A
physician named Doctor Henry Jekyll
(Anthony Perkins) is tormented by abusive
and perverted nightmares of sex and
violence and does some dangerous
experiments with cocaine to the point
where he takes another life form by the
name of Jack the Ripper Hyde who is an
uncontrollable and vicious killer as he
goes out and slays prostitutes which is
the character of Jekyll's perverted
nightmares.
News breaks out around the village about
this incident yet they don't know how to
find this Mr. Hyde but Dr. Jekyll tells
the people that Mr. Hyde is very sick and
needs his help.
Jekyll even fears for his wife Elisabeth
(Glynis Barber) when he changes at night
as he sees nightmares involving her and
has to escape before she's his next
victim.
The film is off to a fairly decent start as it looks very old
fashioned like showing a prostitue in a barn
laughing evilly.
There is a nice shot on Dr. Henry Jekyll waking up from a nightmare
gasping for breath.
There's also great shots on Henry doing an experiment with a body lying
down and good shots on a dissecting knife
touching someone's eye.
Another great shot on Henry staring
at himself in the mirror when he changes
and wants to see himself.
A scene with a prostitute being pitted against Henry looked well with her behalf by being intimidated a bit with
a certain vioolent scene and there was a nice blue
light shining on them.
There is also a nice dark shot on Henry with light shining on his
eyes from the top of a building. Plus,
there's a good shot of him behind
a supporting character Maggie strangling her which looked quite tense.
There is a nice scene at a whorehouse
with Henry athat also involves Susannah acting savagely lustful towards him and
he yet behaves roughly as all of this
came together perfectly. A good lustful
scene with Johnny and Susannah as it looked very insane like.
We have a great discussion sequence between Elisabeth Jekyll and Henry in their bedroom during a thunderstorm as
it almost looks romantic but yet Henry acts tense and
changing into his hyde form with good
expressions acting disturbed by what is
happening and groaning too which looked good. There's good
hallucinations that involves him during
this moment along with Susannah cackling.
A nice shot on Elisabeth walking
into a barn looking around and a perfect
shot on Susannah cackling and
acting crazy with Johnny being
hung upside down.
Henry shows nice menacing looks as
Hyde when he creeps up with a dissecting
knife ready to kill close to the end of
the film.
Bottom line: Oh yes a great
retelling of the story Jekyll
& Hyde as it still sets to
look like an old fashioned horror flick
with a simple story and not too overlong
plot. Lots of good scenery and light effects
which adds alot of artsy type of appeal
to this horror flick. A well done tale (Although it's at times
weak in some spots) with great
performances by everyone all cast &
crew that were involved with this piece
and was hoping for a sequel after
watching the ending but it never arose
but I guess this was meant to have a
beginning and en end to it.
The acting is
nicely performed mainly by Anthony
Perkins (Dr. Henry Jekyll /
Jack 'The Ripper' Hyde) who shows he can carry of
his Norman Bates type of character in
this film showing he is totally versatile
playing two characters bringing that
coldness to his Hyde part and a calmness
to his part. I greatly miss him as he was a gifted actor. There is a strong moment between him and an onscreen prostitute in a big room
where he first acts vicious like he is
about to rape her and then acts calm.
There is a scene where he slaps her a bit
but that looks a little low and lacking in his performance
as the pace on his behalf needed to be picked up.
However, his discussion together seemed a
little smooth and intense at the same
time which was perfect. Does well by getting blunt
about what he has to say at a banquet
type of area while having dinner with
people showing good emotions. Shows nice menacing looks as
Hyde when he creeps up with a dissecting
knife ready to kill close to the end of
the film.
Glynis Barber (Elisabeth Jekyll) brings charm to her
part as the lovely and caring wife
bringing an old fashioned likeness to her
part. She does well by being spooked during the showdown of the story which was impressive.
Of course we can't forget about
supporting actress Sarah Maur
Thorp (Susannah) as an insane prostitute of Mr.
Hyde's as she really had that cackly
laugh to make herself worthy for this
horror flick.
There are numerous
breast shots by actresses playing
prostitutes.
Some guys are in the background of the
film naked from a bathhouse.
A woman's pantyhose is cut open and her
butt is revealed.
Numerous bloodied
slit throats.
The music was
strongly and classically composed by
French composer Frédéric Talgorn as
he gave it that true old fashioned Jekyl & Hyde feel to it as
it had the perfect chemistry to the
storylines.
Jack 'the Ripper'
Hyde: You didn't really think I
killed myself did ya??? |