“…. [T]he Ripper is played by an extraordinarily effective actor [David Warner], which puts the movie out of balance…. [T]he Victorian clothes fit [McDowell's] trim body so tightly he looks like an overdressed schoolboy…. When Mary Steenburgen comes on to McDowell and he seems not to understand what she means, the movie becomes unintentionally farcical. If you missed Steenburgen in Jack Nicholson's Goin' South, you may not be prepared for the gorgeous fluff of black hair, the slow, zonked-out delivery, the sensual warmth--all of which make Steenburgen look and sound like Jennifer Jones on Quaaludes. Meyer loads somewhat incompatible traits onto her character in order to fit her into the plot, but she still comes through as an individual. Nicholas Meyer, on the other hand, comes through as an opportunist with more pizzazz than talent.”

David Denby
New York, October 8, 1979


     “.... But most of the plotting is ingenious, and soft-faced Mary Steenburgen… makes it all semi-engaging. She's very sweet in an out-of-it way--a stoned cupcake--and she and McDowell seem to belong together in an enchanted playroom….”

Pauline Kael
5001 Nights at the Movies (date?), p. 772