Before you read our review, check out our podcast interview with the film’s directors/writers/producers Stephen Staley and Natasha Tosini, as well as actors Jack Hyde and Tai White!

Alternatively, you can listen to it on your favourite audio platform (Apple, Spotify etc) by clicking here!

And now, onto the review…

Certificate: TBC

Running Time: 83 mins

UK Distributor: ITN Distribution

UK Release Date: TBC

REVIEWED AT FRIGHTFEST LONDON 2025

WHO’S IN THE HAUNTING AT JACK THE RIPPER’S HOUSE (FKA VIRAL HAUNT)?

Jack Hoy, Kelly Rian Sanson, Natasha Tosini, Stephen Staley, Danielle Scott, Jack Hyde, Elliott Eason, Tai White, Will Wickham, Robert Hedley, Heaven-Leigh Spence

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Stephen Staley and Natasha Tosini (directors, writers, producers), James Cox (composer), Paul Barker (cinematographer), Maria Galindo (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A group of YouTube paranormal investigators stumble across a real ghostly threat…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE HAUNTING AT JACK THE RIPPER’S HOUSE (FKA VIRAL HAUNT)?

Being a film critic has its many perks, but also some hugely difficult personal hurdles. For instance, back in January I was fortunate enough to interview the cast and filmmakers of a recently-wrapped horror film called Viral Haunt – which, in case you somehow missed it at the very top of this page, you can still watch on YouTube or listen on your favourite audio platform – and since then I’ve remained in contact with some of them, who also happen to be genuinely kind-hearted and friendly people who, like what I do with film criticism, love what they do and put their everything into that which gives them happiness and purpose.

But upon seeing the actual film – now retitled The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House, even though the cut I saw still bears the Viral Haunt name – I found it to be kind of a stinker. Like, shockingly so, in a lot of unfortunate aspects. Yet, unlike other times I’ve reviewed bad movies for this website, there’s a greater worry of upsetting the people who made it, because after all nobody wants to hear negative things about their hard work, especially when it’s coming from someone they’ve established a decent connection with.

Luckily, having consulted the filmmakers prior to writing this review and finding they have pretty thick skin about these things (after all, one of them had a prominent role in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, and they seem fairly unphased by the overwhelmingly negative reception it received), I’ve been given the thumbs up to officially go ahead with describing how bad The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House actually is, though not without a few dry spots on an otherwise damp product.

Directed, written and produced by Stephen Staley and Natasha Tosini in their filmmaking debuts, the movie focuses on a group of YouTube paranormal investigators called Haunt Hunters, who have developed an online following for their videos where they enter numerous haunted buildings and record supposed evidence of ghostly activities. Behind the scenes, however, things are far less rosy, as the group often stage such encounters for the views, causing co-founder Richard (Jack Hyde) to quit the group after a falling-out with his far more ambitious former bestie Jake (Jack Hoy) when the latter announces that their next visit will be to a secluded manor said to be the home of the infamous Jack the Ripper. Of course, when they eventually get there (emphasis on “eventually”; more on that in a bit), the group – also consisting of Belle (Tosini), Darren (Staley), Demi (Kelly Rian Sanson) and Joe (Will Wickham) – finds themselves out of their depth when they come face to face with the real entities occupying the house.

Made on a very low budget, which I have been informed was approximately half of what was spent on the first Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey film, it’s easy to forgive the filmmakers for certain things, given that they literally couldn’t afford to go back and fix them. But even still, it doesn’t make any of them less noticeable, at least in the cut that I saw. For one, the film is riddled with incredibly spotty sound mixing, including parts where you can blatantly hear the muffling of background noise whenever characters would speak, while sometimes it’s obvious in some shots that all sound was removed from the editing track, resulting in some noticeable silence in moments where there should at least be some sort of ambience in the background.

The editing as a whole is awkward, cutting back and forth in time to pivotal character moments without any set-up other than a brief title card, and other than providing just a tiny hint of background for certain characters, there’s really no reason they’re in the film at all. It’s not only disorienting but also creates an extremely lethargic pace that slows the whole movie down, to where it takes the central group at least halfway into the 80-something minute movie to even get to the titular location, long after everything just stops in its tracks to show the group appearing on a podcast. There are even times when you can see the reflection of the camera operator in a mirror, which would be one thing if the movie was intended to be found-footage – which at times it appears to be, until we start seeing certain events that are clearly not meant to be filmed, and are also shot in the exact same way as the supposed in-movie footage – but at that point, that pretence has been dropped, resulting in a rather jarring filmmaking flub that’s magnified by its projection on a cinema screen.

The narrative itself flounders with nonsensical twists, repetitive dialogue, thinly-defined characters, and an alarming indecision over whether it wants to be a ghost story or a slasher movie after a particular point. None are more arbitrary than the inclusion of Jack the Ripper, who in this universe has been formally identified to the point where people know where he lived during his killing spree, but really you could replace him with just about any other murderer, historical or otherwise, and very little about the actual plot would need to be altered. Aside from a few possession scenes that make good use of practical make-up effects and some occasionally striking cinematography, it’s a surprisingly bloodless movie where characters are unceremoniously off-screened to death, and ends abruptly before the real carnage can get underway.

Sometimes, though, the movie will introduce elements that add some interesting flavour, from a couple of lively turns from performers like Tosini and Jack Hyde, the latter getting a monologue that he holds together despite the material going on for way longer than it should, to a brief and sadly underutilised sub-plot involving an antagonistic character being verbally abusive to their other half, which as someone who’s been on the receiving end of such a thing did feel all too believable.

But sadly, as much as I hate to admit it, especially given my personal connections with select members of the cast and crew, The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House is a dreary and sometimes dull horror excursion. You can definitely forgive it for certain things given its lack of fundamental resources, and it’s not like there wasn’t any kind of passion put into it, but it’s too messy and too incoherent to recommend from a critical standpoint.

Even still, my genuine congratulations go out to the filmmakers for getting it made, and I hope this review doesn’t put them off of pursuing other, better projects in the future.

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House (fka Viral Haunt) is a messy and incoherent supernatural horror that is riddled with production flubs and narrative disjointedness, some of which are easy to forgive due to the minimal budget, but they are nonetheless noticeable in a film that struggles to hold your attention with its lethargically paced storytelling.

The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House is/was showing at this year’s FrightFest London!