The Limehouse Golem Review

The first film I saw at the festival was “The Limehouse Golem” (2016; Director: Juan Carlos Medina;
Screenwriter: Jane Goldman (based on a book by Peter Ackroyd), on Tuesday night.

Unlike some people I really enjoyed “The Limehouse Golem”. It had entertaining characters who
were mostly played by talented and well suited actors, it had an intriguing and suspenseful mystery
storyline with a surprising twist, and it had gloomy and murky aesthetics that fit the film well.

The writer of the film, Jane Goldman, had previously written the 2012 adaptation of “The Woman in
Black”, which is a horror film that shares a similar gloomy aesthetics and themes as “The Limehouse
Golem”. It is also set in a similar time period – “Golem” is set in the late 19 th century whereas “The
Woman in Black” is set during the early 20 th century. Like “Golem”, “The Woman in Black” was based
on a book, so thus it could be said that Jane Goldman was a very suitable choice to write this film.

I find some of the characters in this film to be very interesting and entertaining to watch. The main
character, Inspector John Kildare (played by Bill Nighy) is a warm hearted but well aged detective.
Although the other main character, Elizabeth Cree (played by Olivia Cooke), is the main suspect for
the poisoning of her husband, and all the evidence points towards her, Kildare is determined to find
evidence to prove her innocent. We discover that he has a lot of heart and charm and truly cares
about Elizabeth Cree. We deeply hope that Kildare manages prove to her innocence, and so after all
his efforts are wasted at the end of the film and it turns out Elizabeth actually did murder her
husband, we can sense the same sheer devastation that Kildare feels. Kildare has put his life and his
career on the line to prove Cree’s innocence so it is devastating for him to be wrong. I felt like Bill
Nighy was a great choice for the role of Inspector Kildare and he performed the character brilliantly.



The other main character is the aforementioned Elizabeth Cree. Elizabeth is a music hall star who
has been accused of poisoning her husband John and has become linked to the so called Golem
murders which have been taking place lately. I feel like Elizabeth Cree was a well written and
performed character. I empathised with her with her dilemma of being accused of poisoning her
husband, and much like Inspector Kildare I really wanted her to be proven innocent. She had an
interesting and compelling journey, starting out as a sort of maid at the theatre before finding her
lucky break when she gets to perform on stage and finds herself becoming a sort of Victorian
celebrity. I found her tragic relationship with her husband to be slightly depressing and I felt for her
deeply when she performed in front of a Jewish stage and accidentally said a racist Jewish phrase. I
genuinely thought her husband was the one who committed the murders and I assumed the mystery
had already been solved by the time Elizabeth is sent to be executed, so I was genuinely surprised
and shocked when it turned out she had been the murderer all along and Inspector Kildare’s efforts
were entirely worthless. As with Bill Nighy I think she performed her character very well.



Some of the secondary characters that I enjoyed included; Dan Leno (played by Douglas Booth), a
slightly eccentric performer at the theatre who is instantly attracted to Elizabeth, becomes her
biggest fan and supports her when she is being lusted over by creepy men and supports her with her
blossoming career; Mr. Gerrard (played by Adam Brown), a man who works at the theatre and also
goes out of his way to support Elizabeth, but turns out to be harbouring a dark secret when he tries
to rape her; and John Cree (played by Sam Reid), a playwright who marries Elizabeth and starts
writing a new play that will star her in the leading role, but turns out to be a cruel user of women,
has his career ruined when Elizabeth performs his half written play, and ends up being Kildare’s main
suspect for the Golem murders until the last scenes of the film.

In conclusion I really enjoyed “The Limehouse Golem”. It had interesting characters and a compelling
and intriguing mystery storyline that had you guessing until the very last moments when it threw a
shocking and surprising twist at you.