.