In Victorian London Anthony Perkins plays shy but brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll. He has a loving wife (Glynis Barber), a beautiful home and is a respected man. One night he accidentally ingests some vapors from alcohol mixed with cocaine and becomes evil, vicious, sex-obsessed Mr. Hyde. Also around this time Jack the Ripper is killing prostitutes. Is it Perkins...or someone else?
This came and went VERY quickly in 1988. It was cut to ribbons by the MPAA and the critics called it a sick, unpleasant piece of trash with Perkins at his worst. While I agree it's no classic it's not the disaster I heard it was.
It's a very sleazy movie and makes no apologies for it (which is sort of refreshing). It's full of female nudity and even full frontal male (which was cut out of the R rated version). It is unpleasant with graphic stabbings but it's shot on elaborate, beautiful, expressionistic (check out Perkins' lab) sets. It's obvious a lot of money went into this. The script is also quite interesting getting into Jekyll's mind about what's going on.
Good acting all around helps. Ben Cole (looking like he came from "A Clockwork Orange") plays a male prostitute and is good. Barber is excellent as Jekyll's wife. All the ladies playing prostitutes are actually pretty good actresses--they're beautiful and have no trouble taking off their clothes. However Perkins holds this movie together. He does overact as Hyde but in a good way. When he's on screen you can't take your eyes off him.
The MGM DVD released a few years ago is the unrated version, not the R one as is advertised---not that I'm complaining. So it is graphic and unpleasant but also very interesting and well-made. Worth seeing if you're not easily offended. A 7.
