'The Limehouse Golem' - Movie Review

Set in London in 1880, Inspector John Kildare (Bill Nighy) is abruptly handed his first murder investigation - and it's a high profile one as the murderer (dubbed "The Limehouse Golem" by himself and the press) has left a trail of bodies. He's assisted by Constable George Flood (Daniel Mays), and fascinated by Elizabeth Cree (Olivia Cook) who is herself on trial for murder in a case that seems tangled up with the Golem's.

Follows a trope popular in both horror and mystery, in which every single person is eventually revealed to either be a horrible person or have had a horrible life. That's not the only popular structure they use: our antagonist is intelligent, but may in fact be allowing himself to be misled by red herrings and/or his own hopes.

The movie is well presented, with the clothes and scenery of a gritty Victorian London. And well acted too. I thought it started well and was fairly well written, but fell down on its own need to apply a twist to every character put in front of you: everyone had to be something other than what they appeared to be. And that left me wearied by the end of the film, without an anchor and without enjoying myself.