Black the Ripper is an rumoured blaxploitation horror film that may have been released around 1974 or 1976(no one is sure of the release date) movie was a re imagining of infamous Jack the Ripper and his blood soaked story.
It is thought that Frank Saletri (the writer of another blaxploitation horror film Blackenstein) might have been the director. It is also possible though not confirmed that Antonio Fargas (previously best known as informant Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch a cop show from back in the day) played a character named Sideback.
Due to the highly obscure nature of the film even genre specialist and film historians are uncertain, If Black the Ripper was finished then an extremely limited theatrical release or was finished and never released or is completely lost.
Here are a few know confirmed details Black the Ripper was first mentioned in a brief note in the May 8th, 1974 issue of Variety magazine that named Saletri and a cast of unknown actors, and indicated the film was two months into it’s production.
Later that December, an advertisement touting a future release was included in an issue of Monsters of the Movies magazine. On February 25th 1976 another issue of Variety claimed that the film was planned to hit theaters that Memorial Day
A two still frames have been rumored to of cropped up.
This frame apparently may be a scene where a group of characters are hanging out together.
This frame supposedly shows a character labelled Mike in black jacket interrogating the character Sideback who is wearing an orange outfit Supposed still frame from Black the Ripper.
The film would be forgotten a victim of time that us until 2013, when an unknown user of a unnamed website for obscure films claimed to have Black the Ripped it once while browsing some torrent files. Another user of the same website released what are supposedly the only known screenshots. Viewers who claim to have seen it say that the film seems rushed seemingly throw together. With several apparently missing scenes. There is a reported opening credit sequence over a song credited to singer Mara Farmer, But no ending credits. In the opening credits, alongside Saletri as director, Michael Finn is listed as writer. While not confirmed, it is possible that this is the same Michael Finn who directed the 1974 genre film The Black Connection - especially given that movie was filmed in Las Vegas, where Saletri was known to have lived.