Anvilicious: The comic isn't remotely subtle about its criticisms of the way sex workers and poor people in general are treated.
Awesome Art: Eddie Campbell's scratchy monochrome artwork manages to sell the decrepit, unsettling atmosphere while being magnificently ornate and detailed when it needs to be. The portrayal of London's cathedrals and Gull's mystical visions are especially impressive.
William Gull's visions of the future and the past are quite divisive. Besides those scenes, the comic maintains a realistic tone, and Gull's theories on the hidden occult history of London can simply be interpreted as something he believes in, not as the historical truth. But the visions add an supernatural element to the story that can't be explained away. While this sort of supernatural stuff is in accordance with Alan Moore's own occult beliefs, some readers felt that it adds a needlessly distracting element to a story that otherwise tries to portray the Jack the Ripper murders and Victorian London as realistically as possible.
Diagnosed by the Audience: Polly Nichols appears to have some kind of developmental disability beyond the effects of alcoholism and malnutrition that were common among lower class sex workers of the time. Given the notoriously poor understanding of mental illness of the time it's impossible to know what was really wrong with her, but what little information we have about the real Polly Nichols describes her as childlike and having poor impulse control.
Moral Event Horizon: Gull leaps right the fuck over it at the end of his introductory chapter, when he forcibly lobotomizes Annie Crook to keep her from publicizing her relationship with Prince Eddy, leaving her a babbling lunatic who can just about control her bladder, but no longer understands why she might want to.
Narm Charm: During Gull's ascent at the end, his spirit appears to Netley as a disembodied head surrounded by light. By rights it should look ridiculous, but thanks to the art style and the context, it's actually really creepy.
Some sections are hard to get through, due to the intense combination of Eddie Campbell's artwork and Moore's disturbing subject matter. An entire chapter is devoted to a graphically detailed dissection of a corpse.
Funnily enough, while he was outside, an old Gypsy woman offered to tell his fortune, only to immediately run off, which served as the inspiration for a scene in an issue of The Sandman (1989).
At the end of the story, Gull becomes a spirit of evil who saturates modern society, influencing every serial killer after him to carry on his work. As Gull himself says, if he's completely free from the bonds of space and time, no one can ever be safe from him. If it weren't for the single scene of Mary Kelly banishing him at the end, it'd be one of the most horrifying examples of The Bad Guy Wins ever put to paper.
The way the authorities, despite largely being a bunch of selfish, bickering, not-particularly-bright old men, are able to use their massive institutional power to cover Gull's tracks and then frame a completely innocent man for his crimes. The ease with which they do so and then get away with it is almost more horrifying than the actual murders, simply because of the revelation that they could do this to anyone.
From Hell may be the Alan Moore comic most liable to cause the reader an existential crisis. "What is the fourth dimension?" isn't a rhetorical question in this story. Through the various clairvoyant states that Gull and a few other characters are witness to, it gradually becomes clear that you really can't fight fate in any meaningful way here. Everything in the universe, down to the smallest thought passing through your head, is preordained by the simple immovable nature of time itself. Past, present, and future all coexist, and are all one and the same. Everything that will happen has already happened. Time is a flat circle.
Unconventional Learning Experience: With how thoroughly researched it is, it actually makes for a good crash course in English history, ancient mythology, Freemasonry, and fourth-dimensional theory.
Being set in Victorian Britain, one could logically expect Sir William Gull, Frederick Abberline, Queen Victoria, Walter Sickert and the rest of the bunch to appear. But let's be honest: who seriously expected Alois and Klara Hitler to play a role (however brief) in this book?
A minor example is Joseph Merrick, aka the Elephant Man. While he was living in London at the time of the murders, he wasn't connected to them in any way, so there doesn't seem to be any reason to include him in the story... But Moore finds a way to do so that actually makes sense, even if it isn't based on any historical facts.
Aleister Crowley also appears as a Creepy Child asking Aberline if the killer is trying to cast a magic spell. Moore admits his appearance is also gratuitous.
Chapter eleven isn't called "The Unfortunate Mr. Druitt" for nothing. The poor guy just wants to teach and play cricket, but his lack of social skills leads to the Freemasons deciding he's the ideal fall guy for the murders, leading to him losing his job after a false accusation of pedophilia, and then his murder by the police.
All of the prostitutes and victims are this. They are forced into their line of work because of abject poverty and are subject to rape, violence and can't turn to the church or the police for help because they are looked down upon as less than human; and then they start being killed off because of something that had nothing to do with them. It says something that it took Jack the Ripper's killings to bring attention to their appalling living conditions and exploitation.
In the movie:
Alternative Character Interpretation: In the end, is Abberline's death from opium overdose just an accident, or does he kill himself because he can't ever see Mary again?
Complete Monster: Sir William Gull is a retired physician whose avuncular manner hides a frightening fanatic and misogynist. Developing the lobotomy technique that robs the secret wife of Prince Albert, Ann, of her sanity and mind, Gull is tasked with silencing her prostitute friends. Opting to perform brutal rituals, Gull hunts them down and kills them in pain, mutilating the corpses while glorying in his increasing sadistic mania that he might "give birth to the 20th century". Gull even leaves behind antisemitic writing that could risk violence against London's Jewish population before slaughtering who he thinks is Mary Kelly, demonstrating zero remorse for the crimes or the danger he has placed his own "brothers" in.
Genius Bonus: The film leaves it ambiguous who killed Martha Tabram, with Abberline only suspecting it was also Jack the Ripper. This is a nod to the theory that she was suspected to be a victim at the time, but subsequent theories have suggested that she and another woman called Emma Smith, murdered earlier and likewise thought to be one of the victims at the time, were killed differently than the "canonical five" and therefore their murders were unrelated. Notably Martha is seen being stalked by the leader of the Old Nichol Mob, suggesting she was just killed for non payment, but is also seen in a flashback to Ann's wedding.
Hilarious in Hindsight: While Ann and Albert getting interrupted mid-coitus is a sad scene, Love Actually fans will find it amusing that Joanna Page stars in that - as a stand-in rehearsing such a scene with very similar movements and choreography.
Les Yay: Between multiple characters. Of course two of the prostitutes are lesbian lovers, and Annie even tries kissing Pollie to comfort her.
Narm: The chief morgue attendant's general overreaction to the state of the prostitutes mangled bodies, especially when Abberline points out that the killer is stealing their organs. Looking at dead bodies in various degrees of mutilation has been his job for at least a few decades; is he really not accustomed to this by now?
One-Scene Wonder: Jason Flemyng as the killer's carriage driver Netley. Not a lot of screen time, but does a lot with a small part; particularly during the scene of Annie walking in to be murdered, and he can only close his eyes and brace himself.
Questionable Casting: A lot of fans weren't pleased with Johnny Depp being cast as Abberline, considering the massive heaping of Adaptational Attractiveness it applies to the man. Alan Moore was especially critical of Abberline being combined with Robert Lees, and being turned into The Dandy. Especially egregious because the comic character was modeled off Robbie Coltrane...who appears in the film as Sgt Godley!
So Okay, It's Average: When compared to its source material, it falls very short. But it's not a bad film by any means; reviews praised the atmosphere and performances from the actresses playing the prostitutes. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating is the average score of 57%.
The change from the graphic novel with regards to baby Alice now being the legitimate heir to the throne, because of the sheer Artistic License – Law it involves; Ann and Albert's marriage was not approved by the reigning monarch, making it null and void in the eyes of the law, and Alice would be considered a bastard with no real claim to the throne. The comic had no such issue, since the murders were done merely to prevent the scandal from spreading.
There's also the change in the prostitute's characterization. There, they all knew the above twist and were actually blackmailing those who knew in an attempt to pay off their debts - and the murders began for this reason. In the film, they know nothing about it, and Mary doesn't find it out until the audience does. This change makes them far more passive characters.
Vanilla Protagonist: The film's decision to make Abberline the main protagonist results in this; the comic focused mainly on the killer and the occultism surrounding the murders. The prostitutes and other supporting characters are far more colorful and exciting. Abberline ends up feeling more like a re-tread of Sherlock Holmes, due to being given an opium addiction and being Younger and Hipper.
in which Moore described such a scene to him. While he was eating. Halfway through the meal. Gaiman had to step outside not once but twice during the conversation to get some air, which led to Moore nicknaming him Neil "Scary Trousers" Gaiman, Master of Modern Horror.