The Limehouse Golem

In Victorian London, Scotland Yard inspector John Kildare (a great Bill Nighy, in a role originally meant for Alan Rickman, to whom the film is dedicated) takes a special interest in the well-being of Lizzie Cree (Olivia Cooke), a young stage performer accused of murdering her husband. She seems an unlikely killer and he becomes obsessed with proving her innocence, all while the title “monster” is leaving behind a string of mutilated corpses à la Jack the Ripper—a case that may just be connected to Lizzie’s. This jam-packed, handsome, highly literate film—adapted from Peter Ackroyd’s 1994 novel Dan Leno & the Limehouse Golem and featuring real-life historical figures (such as Karl Marx, novelist George Gissing, and theater actor Dan Leno) woven into the fictional narrative—satisfies as a gothic murder mystery and an inside look into the lively world of the music halls so popular at the time, while also offering its fair share of bloodletting. An RLJ Entertainment release.