Main Cast: Anthony Perkins, Glynis Barber, Sarah Maur-Thorp, David Lodge, Ben Cole
Release Year: 1989
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 85 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This demented fusion of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the legend of Jack the Ripper marks one of the final roles for Anthony Perkins, and certainly one of the weirdest performances of his career. Perkins plays Dr. Jekyll as more of a dedicated 19th-century man of medicine than an obsessed eccentric -- whose research into a safe form of anaesthetic leads to the accidental discovery of cocaine! Jekyll's inadvertent freebasing of the vapors from a cocaine/ether mixture triggers his transformation into Hyde - a murderer of prostitutes who dubs himself "Jack," thus allowing the convenient transition into the "Jack the Ripper" phase of the plot. This Hungarian production has fairly high production values, but Perkins' over-the-top antics and some glaring anachronisms (Jack's streetwalker victims sport accessories that look like Madonna's hand-me-downs) make it impossible to take seriously as a horror film. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Ray Jewers - Newcomen; Jill Melford - Flora; Lisa Davis - Maria; Noel Coleman - Egglestone; Briony McRoberts - Ann Underwood; Claudia Udy - Liza; Ruth Burnett - Margo; Basil Hoskins - Mr. Bottingham; Harry Landis - Coroner; Cathy Murphy - Cockney Prostitute; Jill Pearson - Mrs. Egglestone; Mark Elliot - Lanyon; Carolyn Cortez - Maggie
Credit
Tivadar Bertalan - Art Director, Fred Carter - Art Director, Edward Simons - Co-producer, Harry Alan Towers - Co-producer, Valerie Lanee - Costume Designer, Gerard Kikoine - Director, Malcolm Cooke - Editor, Frederic Talgorn - Composer (Music Score), Gordon Kaye - Makeup, Jean Charles Dedieu - Production Designer, Tony Spratling - Cinematographer, Peter A. McRae - Producer, J.P. Felix - Screenwriter, Ron Raley - Screenwriter, Robert Louis Stevenson - Short Story Author
