The Good Doctor Serial Killer: Reviewing Jess Franco’s ‘Jack The Ripper’

Those looking for a fact-based account of the Whitechapel murders might not be best served by Jess Franco‘s Jack the Ripper. To other less true-crime-invested cinephiles, however, the fact that the film is only really about the serial killer in name might be a selling point (and yes, I am talking about myself).

Not being a fan of true crime shows or documentaries is painted as a fairly unusual thing in 2026, though. I don’t know what it says when fictional mysteries are fine but real stories about killings are where I draw the line but yeah — that need to understand how the murderer’s brain works? Not in my DNA, which might lead someone to ask, why watch a movie called Jack the Ripper in the first place?

Well, there was trepidation. Klaus Kinski was a huge selling point. Also, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I regularly write for a magazine called The Physical Media Advocate. That magazine was created by Ryan Verrill, who, along with Dr. Will Dodson, recorded the commentary for this 4K and Blu-ray release by Cauldron Films.

So to start there: this was my first title from the label and I am definitely impressed. I don’t know how this film has been looking in previous releases (and I’m someone who watches a lot of lower quality prints on Tubi, so that’s not a deal breaker), but the colors on this restoration are Hammer-horror-level vibrant and really beautiful to behold. The hard box art by Adam Perrochi (which is also used for the main menu) is striking as well — with the smallest of nitpicks that the colors appear slightly less bright and more matte on the poster, which feels like a printing discrepancy.

Kinski isn’t actually playing Jack the Ripper. Not that the killer’s identity was ever confirmed, but as Dr. Stella Marie Gaynor goes over in one of the booklet essays, there are very blatant differences between Kinski’s Dr. Orloff and the real case. For starters, Jack the Ripper never sexually assaulted his victims. According to Dodson, who is the Francophile of the two commentators, Jack the Ripper is more of a remake of Franco’s earlier film, The Awful Dr. Orlof.

Curiously, while the casting of Kinski might lead viewers to expect a particularly sadistic version of the killer (after all, why hold back?), that is not the case. Certainly the murders are brutal, but Dr. Orloff is given the Jekyll-and-Hyde treatment; he doesn’t seem to realize what he’s been doing. Instead of being this out-and-out monster, there’s something about Kinski’s killer that calls for sympathy even as he perpetrates unforgivable acts of violence against women. Jack the Ripper doesn’t particularly require or deserve a nuanced portrayal, which is why it’s better to take this film’s title with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, it very much holds up on its own merits and as a more accessible (and higher budgeted) introduction to Franco’s filmography.

From the moment Walter Baumgartner’s organ grinder music starts (a sound that should recall childhood but instead suggests something sinister) and the blood-red opening titles play over a woman (Francine Custer) walking down a dark alley, it’s clear Franco has style (and also that this woman isn’t long for this Earth). If Franco missteps at all, it’s in leaving viewers wanting more time with some of the intriguing female characters who get introduced — like the girlfriend of the police inspector (Josephine Chaplin) who makes some wild choices, or Frieda (Nikola Weisse), who seems to think Orloff is bringing her a “doll” and not a dead body (and that word choice needs to be examined). Also, for a film about a killer who targets women, the sex worker characters are treated fairly respectfully (which shouldn’t have to be said but it does).

Besides the excellent commentary, where Verrill tees Dodson up to talk about everything from Franco’s collaborations with producer Erwin Dietrich to Stephen Thrower‘s two-volume study on the director (which there’s a definite consensus amongst the bonus features on this release that Thrower’s Franco books are supreme), Cauldron’s Blu-ray also includes an interview with Andreas Mannkopff (who played the inspector and whose dubbing credits include Garfield the cat), an archival interview with Dietrich, a video essay on Kinski by Troy Howarth (Real Depravities: The Films of Klaus Kinski) — who also provides a booklet essay on Franco — and a video essay by Eugenio Ercolani on the real Ripper case.

All in all, I went into the film not expecting to be a fan and came out glad I gave it a chance. If you’re new to Franco or haven’t been a fan in the past, this movie (strange as it may sound) could be the one to change your mind. 

Jack the Ripper is available as a 4K UHD and Blu-ray set from Cauldron Films.