The Haunting At Jack The Ripper's House

Another Frightfest, another found footage film based around a dodgy locale investigated by vloggers in a desperate hunt for clicks. The quality is the same as usual (there have been superior examples of this format, but not many). Nevertheless, it’s clear from fan responses that this subgenre is compulsive viewing for some people, perhaps getting under their skin because it feels so close to things they encounter in everyday life. It’s a context in which horror can come close to home.

in this case, the home in question is said to have belonged to Jack the Ripper. There is little discussion of this, the implication being that the events are taking place in a near-future world where the Ripper mystery has been decisively solved. It’s suggested at one point that he was Aaron Kosminski, which immediately throws up a problem, given the improbability of a hairdresser with a history of incarceration for mental health problems ever being able to afford the mansion in which the action is situated. A house he would probably have had to commission, at that, because it barely looks old enough to have been inhabited at the time of the famous Whitechapel killings.

Why use the Ripper story, in light of these difficulties? It feels a bit desperate and doesn’t really add anything to the story. There’s a brief scene involving the discovery of Ripper-related newspaper clippings and assorted tat, the question being whether this is meaningful or was planted by a member of the team. As we see in the prologue, where they investigate an abandoned ‘abbey’ (which looks nothing like one), at least one of their number has a love of practical jokes, and they don’t all trust one another. With ratings slipping and everyone aware that the show might not last much longer – at least in the absence of a seriously shocking story – there is competition for the spotlight, an awareness that only the most popular will be able to lead fans away with them to pastures new.

This rivalry gives rise to its own potential sources of threat, as we wonder how far each team member might go. There’s also some more generic unpleasantness, with one team member consistently bullying and gaslighting his girlfriend, who is so nervous that the only explanation for her presence is the possibility that she will make viewers nervous too. It’s a creepy, exploitative dynamic with lots of under-developed narrative potential. With implications of possession which could, of course, be the perfect cover for simple betrayal amongst such superstitious people, directors Stephen Staley and Natasha Tosini aim to keep viewers guessing as to what is or is not supernatural in origin – but they can, of course, only do so for so long.

A sort of meta-narrative is provided in places by comments from people supposedly watching the livestreamed elements of the footage. They, after all, know the characters in a way that we don’t, and are familiar with their history. This weakens the effort to make the film immersive, however, in part because it’s so sanitised and polite – it just doesn’t feel real. It ‘s also hard to imagine all these fans having stuck with this flaccid haunting programme for so long. Is there nothing else on the internet?

With a plot that flips around in all directions, swiftly burning through any sense of cohesiveness in the characters and their relationships, The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House feels more like a high speed soap opera than a properly creepy ghost story. Its various technical issues and leaden acting do not help. The ideas it has – which are primarily visual – would have been better presented in a short. Directing any feature is hard work, and it’s good to see newcomers trying, but unlike a ghost, they need first to have something of substance.

Reviewed on: 27 Aug 2025