A trailer for the upcoming film, 7 Faces of Jack the Ripper, is now available at Dread Central.  The website quotes the press release of the movie:

125 Years ago the world's most notorious serial killer terrorized the streets of London, earning the name ‘Jack the Ripper’.
The horrific slayings and infamous unsolved case are being brought to life in a new adaptation, 7 Faces of Jack the Ripper, featuring Timothy Woodward, Jr., Jeremy London, Said Faraj, Antwon Tanner, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jerry G. Angelo, and Mindy Robinson.
This modern adaptation takes place in the streets of Los Angeles, where a copycat killer is not only inspired by a true story but also based in part on the actual psychiatric case files of a leading Jack the Ripper suspect which were recently made public by the mental institution where he was detained for years.

Click on the link above to watch the trailer, but beware:  there are VERY violent/gory scenes.

Hmph.  Seems like Grade C torture porn, with a Silence of the Lambs rip-off thrown in for good measure.

Yahoo Answers is sometimes pretty funny.  A recent question was, "Do you think Jack the Ripper's victims knew each other?"

One person answered, "Maybe, but I think he only killed prostitutes, though."

Yes.  Prostitutes don't "know" other people.

The Global Times has the story of a play in China depicting Jack the Ripper.  The play is actually humorous, and features cross-dressing detective and (of course) Sherlock Holmes.

New Play on Jack the Ripper in China

This blog http://vincentaliasjack.com/wordpress/matches/ posits that Vincent Van Gogh was Jack due to similarities in Vincent's handwriting and some of the Ripper letters. The blog also states that the killings occurred around the time of Vincent's mother's birthday. As has been stated many times, and I supposed must be said many more, you can prove anyone wrote any of the letters--nothing proves that the killer and the letter-writer were the same person! Anyway, we have Van Gogh now. Any Victorian celebrity left to accuse?

In this Reddit post, users discuss this story about Carl Feigenbaum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14207581

I believe Reddit users are pretty well informed so it is an interesting albeit brief discussion. It centers on the newspapers' role in the killings and whether a killer would continue to kill so he could write about it!

Much news today regarding Magnotta, the porn actor who killed and dismembered his victim on tape. The video is available on the net if you know where to look. What is interesting to me is that more and more people live their lives online, and the ease of using video and reality shows which glorify using our everyday lives as entertainment makes it easier to do so. In Magnotta's case he has been online for years posting videos of him torturing and killing animals, especially kittens. Apparently it was difficult to track him down but one wonders how hard authorities worked to find a kitten killer, even though animal torture is part of the homicidal triad. This doesn't mean that every person who abuses animals will commit murder, but it is a strong indicator of aberrant behavior and Magnotta's posting of the videos shows a troubling desire for infamy and possible desire to move up to killing people to satisfy increasing urges to shock the public.

A new board game based on the Jack the Ripper case is schedule for release.   Nexus Games will debut Letters from Whitechapel, a multi-player strategy game, in either late November or early December.  More details here.

On this day in 1888, the "From Hell" letter was mailed to the head of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, George Lusk.  It contained half a human kidney.

The letter read:

From hell
Mr Lusk,
Sor
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer
signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk