Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype

Oliver Reed plays an ugly (almost monster like) foot doctor who turns into a handsome from a formula created by a fellow scientist (mel welles), but with violent reaction. Lots of funny moments and well-written film that should've been a cult classic. Lots of great supporting stars (which features most of the cast from Griffith's UP FROM THE DEPTH and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), but character actor Dick Miller steals the scenes as a garbage man who talks to himself (Miller told me Jonathan Haze was supposed to be the other garbage man, but couldn't do it, so Dick had to play other roles like a schizo!). I was surprised Reed did this film at the time, and he did a performance that most people would've never thought he could do. Maybe if this film was released bigger, more people would've saw Reed can do comedy. Recommended.

What's considered one of Cannon Pictures and Oliver Reed's worst movies has ironical casting since Reed, back in his Hammer beginnings, appeared as a pimp-bouncer in their own Dr. Jekyll adaptation...

And in the satirical DR. HECKYL AND MR. HYPE, as a ghoulish-looking yet sweet-natured podiatrist, he alters into the dashing counterpart, an overweight Reed, not all that mainstream-handsome but fitfully formidable, as the best scenes are of the body count nature, killing loose women he dates yet still can't score with...

All the while in love with the film's best attribute in future FLASHDANCE sidekick Sunny Johnson, who seems to like even the ugly side of the friendly doctor, and, had this role been expanded in-between what needed more random murders around her, HYPE could've harbored a neat barrage of deliberately campy, ultra-violent fun...

Unfortunately too much time's spent on the scientific side of things with Reed's horrendously unfunny fellow doctors and a few trailing cops during hard-to-see 11th hour night-shots, punctuating the super low budget that actually looks pretty decent in the daylight, when Reed's double-performance is more visibly sympathetic and involving.

..... mixture of spoof, return to the earliest Three Stooges brand of yok-yok comedy, and morality tale. No one could ever believe in Oliver Reed as the traditionally handsome love interest -- so how about an off-beat, chemically alluring (artificial pheromones?) hunk of sleaze? this was written, cast, directed, filmed, and packaged as a Midnight Madness "D" grade flick for T.V. cultists. And very successfully. I get a huge kick out of it on those rare occasions when I have a chance to see it again. One of these days I hope to be able to save a copy of my own -- then I can see it at least once every six or seven months. If you want a real horror flick, though, look somewhere else. And if you only like Acadamy Award selections, DEFINITELY take a pass on this little marvel.

Charles B. Griffith wrote the original "Little Shop of Horrors", and co-wrote and directed this little gem. Note that I say "gem" in the most facetious usage.

"Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype" plays as a reverse "Jeckyll and Hyde" (DUH!) when ugly podiatrist Heckyl (Reed) discovers a potion that makes him handsome and, subsequently, desirable to women. But he cannot consummate any relationships since all the women he tries to connect with end up dead ("And I'm still a virgin!"). But there are police, garbage men and strange people emerging from the woodwork to make Heckyl's life even more disrupted.

It's cute, but plays out too hectic to be considered even a good "cult" movie, as was obviously the intention here. The talent was there; Reed in a comedy? Who would have known? And Coogan and Miller's contributions add up. And it doesn't hurt to have beautiful women to look at (like the Brough sisters - ROWRRR!). But if there was a little more story to add to the proceedings, instead of dry laughs and off-kilter pacing, maybe we would have had something.

In all, interesting but not even a pretender to the throne of "Horrors". A nice try, anyway.

Four stars for the effort, plus one star extra for Reed. Good to see him play silly on purpose, for once.

I'm amazed that this movie was ever made and NOT surprised that it wasn't made my any of the big studios -- they're simply too stupid to understand or appreciate it. Everything about this film defies convention, in a smart, funny and effective way. The people who disapprove of this movie are likely the very people whom it is satirizing. The editing, directing, acting and sound editing are marvelous and refreshing. The dialogue is wonderfully acerbic and sarcastic. I only wish I could find in on DVD. As is, the only copy I have is a VHS taped from commercial TV. If you get the chance to to see it, by all means do. It's a rare pleasure.

UPDATE: Thanks to modern technology, I have now burned my VHS copy to DVD for preservation. As of February, 2006, the film is STILL NOT AVAILABLE anywhere. The viewer who wrote that he saw it on late night TV with Elvira is correct -- that's the copy of the screening I have, complete with her interspersed comments (and cleavage).