The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle character of Sherlock Holmes
being in the public domain has allowed a wide range of film makers craft their
own stories of the iconic character and to say any one version is a more
realized version misses the point of having multiple different versions out
there to choose from (there are three currently on the air on television and in
film alone). The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002) features character actor
Matt Frewer with the honor of putting on the iconic Holmes’s hat in a case that
may involve the existence of the supernatural in the form of vampires.
Holmes and his most trusted companion Dr. Watson (Kenneth
Welsh) are called in to investigate the murder of a monk and by the two
puncture marks on the neck it is believed that a vampire is responsible. With more murders piling up fast Holmes and
Watson must discover who the murderer is and for what reason before Holmes
finds himself being framed as the culprit.
It’s hard to imagine Frewer as Holmes probably because he’s
so miscast even for this made for TV film.
He displays none of the charisma of say Peter Cushing, Ronald Howard,
Michael Caine, or Robert Downy, Jr. coming off very flat especially against
Welsh as Watson, who is more interesting.
Luckily Welsh makes up for Frewer’s shortcomings and it doesn’t distract
from the film too much. In regular
Holmes fashion there has to be a logical explanation for the vampire-style
killings and he must find out what that is.
I will say that writer/director Rodney Gibbons does give the
film a traditional Sherlock Holmes mystery look and feel which is unexpected
considering that it is a TV movie. It
does look better than expected and is quite an entertaining mystery. This is not something I can say for all other
Holmes adaptations out there. This being
said this Holmes mystery is an easily digestible treat that won’t leave an
aftertaste.
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