ION Television Movie Review: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Calling someone a “Jekyll & Hyde” means that person isn’t exactly the most reliable when it comes to his or her personality or temperament. Their mood can change so quickly, it’s as shocking as the familiar horror story known to generations of fans around the world.

With a multitude of adaptations, Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the most well known staged, televised, filmed and re-imagined English language stories of all time. The perpetually personality challenged physician has even appeared in comic books like League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which was turned into a feature film starring Sean Connery. Robert Louis Stevenson’s morality tale relating the internal struggle of good versus evil was also employed by Stan Lee to create Marvel’s Incredible Hulk, soon to be released as a feature film starring Ed Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner.

This ION television movie, from production company RHI Entertainment, updates the story from its Victorian England roots to a big, bustling city being plagued by a recent string of murders with young girls as victim. Dr. Henry Jekyll (Dougray Scott) is a respected physician who dabbles in a time consuming side project. He spends all his off time in a lab concocting potions he got from an Amazonian tribe. These tribesmen told him the plant extract separates the soul from the person.

As Jekyll begins spending more and more time as Hyde, more gruesome murders pile up, until finally he pleads for help from his good friend played by ever reliable Tom Skeritt, co-star of Alien and Steel Magnolias amongst many popular favorites. Jekyll’s buddy refers him to young attorney Claire Wheaton (Krista Bridges) to help and he promptly confesses to her that he’s the killer. She refuses to believe such a respected pillar of the community is responsible, until she finally pieces together evidence that’s irrefutable.

The production values are always solid, as the intense drama plays out and that’s what may be the most different element in this re-imagination. The film comes across as a careful dramatic study on a tortured serial killer out of some Lifetime or WE Cable channel fare. However, it never dips into melodrama or predictable territory. Unlike most other versions, this is more psychological thriller than horror film.

An effective make-up choice is the streamlined, bare bones Mr. Hyde look. Incredibly subtle, even bordering on invisible at times, the Jekyll into Hyde transformation reminds one of vampires transforming into their most bestial selves in Joss Whedon’s Buffy: The Vampire Slayer TV series. Outfitting Scott with intensely spooky contact lenses and applying slight make-up touches to the actor’s face, makes for a Mr. Hyde you might actually bump into in a dark alley.

Complete with a meaty third act courtroom scene and twist ending, which while not entirely unpredictable, is nonetheless satisfying, this Jekyll and Hyde version isn’t the memorable classic like 1931 version starring Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins, but does succeed in bringing new life, angles and ideas into the mix.

Reference:

• www.ionline.tv/