Back in the day, we Boomers would head out every Saturday morning to the nearest neighbourhood theatre. Brown paper bags holding our boloney sandwiches, clutched tightly in our hands. Saturdays were Creature Double Feature days, and if we were lucky, we’d get to watch back-to-back horror films produced by Hammer Films. After a hiatus that left many fans wishing for the good ole days, Hammer is back, and they are back with my favourite monster – Dr. Jekyll.
Dr. Jekyll
I think that I can safely claim that my siblings and I have seen every single Hammer film at those Saturday matinees. The films were frightening for our generation of children who could only watch three stations on television sets the size of dinner plates. The treat of watching two films for fifty cents was a dream come true. The added treat was the food fight during intermission (boloney sandwiches) between the balcony kids and the kids on the lobby level. The version of Dr. Jekyll that I did get to see at the movies was The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll with Paul Massie. I have seen different versions over the years, but my all-time favourite is the version starring the fabulous Eddie Izzard.
Dr. Jekyll was directed by Joe Stephenson and is based on the 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. Along with Eddie Izzard the film stars Scott Chambers, Robyn Cara, Morgan Watkins, Jonathan Hyde, Simon Callow, and Lindsay Duncan. The film premiered at FrightFest in August of 2023 will be opening in theaters and VOD August 2nd.
Dr. Jekyll is a modern retelling of the innate evil that dwells in all of us, especially if you are a scientist and have the drugs needed to bring out the little monster within us all. What makes this film so much fun is that Eddie Izzard gets to play the part of Dr. Nina Jekyll and the murderous Rachel Hyde. Scott Chambers plays the part of Rob Stevenson, a man out on parole and in need of a job. His brother helps him find a job working for a reclusive pharmaceutical heiress who is recovering from a severe injury. Nina Jekyll’s secretary/housekeeper (Lindsay Duncan) does not approve of an ex-con living in the mansion, but Nina takes a liking to Rob.
Conclusion
Dr. Jekyll is fun, campy and flawless. Eddie Izzard is a wizard at flipping back and forth between the kind Nina and the murderous Rachel without us ever realizing which persona we are seeing. Scott Chambers holds his own space, which is almost impossible with Eddie Izzard in most of the scenes, but Chambers keeps us in just as much suspense as Izzard’s character because we find ourselves caring for this young man who only wants to make enough money to get his infant daughter out of the welfare system.
I loved Dr. Jekyll and I know you will, too. It might be the same old story in some ways, but the presentation and the ending are different enough to pay the ticket price. Watch it!