Roy Ward Baker (director)
Optimum Classic (studio)
15 (certificate)
94 min. (length)
05 April 2010 (released)
28 May 2010
What would the horror movie genre be without good old Hammer Horror, and what would the horror fiction genre be without writers like Robert Louis Stevenson? Stevenson’s famous short story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been treated to numerous film adaptations, some more successful than others and some more unusual than others. Hammer’s Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde (originally from 1971) doubtlessly ranks not only amongst the best, but also amongst the most original takes on the sinister tale of double identity.
Directed by Hammer stalwart Roy Ward Baker and written by Brian Clemens (The Avengers, Thriller etc.), this version concerns Dr. Jekyll (Ralph Bates) searching for the elixir of life. When he starts taking hormones extracted from women’s corpses in search for eternal youth, he gets more than he bargained for: Dr. Jekyll is transformed into a female version of himself – the beautiful, sexually charged and evil Sister Hyde (Martine Beswick)! Admittedly, it is a highly unusual twist that Hammer conjured up and one that could have gone as wrong as Jekyll’s experiments. Unlike the doctor’s meddling with nature, the script’s meddling with Stevenson’s classic thankfully did not go wrong, but works a treat.
Clemen’s script skilfully fuses fictional villains with real life villains, such as the grave robbers who supply Dr. Jekyll being the notorious duo Burke and Hare. Later on, when the duo find a sticky end themselves; Jekyll’s female alter ego is forced to go on a murderous spree herself and she does it Jack the Ripper style in Whitechapel.
The set designs and the costumes are lavish, the cinematography is atmospheric and the performances are the right balance of dramatic seriousness (minus camp dramatics) and some tongue-in-cheek humour. Especially the two lead actors, as well as Lewis Fiander’s Howard – Sister Hyde’s bumbling and naïve love interest – make this a quality production that rightly put Hammer back on the map, if only for a brief period before the studio’s final decline.
Optimum Classics have dished out Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde on DVD with no added Extras. Who needs those when you can have entertainment filled with crimson red carnage, eerie fog and Victorian splendour. A classic indeed, from the studio that dripped blood!
