''The Limehouse Golem'' is a 2016 British horror-

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by Juan Carlos Medina from a screenplay by

Jane Goldman Jane Loretta Anne Goldman''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 11 June 1970) is an English screenwriter, author and producer. With Matthew Vaughn, she co-wrote the screenplays of '' Kings ...

. The film, an adaptation of

Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...

's 1994 murder mystery novel ''

Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem ''Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem'' (published in the United States as ''The Trial of Elizabeth Cree'') is a 1994 novel by the English author Peter Ackroyd. It is a murder mystery framed within a story featuring real historical characters, and ...

'', stars Olivia Cooke,

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...

and

Douglas Booth Douglas John Booth (born 9 July 1992) is an English actor and musician. He first came to public attention following his performance as Boy George in the BBC Two film ''Worried About the Boy'' (2010). He also starred in the BBC adaptations of ' ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on 10 September 2016. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2017, by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

Plot

A series of murders has shaken the community of

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...

in the docklands of

Victorian London During the 19th century, London grew enormously to become a global city of immense importance. It was the largest city in the world from about 1825, the world's largest port, and the heart of international finance and trade. Railways connecting ...

. Journalists dub the murderer the

Golem A golem ( ; he, , gōlem) is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter (usually clay or mud). The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century ...

, after the Jewish legend. When music-hall star Elizabeth Cree is accused of poisoning her husband, John, on the same night as the last Golem murder, Inspector John Kildare discovers evidence linking John Cree to the murders and wants to solve the cases before Elizabeth is hanged. Kildare finds a diary written by the Golem of the crimes, handwritten in a printed copy of

Thomas De Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quinc ...

's essay " On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts", in a collected volume in the reading room of the library in the British Museum. He deduces that the Golem must be one of the four men who were in the library on the date of the last entry:

Dan Leno George Wild Galvin (20 December 1860 – 31 October 1904), better known by the stage name Dan Leno, was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era. He was best known, aside from his music hall a ...

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

George Gissing George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include '' The Nether World'' (1889), ''New Gru ...

and John Cree. Kildare acquires handwriting samples of the other three men, while listening to Elizabeth's story about how she was the daughter of an unmarried mother and went from sewing sail-cloths at the docks to becoming a star. When Elizabeth's abusive mother died, she was befriended by Dan Leno and fell in with his music-hall troupe, performing comic songs while dressed as a man. Her act quickly becomes second in popularity only to Leno, but she aspires to become a dramatic actor. She is wooed by John Cree, a struggling playwright. Her fellow performer, Aveline Ortega (

María Valverde María Valverde Rodríguez (born 24 March 1987) is a Spanish actress. Career At age 16, Valverde had a major role in '' The Weakness of the Bolshevik'', for which she won Best New Actress at the 18th Goya Awards. Her other films include ''Me ...

), becomes jealous since she herself is interested in John, and sabotages Elizabeth's first dramatic role. Elizabeth is entrapped by the theatre's owner, a man known as 'Uncle' (

Eddie Marsan Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008). He has feature ...

) and is forced to pose nude for photographs and to beat him for his sexual gratification. She tells John, who offers to marry her and keep her safe. Elizabeth accepts and Kildare notes that Uncle died suddenly only days later, leaving the theatre to Dan Leno. John's career stalls, and he grows bitter toward Elizabeth, who supports him financially, but is only interested in what he can do for her career. She hires Aveline as a maid and facilitates an affair between Aveline and John so that she will not have to keep sleeping with him. The two remain estranged until John Cree's poisoning. Kildare finds a handwritten copy of the play written by Cree before his death on the day Elizabeth is to be hanged. He finds it to be a match with the diary and gets an hour's postponement to her sentence, hoping that revealing John Cree's crimes will cause her sentence to be commuted. Kildare instructs her to write a statement, but she writes the confession "I am the Golem", her handwriting matching the diary. Kildare realises that ''she'' is the true Golem rather than her husband. She killed 'Uncle' and began committing murders as the Golem to make a lasting name for herself, poisoning her husband when he found evidence. Broken at this revelation, Kildare destroys Elizabeth's confession and allows her to be hanged for the murder of her husband, robbing her of the fame of being the Golem, allowing the solution that John Cree was the Golem to stand, for which Kildare is acclaimed, and granting Elizabeth the fame of having eliminated the Golem rather than the greater fame of being the Golem, which she actually desired. In the final scene, Dan Leno's troupe perform John's play, rewritten to tell Elizabeth's life story. Aveline, playing Elizabeth, dies during the hanging scene because the safety mechanism is not in place. Leno dresses as Elizabeth to continue the play. He takes a bow, and looks knowingly at Kildare in the audience. Then we no longer see him, but Elizabeth herself on the stage.

Cast

as Inspector John Kildare * Olivia Cooke as Elizabeth “Lizzie” Cree ** Amelia Crouch as Young Elizabeth *

Daniel Mays Daniel Mays (born 31 March 1978) is an English actor. Early life Born in Epping, Essex, the third of four boys, Mays was brought up in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Acad ...

as Constable George Flood * Sam Reid as John Cree *

as Aveline Ortega *

as Uncle *

Henry Goodman Henry Goodman (born 23 April 1950) is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre. Early life He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, ...

Paul Ritter Simon Paul Adams (20 December 1966 – 5 April 2021), known professionally as Paul Ritter, was an English actor. He had roles in films including ''Son of Rambow'' (2007), ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008), ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' ...

as Augustus Rowley *

Morgan Watkins Morgan Watkins is a British film, television and stage actor from Camden, London. Background Watkins trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2009. He lives in London with his girlfriend and baby son. Career Watkins played No ...

* Peter Sullivan as Inspector Roberts * Adam Brown as Mr Gerrard * Clive Brunt as Charlie

Production

Screenwriter

read the book years before she was a professional screenwriter and kept it in mind as a potential project. She explains, "What’s funny is that I read the book long before I was screenwriting. I think it was the only time that I can remember when I read a book and thought, 'Gosh, I hope somebody makes a movie of this!' ... Weirdly, years later I was on a film jury together with the producer whom I had read had the rights and I asked him whatever happened to the adaptation and said that I loved the book. That is how this came about, because he said the rights were free again and asked, 'Do you want to do it?'" It was announced on 17 April 2015 that

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakesp ...

, Olivia Cooke and

had been cast in leading roles for the film, to be directed by Juan Carlos Medina. Rickman later left the project due to declining health after he was diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of pancr ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

for ''The Limehouse Golem'' began in October 2015 in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, with filming taking place in locations such as

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

and

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west o ...

. Production also took place in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, with cast members

and

being spotted on set in

Deansgate Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile ...

, with Nighy replacing Rickman. Principal photography concluded on 26 November 2015. Johan Söderqvist composed the film's score. The film is dedicated to Rickman, who died in January 2016.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on 10 September 2016. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2017 and in the United States on 8 September 2017, in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

by RLJ Entertainment.

Critical reception

''The Limehouse Golem'' received mostly positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 74% approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 78 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 6.4/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ''Ikon London Magazine'' commented that "the film was exquisitely shot, with fantastic period sets, locations and wardrobe".

References

External links

''The Limehouse Golem''
at

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

''The Limehouse Golem''
at British Council–Film *
''The Limehouse Golem''
at Lumiere *
''The Limehouse Golem''
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Limehouse Golem, The 2016 films 2016 horror films 2010s historical horror films 2016 horror thriller films British historical films British horror films British thriller films Films set in London Films set in the 1880s Films shot in Greater Manchester Films based on British novels Golem Films set in the Victorian era Films with screenplays by Jane Goldman Films produced by Elizabeth Karlsen Lionsgate films Number 9 Films films 2010s serial killer films British serial killer films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films