Customer Reviews

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Silly special effects, tired dialog,nothing special or creative in the modernization of this classic, and acting that comes off poorly combine to make this a bad movie. Don't watch it if you are looking for a fresh spin on a classic. BUT, if you are looking for a B grade horror movie that is so bad, it is fun to watch, enjoy!

You can't blame it on a low budget. Here it is in a nut shell. A bad script and really bad direction leads to bad acting. I believe all the actors in this film is capable of so much more but they were given the short end of the stick. This picture had real potential, but the production behind it couldn't meet the challenge. I'm a person who usually finds good in films that others blast. This film is plain bad.

I've always enjoyed the often told tale of Jekyll and Hyde, but it was really Tony Todd that sold me on this one. It has been quite a few years since I had read the Robert Louis Stevenson story, so I can't vouch for this film's accuracy in relation to the story, but what a fun movie it is!

Horror hero Tony Todd pulls double duty as the famous Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. Jekyll is working on nanotechnology and has found the cure for his heart problem. Of course the only problem is that the side effect is the birth of Hyde. Hyde goes about raping women and tearing them to pieces. Hyde also works as the caretaker of the lab animals where Jekyll works.

Todd really shines here, especially as Hyde. He plays a very vicious, juggernaut of a Hyde. He does look a bit like one of those cavemen from the Geico commercials. This Hyde isn't afraid to transform in public places and immediately go on a rampage. He's not even above throwing out the corny one liner here and there. He calls one woman a "nosy b**ch", proceeds to bite off her nose, chews it, spits it out and says, "Snot bad!" Gotta love it!

Hyde tries to balance his double life and keep his secret, especially from his woman. The body count can no longer be ignored and two detectives are hot on his trail. One of the detectives is played by good ol' Tracy Scoggins(still looking pretty good I might add). Tim Thomerson shows up in a small but cliched role as the coroner("The body's been chewed as if by a wild animal" "A man didn't do this", etc), and Vernon Wells(screaming gay mohawk guy from The Road Warrior) is one of Jekyll's fellow doctors.

The movie was directed by John Carl Buechler, who horror fans will know as both makeup artist and director in the horror genre. He directed the 7th Friday the 13th movie and designed the Gingerdead Man, but has been involved with many horror films throughout the years.

Don't go looking for a fine screen adaption of classic literature here. God knows there are many more filmed versions of this story if you're looking for something more tasteful. This film delivers the way a cheap B horror movie should. It's got over the top gore, one liners, a cult movie cast and most importantly...Tony Todd!

It's great to see Tony Todd get the leading role in a film - it's just too bad that film had to be this one. He almost carried it off by his charisma alone, despite the script - until the ending, which is just lame, over-the-top, clichéd, and pretty much just awful. Makeup artist turned director John Carl Buechler has a lot to learn about making decent movies. The budget is low ($750,000), but I doubt Buechler could have done much better with ten times that amount.

Tony Todd plays the newest incarnation of Dr. Jekyll. This time, he's a research scientist experimenting with nanotechnology in the medical field. Having successfully treated a chimpanzee with a weak heart, he secretly begins treating himself, as well, knowing that his own bad heart cannot possibly keep beating for the three years of continued experimentation required by the FDA. This involves injecting himself with a green serum - no bubbling concoctions here. The treatment does work, of course, because the man's still alive. On the other hand, the side effects are rather extreme, turning Jekyll into a badly made-up Edward Hyde who enjoys murder, cannibalism, and necrophilia. Jekyll tries to clean up all of Hyde's messes, even passing Hyde off as a valued colleague doing invaluable work in the lab for him, but this can only go on so long. The cops are after an insane killer, Jekyll's colleagues - especially the females - want Hyde fired, and the good doctor is clearly losing what little control he has left.

It's amazing to see Hyde walk around in public, stalking his victims. Grown men should run screaming at the sight of this dude, but he never seems to attract any attention at all. Todd's performance as Jekyll isn't all that great, either. It's as if he's going to great lengths to be as aloof and weird as possible. Then you have Tracy Scoggins' lackluster performance as the female detective refusing her boss's demands to wear her gun because of some accident that killed her old partner. One review I read said Scoggins looks like a retired hooker in this role, and I have to say that is spot on. This whole movie is a pretty unappealing spectacle, especially the ending. Tony Todd is still the man - he just needs better roles than this one.

A fat, out of shape Tony Todd allows himself to be portrayed as a sex-mad, Black-faced, out of control, insane, very angry Black man when made up as Mr. Hyde. This so-called movie is a horrible insult to Black people, to movie watchers, and to human decency.

I really like the book, but the movie... not so much. I was really excited when I found a new version of this great book. The movie looks like a homemade one with cheap make up. I was expecting a lot more! This movie should not have the same title as the book. In the movie, Dr. JeKyll (who turned into Mr. Hyde) runs around at night raping and killing women. He works in a lab, which is not in his home, and makes experiences with monkeys. Well, these are just a few examples of how different the movie is from the classic.