Film Review – The Limehouse Golem

“The Limehouse Golem” establishes itself as a tale of serial murder without ever truly becoming one. Perhaps some will be comfortable with the picture’s subversion of expectations, using the lure of horror to explore one character’s history of abuse, but I can’t imagine the movie is going to satisfying many. Sold as a Jack the Ripper-style procedural thriller, and “The Limehouse Golem” emerges as a mix of the grisly and the mundane, with director Juan Carlos Medina trying to pretend this type of entertainment isn’t common on public television. The effort has its grungy style and a sturdy lead performance from Bill Nighy, but it can’t shake a sense of smallness and familiarity, forcing screenwriter Jane Goldman to use extreme violence as smelling salts for the audience, trying to keep them interested in a plot that’s been done before, often weekly for fans of BBC entertainment.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com