Ripper

Bruce Payne as Marshall Kane in Ripper

Graphic by CMoon

Ripper plays with our minds. Who is the real serial killer? What's real and what's fantasy? What's real and what's psychotic meanderings? Each viewer has to reach his/her own conclusions because the film is deliberately intended to be ambiguous, deliberately intended to make the viewer think.

Molly, a near-victim of a serial killer five years previously, takes a class in forensic psychology** from Professor Kane. In one class, he plays with the students' minds by saying "What if I told you I was going to murder one of you today?" They laugh at first but then, as his face nervously twitches while he's holding a large knife, Kane states that he has studied serial killers all his life and secretly always wanted to be one. "What if I had medicated myself for years, two weeks ago stopped taking the medication and decided to step into the abyss? Then comes the million dollar question. Who will it be?" When he grabs one of the students and simulates slitting his throat, the rest of the students freak out. Not the kind of teaching approach the

chair of the department is likely to approve. It gives new meaning to "hands-on" teaching. The students, however, are impressed (and not to mention, relieved) when they finally realize it was a simulation.

The students are assigned a project: Admonishing them to "think outside the box," Professor Kane tells them to step inside the killer's mind and try to figure out who the killer is. "Remember those words. If you don't, you could become a victim..." [Wow, this project isn't in the Instructor's Manual for my forensic psychology textbook***] The suspicion falls on one person after another; first the weirdo student, then the detective, the professor, then another student, then Molly...and around again, keeping the viewers guessing...

One of the highlights of the film is Bruce's remarkable acting. Subtle, nuanced, displaying emotions not seen his usual villain roles--tenderness, gentleness, vulnerability, emotional pain. Kane was supposed to be the abused victim of a serial killer and in the twitching, tortured eyes of the Professor, we see it all and believe.

Another riveting part of this unusual film are the suspenseful scenes where, just as you think you know who the killer is, the metaphorical rug gets jerked out from under you, and we're on to the next suspect...The ambiguity of the ending is a twist that will confuse some but intrigue others. However, the scene where the students all willingly drive out to a deserted cabin in the woods in a thunderstorm just to be "safe" from the serial killer...well, they'd all gets F's on that exam in my course!

And that naughty scene with Molly--oh no, Prof, that's not what's meant by "teacher's pet." Hope you've got tenure...

But bottom line...Bruce fans would take a class from this prof anytime. Register for this course now...you'll all be tested later.

**The popularity of CSI units and criminal profilers on TV crime shows has brought public attention to the term "forensic psychology" but it isn't just composed of criminal profilers and clinical evaluators of whether someone is legally "insane." ("Insanity" is a legal term not a clinical term). Forensic psychology is "any application of psychological research, methods, theory, and practice to a task faced by the legal system." (Forensic Psychology by Lawrence S. Wrightsman & Solomon M. Fulero, 2005). Though Marshall Kane in Ripper talks to his class about criminal profiling, he could have covered topics such as the reliability of eyewitness testimony, jury selection (i.e., how to get an unbiased set of jurors), police training, evaluation of child abuse cases, and the psychology of false confessions as well. In spite of the TV shows, profiling is only a small part of what forensic psychologists do.

***Ariel, whose alter ego actually is a psychology professor who actually teaches forensic psychology at her university. She promises not to scare her students half to death, never twitches in the classroom, and doesn't carry sharp objects. Oh yes, and she doesn't own a cabin in the woods...yet.

© Copyright 2006 and 2007 by Bruce's Angels