The climactic scene in which the Monster is confronted by The Man With A Bucket On His Head.
Oh, shut up, Holmes, I shall write up your adventures as I choose, and you can lump it, as the Queen says!
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002) is a Sherlock Holmes story, but not from the pen of his progenitor, Sir Doyle, but others. It concerns the mysterious deaths of a couple of monks at the Church of St. Justinian that appear to have been slain using the methodology attributed to vampires; but Holmes, along with most of Victorian England, does not believe vampires actually exist. They collect clues, pursue herrings, bear outrage, and eventually arrive at a conclusion. But, while interesting, the story felt a trifle limp, uncompelling.
Part of the problem is the lack of proper chemistry between Holmes and his usual assistant, Dr. Watson. Certainly, in all stories in which Dr. Watson appears, he is, though spirited and of his own mind on issues, subservient to Holmes when it comes to matters of fact and logic, and this tradition remains unbroken in this story. However, visually, which certainly is an element of said chemistry, it just doesn’t work. Watson’s appearance is almost a tribute to the Watson of the best known pairing, Rathbone’s Holmes and Nigel Bruce’s Watson; but Holmes in this story, despite apparent visual references to Rathbone’s Holmes, doesn’t make it work. Additionally, that mysterious bond traditionally there between them, even in the Cumberbatch and Freeman pairing, just doesn’t quite seem to make it into this story. Perhaps Holmes appears too young, or Watson too old; it’s hard to find the nub of the problem. I found it jarring, nonetheless, that my expectation is not met, and it vitiates the story.
All that does not detract from my pleasure at the presence of a certain Dr. Chagas, who plays a bat specialist investigating colonies of bats in London; equally, Inspector Jones is quite one-note and distracting.
In the end, the imposition of discomfort on Holmes concerning questions of spirituality is little more than a bow to the maker of this film I suspect, and that entity is Hallmark. Not that they take it too far, but it was to be expected.
And to be expected on matters outside of Holmes canon is never a good sign.
