Features Film

TRAILER: Ripper, Batman Short Film

Recently we bought you an interview with creators Adam Bouabda and James Campbell about Ripper, a short film featuring Batman going up against Jack the Ripper. Now we have the first trailer for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

The first thing you notice is that this has far more of a horror tone than any Warner Bros. Batman film. And it’s a damn creepy looking one at that. No big superhero set-pieces here; just one man on a mission to do what’s right. Hell, we don’t even know that this is a trailer for a Batman film until towards the end, and even then it’s kept discreet. When we catch the brief glimpse of his mask, we know, without being told explicitely, what we’re in for.

As with some Elseworlds comics and even some in-continuity ones (particularly one’s set near the start of his crime-fighting career), in this world Batman has an almost mythical status; he is a legendary being who could be real or just a figment of criminals’ imagination (they are, after all, a superstitous and cowardly lot). Too bad for Jack the Ripper that he’ll soon find out that Batman is all too real.

Too often nowadays, we hear people complaining that trailers give far too much details away. Well we’re safe here because apart from vagely setting up the concept of Batman going up against Jack the Ripper, this trailer actually reveals very little about the actual plot. And that’s a compliment. Less is more, and here they rely on brevity to get the point across.

In this age of the superhero film ruling Hollywood, a film like Ripper, which takes the superhero formula and completely turns it on its head, would likely never come out of one of the large studios. It’s just not something that the casual moviegoers (i.e. the people who buy most of the cinema tickets and think that the recent Fantastic Four film is set in the same continuity as the Avengers films) would be interested in. Make no mistake, this is without a doubt, Batman for the fans, by the fans.

What did you think of the trailer? Are you interested to see the final project when it’s released? Tell us what you think in the comments or let us know on Twitter.

About the author

Davidde Gelmini