The Limehouse Golem

The Limehouse Golem is a 2016 British horror-mystery film directed by Juan Carlos Medina from a screenplay by Jane Goldman. The film, an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd's 1994 murder mystery novel Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, stars Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, and Douglas Booth.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2016. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2017, by Lionsgate.

Plot
A series of murders has shaken the community of Limehouse in Victorian London to the point where people believe that only a legendary creature from dark times – the mythical so-called Golem – must be responsible. 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 Golem murders and finds himself determined to crack both cases before Elizabeth is hanged.

Having found a diary of the Golem's crimes, written by the Golem in a book on the art of murder, kept in the reading room of the library, Kildare determines that the Golem must be one of the four men in the library on the date of the last entry; Dan Leno, Karl Marx, George Gissing 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 music-hall star.

When Elizabeth’s abusive mother died, she befriended Dan Leno and fell in with his music-hall troupe, performing bawdy comic songs while dressed as a man. Her act quickly becomes second in popularity only to Leno but she aspires to also become a dramatic actor. John Cree, a struggling playwright woos her, offering her a leading part in his new play. She does not respond to his advances but her fellow performer, Aveline Ortega (María Valverde), becomes jealous and sabotages her first dramatic role.

Elizabeth is entrapped by the theatre’s owner, a man known as 'Uncle' (Eddie Marsan) 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 towards Elizabeth, who supports him financially, eventually beginning an affair with Aveline and suspending work on "Misery Junction", to spite Elizabeth. The two remain estranged until John Cree’s poisoning.

Kildare finally finds a handwritten copy of the play written by Cree before his death on the day that Elizabeth is to be hanged. He gets an hour's postponement to her sentence, hoping that revealing John Cree's crimes will cause her sentence to be commuted. After speaking with Elizabeth, Kildare realizes that she is the true Golem rather than her husband. She killed 'Uncle' and then began committing murders as the Golem to make a lasting name for herself, poisoning her husband when he found evidence of her crimes.

Broken at this revelation, Kildare delays announcing the revelation that Cree was the Golem to the press until after Elizabeth is hanged, granting her the 'fame' of eliminating the Golem rather than the greater fame of being a killer. In the final scene, Dan Leno's troupe perform John's play, rewritten to tell Elizabeth's life story but Aveline Ortega, playing the part of Elizabeth, dies accidentally during the hanging scene. Leno covers up the death and takes the curtain call dressed as Elizabeth and we see Elizabeth take a bow on stage with him, using Leno's catchphrase: "Here we are again!".

Cast

 * Bill Nighy as Inspector John Kildare
 * Olivia Cooke as Elizabeth Cree
 * Amelia Crouch as Young Elizabeth
 * Douglas Booth as Dan Leno
 * Daniel Mays as Constable George Flood
 * Sam Reid as John Cree
 * María Valverde as Aveline Ortega
 * Eddie Marsan as Uncle
 * Henry Goodman as Karl Marx
 * Paul Ritter as Augustus Rowley
 * Morgan Watkins as George Gissing
 * Peter Sullivan as Inspector Roberts
 * Adam Brown as Mr Gerrard
 * Clive Brunt as Charlie

Production
Screenwriter Jane Goldman 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, Olivia Cooke, and Douglas Booth 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. Principal photography for The Limehouse Golem began in October 2015 in West Yorkshire, with filming taking place in locations such as Leeds and Keighley. Production also took place in Manchester, with cast members Bill Nighy and Daniel Mays being spotted on set in Deansgate. 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 Toronto International Film Festival 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 and through video on demand by RLJ Entertainment.

Critical reception
The Limehouse Golem received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 74% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 72 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.4/10. Ikon London Magazine commented that "the film was exquisitely shot, with fantastic period sets, locations, and wardrobe".