Erotic Dr. Jekyll, The Review

Distributor: Video-X-Pix Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film Also known as: The Incredible Dr. Jekyll, The Amazing Dr. Jekyll Run Time: 75 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1975 Director: Victor Milt (as Tim McCoy) Written by: uncredited Cast: Harry Reems, Nancy Dare (as Susan Sparkles and Linda Smarts), Bree Anthony (as Sue Rowan and Eileen Saxon), Bobby Astyr, C.J. Laing (as C.V. Lang), Melva Jackson (as Melva), Terri Hall (as Judy Holland), Elvira, Ecrea Mason, J.P. Paradine (as J.P.), Candy Love (as Lisa Anderson), Shirley Peters (as Susan Pomeroy), Renée Duval (as Edna Charles), Zebedy Colt Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is a massively cheap adult movie that, as the name implies, plays on Robert Lewis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which has been a rather common work for the adult film industry to play on. The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is directed by Clio award winning commercial and industrial filmmaker Victor Milt, who made several adult films in the 70s under the monikers Tim McCoy and Milton Vickers.

Milt was clearly working under a small budget when he made The Erotic Dr. Jekyll. In the film, Dr. Charles Jekyll III (Harry Reems) is seeking for a fortune that he believes is hidden in his grandfather's house, much to the chagrin of his wife Linda (C.J. Laing). He ends up finding his grandfather's hidden laboratory and Igor (Bobby Astyr) in the house. He finds out that the rumors of his grandfather's potion are true and Igor gives him his grandfather's notorious potion. Upon ingesting, Dr. Charles Jekyll the third transforms into the sex maniac Rory Hump, a horrible rock singer.

The story is, well, rather bad. The movie makes unsupported leap after unsupported leap after the initial unrealistic set-up. It is hard not to wonder how Igor just managed to survive down in the lab hidden away after the death of Jekyll's grandfather. Yes, I know this is an adult movie, however, some semblance of a realistic plot is always nice. How Linda just believes that Charles (the third) is away that long without catching on to a problem is also problematic. And, for those who are familiar with the novella, Charles is the third according to this film. However, the film states his grandfather was “the” Jekyll, who was a Henry, not a Charles, which means that there is a missing generation. Overall, as the story just randomly jumps around the viewer gets more lost and cares even less about the plot.

Much of the cast does double, and sometimes triple duty, by portraying multiple roles in the film wearing wigs to appear to be different actors and actresses. Several of the actresses in the film are even billed under two different names in the opening credits to make the cast appear larger. Bobby Astyr absolutely steals this film with his portrayal of Igor. In fact, Astyr's portrayal of Igor may be the only real reason to even see this film. The acting in the film, despite many of the cast having proven at other times the ability to act, is rather atrocious.

The film offers the viewer a slew of incredibly unerotic sex scenes. About the biggest compliment that can be paid to the sex scenes are that the cast stays in character throughout them. I am not sure if the sex scenes were a failure due to the rushed nature of the film or if Milt just wasn't that into trying to create erotic sex scenes for the film. Either way, what is presented here isn't likely to turn on most viewers.

Dr. Charles Jekyll the third's “transformation” from the mild-mannered doctor to the freewheeling Rory Hump is rather poorly handled too. As the good doctor, Reems wears an incredibly obvious fake beard. When he becomes Hump, the beard goes — but Reem's signature mustache stays — and Hump develops a very Texan sounding accent.

The only other major stand-out in this film is the laboratory set, which looks very out of place when mixed in with all of the other cheap and sparsely dressed sets. The laboratory, which looks more like Victor Frankenstein's laboratory than that of Dr. Henry Jekyll, looks like it was created for another film, or theatrical play since The Erotic Dr. Jekyll was shot in New York City, and borrowed — either knowingly or not — by Milt for this film.

So, all-in-all, The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is a hard film to recommend viewing. Yes, Bobby Astyr is a lot of fun to watch in this film and had it not been for him The Erotic Dr. Jekyll wouldn't have anything going for it. However, the problem is, you still have to sit through the rest of the film to watch his parts. Unless you like the torture, this reviewer recommends giving The Erotic Dr. Jekyll a pass.

Video-X-Pix has done a good job with their DVD release of The Erotic Dr. Jekyll, which is more commonly known as The Amazing Dr. Jekyll (which is even titled as such on the print). The Erotic Dr. Jekyll was shot on film and this release was mastered from the 35mm film negative. The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. The image looks nice with grain, artifacts, and some print damage present. Colors are nicely represented on the release making the film nice to watch.

The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. The audio track has some issues. The sound is very flat and is low and a little muffled. The dialog can be hard to hear at times. It is quite possible that this is how the audio originally sounded given the cheap nature of the film. However, it could have used some remastering for this release.

Video-X-Pix hasn't included much for extras on this release with only a photo gallery present.

The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is one of the many adult films that has come out that plays on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Despite the source work being perfect for transformation into the adult film world, The Erotic Dr. Jekyll does a very poor job with the story and the sex scenes, to areas of vital importance for a feature-style adult film. As a result, The Erotic Dr. Jekyll is unlikely to appeal to many viewers. Video-X-Pix has done a good job with their DVD release of The Erotic Dr. Jekyll. The video looks nice but the audio has some issues. Video-X-Pix has heavily skimped on the extras.

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