★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Joe Stephenson
Hammer Films rises once again, this time serving up a modern-day twist on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic with Eddie Izzard lighting up the screen.
Doctor Jekyll (U.K., 2023) is the first feature from the latest incarnation of Hammer Films — British theatre producer John Gore acquired Hammer in August 2023 — and it’s an entertaining debut, thanks in large part to Eddie Izzard’s fun performance in the title role.
Izzard portrays Dr. Nina Jekyll, who has retired from professional life after a scandal and is now living in a spacious country estate. Jekyll is joined by faithful minion Poole (Lindsay Duncan), who is highly skeptical about the doctor’s impulse hiring of Rob (Scott Chambers). Rob was recently released from prison but is looking to get on the straight and narrow so that he can get visitation rights for his child. Jekyll has a certain interest in the young man. But, after a night of chess and alcohol, Rob learns that the drug that Jekyll smokes — which turns absinthe-green while being ingested — has a dangerous effect on the good doctor.
Stephenson, working from a screenplay by Dan Kelly-Mulhern, focuses on intrigue and mystery more than chills for much of Doctor Jekyll. The third act, though, delivers a goodly share of murderous mayhem. The suspense is well crafted. Chambers — who has produced and/or directed many a questionable effort such as Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Firenado, and Dinosaur Hotel 2, usually under the name Scott Jeffrey — does a solid job portraying a man with a flawed character trying to keep his nose clean so that he can see his child.
The big draw with Doctor Jekyll is, of course, Eddie Izzard. He plays both Jekyll and — no spoiler here, I would hazard to guess — the Hyde side of the physician with aplomb. It would be easy to tackle this role with high camp. Izzard keeps things in check, however, delivering lines in ways that make viewers both chuckle and chill.
Although rather restrained compared with Hammer’s blood-and-breasts heyday, Doctor Jekyll is a wicked bit of amusement that fear-fare fans should get a kick out of.
Review by Joseph Perry
Doctor Jekyll, from Hammer Films, is available on Digital Download in the U.K. from March 11, 2024.
