Razors: The Return of Jack the Ripper (a.k.a. Ripper) is a 2016 UK horror film directed by Ian Powell and Karl Ward, and starring Kelby Keenan, Josh Myers (not Seth's brother), Vincent De Paul, and Kunjue Li.
A young writer believes she has discovered the holy grail of terror, the knives used by Jack the Ripper for his notorious murders. Attending an intensive workshop in a haunted Victorian warehouse, run by the mysterious screen-writing guru Richard Wise she and five colleagues aim to write the ultimate horror film. But when the knives go missing the writers are plunged into a world of terror. Who is the little girl in the Victorian dress who haunts their dreams? And who is killing them one by one? Is it Ruth avenging womankind for the appalling Ripper murders or one of the other students trying to make their story come out on top, or is it the spirit of Jack, slowly re-assembling himself and becoming stronger with each new murder. As the warehouse become transformed through sound and light into the Whitechapel of the 1880's the writers must solve the mystery....or the next death scene they write may be their own.
Tropes in Razors: The Return of Jack the Ripper include:
- Abandoned Warehouse: Professor Wise gathers the six writers for a weekend long intensive workshop in abandoned Victorian warehouse/factory. He comments no one has used the place since an infamous horror movie was shot there years ago, and these days it is only used for illegal raves. The warehouse turns out to be haunted, and perhaps worse.
- Badass Longcoat: The Ripper wears a tattered greatcoat that swirls around him as he menacingly advances on his victims.
- Black Eyes of Evil: When Jane touches the wall behind which the Ripper is imprisoned, the Ripper looks up and his eyes are completely black.
- Blade Enthusiast: Jack the Ripper uses a box set of knives: each of which has a special meaning to him. The knives are so much a part of him that they constitute an Evil Weapon and allow his spirit to return to Earth.
- Blind Without 'Em: James. When the Ripper knocks him down, he loses his glasses. Upon awakening, he can only view the surrounding events as a blur, and is easy prey for the Ripper.
- Blood from the Mouth: In her nightmare, Ruth sees Jack the Ripper stab Zack in the back and blood starts coming out his mouth.
- Blood Is the New Black: The Ripper is repeatedly shown smearing blood over his face and naked torso.
- Coat, Hat, Mask: At several points, Jack the Ripper appears wearing a tattered greatcoat, a broad brimmed hat, and a scarf tied over the lower half of his face.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: The Ripper leaves messages written in blood upon the wall.
- Creepy Doll: The ghost of the little girl is carrying a porcelain doll. When the protagonist find the doll in the attic it is even creepier close up, with a maze of cracks running through its face. The flickering light causes its eyes to appear completely black.
- Disposable Sex Worker: In The Teaser, a pimp is possessed by the spirit of Jack the Ripper and butchers one of his prostitutes with a shard of broken glass.
- Evil Weapon: The Ripper's knives. So long as they exist, the Ripper can never be truly destroyed.
- Extremely Short Timespan: Excluding The Teaser, the film takes place over two days.
- Eye Scream: The Ripper kills James by driving his thumbs through his eyes.
- Forced to Watch: Professor Wise seizes Sadie and holds her: forcing her to watch as Jack the Ripper murders Jane.
- Gutted Like a Fish: In keeping with established history, Jack the Ripper does this to all of his female victims.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: All the writers invited to the writing workshop are revealed to be descendants of the victims of Jack the Ripper.
- Historical Domain Character: Jack the Ripper and Inspector Aberline.
- Impaled Palm: The Ripper nails James's palm to floor with one of his knives, before killing him by driving his thumbs through his eyes.
- Jack the Ripper
- Jerkass: Zack Walker is an obnoxious know-it-all who spends most his screen time sneering, whining, or accusing others of cheating and trying to steal his thunder.
- Slashed Throat: In her dream in her first night in Hadley Hope, Ruth sees Jack the Ripper kill Sadie with a single slash across her throat.
- Sleepwalking: Ruth follows a sleepwalking Sadie, trying to keep her out of danger. However, Sadie enters a room where they find the Ripper killing a victim. Despite her best efforts, Ruth cannot wake Sadie up and she is forced to watch as the Ripper slits Sadie's throat. Ruth then wakes up and realises that this was a dream (although Sadie's odd choice of sleeping attire should have been a subtle clue). There is no evidence in the rest of the film that Sadie actually suffers from somnambulism.
- Stalker Shrine: Following the creepy ghost girl into the cellar, Jane and Sadie discover a shrine devoted to Jack the Ripper: the walls plastered with maps, newspaper articles, photographs, etc.
- Undead Child: The old factory is haunted by the ghost of a Victorian girl. She guides Jane and Sadie to the Stalker Shrine to Jack the Ripper. She is eventually revealed to be the child of the Ripper's sixth victim, and the ancestor of Ruth. She hid the Ripper's last knife from him.
- White Shirt of Death: In Ruth's dream, Sadie is wearing a long white nightgown when the Ripper slits her throat from behind (the way Jack is supposed to have killed most of his victims in real life). The blood gushes out of her throat and down her front; staining the front of the nightgown a bright red. (Possibly counts as
Fridge Brilliance, as Sadie is Asian, thus tying in with the origins of this trope.)
