You probably have some knowledge of Jekyll & Hyde lore, or even a lot of knowledge. Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was first published in 1886 and 140 years later it has been adapted countless times in various ways. It serves as the perfect framework for any allegory about duality, so who better than celebrated actor and comedian Eddie Izzard to take on the dual role with this modern reimagining, Doctor Jekyll?
Sure, there have been many iterations of Jekyll and Hyde over time but this new one from director Joe Stephenson and writer Dan Kelly-Mulhern puts a few nice extra touches into the mix — like having the main character become a pharmaceutical titan. However, this is a throwback Hammer Horror frightfest that sadly disappoints.
Throughout the tight 89 minute duration of the film you may find yourself wanting Izzard framed in every single shot – every scene that omits him could possibly be made to cause wincing: “Bring us more! Why’d you do that?!” That’s not to say Izzard doesn’t dominate most parts of the movie, even when he is competing for screen time with his own protagonist.
This would be young Rob (played by Scott Chambers), who is charming choice given his fairytale aspect within the story because he is also famous for playing Christopher Robin in last year’s horror sequel Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2. Also, Chambers recently featured in successful thriller Malevolent which proves his mastery at this genre. Here he plays an ex-convict looking for employment which his brother Ewan (Morgan Watkins) finds at prestigious Jekyll estate.
The twist? Rob used to be addicted both drugs as well as robbing people for living. Chambers’ youthful look sometimes detracts from what should have been an eerie portrayal of Doctor Jekyll. One glance at his bright face and you might think, “Really? An ex-con? Get out of here.” He simply looks too innocent for such a dark character, but oh well.
Thankfully, it is the meat & potatoes of the film that is Chambers’ on-screen chemistry with Izzard, which largely succeeds – specifically when Izzard is in character as the more likeable Nina Jekyll (as against Hyde). It all starts once Rob is brought to the estate and introduced by Nina’s quick-witted house manager, Sandra (Lindsay Duncan). The pieces are set and a haunting classical score takes us through the thrills and chills.
Despite her various concerns about Rob, Nina quite conveniently takes a shine to him, leading to an eventual friendship involving contemplative chess games late-night chats and more. However there always seems to be an undercurrent of darkness in this pharmaceutical chief’s lair – why does Nina behave strangely sometimes without reason? Eventually Nina confesses that she occasionally becomes another personality named Rachel Hyde , which ,in this retelling ,is due to some kind of bad drug experiment. She fears that Rachel could take over completely thus she needs Rob’s help to stop this from happening.
The issue is that the directors consciously tried to overcompensate for the less-appealing B-story. It is in this context that Maeve, Rob’s ex-lover comes back into his life against his wish. The drunkard and hot-head finds him in town and tells him to “rob” Nina clean or else she would reveal all that he has been hiding in her closet about not being attracted to men and take away their little sick daughter from ever seeing Rob again. Yikes.
Moreover, it also confuses better themes such as how addiction affects the drug industry, modeled around Jekyll & Hyde clichés while at the same time reflecting on public transness of Jekyll (as seen in opening scene of the film) as grounds of his duality theme too.
Otherwise, Stephenson as a director skillfully refrains from foregrounding Jekyll’s — nor Izzard’s — fluidity of gender identity while allowing Jekyll-Hyde switcharoos to be subtly ambiguous. However, these choices eventually end up sounding like a let-down. Even its title alone can be a warning; if there was no mention about Hyde, would people feel cheated by Izzard et al who did not produce most of what they could have from source material? Yeah!
On another level though the film does right by other traditional British-horror fans—cinephiles—with some really nice yellowish lights bursting out through Dr. Jekyll’s gothic windows all the time and sometimes an intense slow-burning suspense that never gets there. Maeve just throws things off course during third act climax then and horror fans may well want to forget about those extra minutes dealing with supernatural elements so that it becomes one big scare-fest instead – according to a review provided by Jane Doe on June 13th 2018. A brave effort to rejuvenate Hammer but next time round take everything up three notches.
Watch free movies on Fzmovies