Movie Review: Terror at London Bridge (1985)
Synopsis: Lake Havasu City, Arizona's biggest tourist attraction is the re-built original London Bridge. After the final missing stone is discovered in the Thames River, the city plans a big celebration. However, the replaced stone has an unattended consequence, the return of Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, when Jack's first victim is found, nobody wants to believe the detective in charge of the investigation, Don Gregory, when he suspects it wasn't just a random one-time murder.
The movie also goes by the title Bridge Across Time.
Who's in it? The movie stars David Hasselhoff, Stepfanie Kramer, Adrienne Barbeau, Paul Rossilli and Randolph Mantooth.
Review: My search for a classic monster movie has entered overtime since none of the films I've come across have intrigued me enough to watch. As a result, I ended up going a different route with Terror at London Bridge, figuring a made-for-TV slasher movie starring David Hasselhoff would at least be good for a few laughs.
I am going to say this with all sincerity - the movie pleasantly surprised me. The film had a bit of a sitcom vibe to it at times but the plot, which seemed like it would be predictable, turned out to be much more complex than I would expect.
The biggest surprise for me was the mystery surrounding Jack the Ripper (Rossilli) himself. Was he a ghost? Did he time travel? What was his motivation for the modern murders? Given the circumstances, could he even be stopped? Not to mention, why did it seem like there were two 19th-century Londoners in the city? Were they working together or were they not even remotely related to each other?
While better than expected, the film did have some flaws. One of the big ones is it is very stretched out. This is a 97-minute movie, and the main plot took up less than one-third of that. Part of that was the decision to have the movie take place over the course of a month (to match the dates of Jack the Ripper's original murders) but it also felt as though the writers didn't know what to do in between the slayings.
Plus, while I did think Hasselhoff did an OK job playing Det. Gregory, his wardrobe didn't quite fit the role. It was almost as though Gregory shrunk most of his shirts were unbuttoned, showing his chest. I get trying to take advantage of Hasselhoff's "heartthrob" appeal, but it did make it hard to take him seriously at times, especially when none of the other police officers were dressed like that.
Final Opinion: The movie probably could have used a bit more Jack the Ripper and some more appropriate wardrobe choices for the lead actor but, as I said before, it was a pleasant surprise and proved to be more entertaining than I was expecting. It's worth watching if given the chance.
My Grade: B
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1985:
Movie Review: Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Movie Review: Phenomena (1985)
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