Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde '06

                                 Better living through chemistry.

College girls at Fairview College are massacred in horrific fashion (cannibalism and savagery, not to mention, after-death rape) by the dark side of geneticist, Dr. Jekyll, whose research in nanotechnology is inspired by heart defects and ailments he hopes can be cured. Instead of waiting out the demanded time as required, Jekyll uses his newly concocted serum on himself, the result two variations on Hyde, a human monster and an even more dangerous ape-like creature that both threaten the innocent. Even worse, Jekyll is losing control and Hyde is gaining the upper hand to his soul. Jekyll has fooled those in his company (including his employer played by a still attractive Deborah Shelton who goes the extra mile and is quite a trooper considering Hyde puts her character through the ringer, and fellow scientist, Vernon Wells (Commando), the "moral compass" of the film) by having Hyde introduced to them as an assistant, a ruse adopted so when the good doc did turn no explanation would be necessary. It's just that Hyde is such a nasty, unpleasant, loud, and insulting brute that causes the females under Shelton's Donna Carew's employ to fear and cast possible sexual harrassment lawsuits because of his behavior towards them. Demands to Jekyll for Hyde's firing cause the evil one to emerge, tearing a chunk of Donna's face flesh away, before hurling her across the room for fun. Yeah, Hyde's a swell guy. He also tosses lousy quips like Freddy Krueger when bashing folks with his cane or after tearing off Donna's secretary's nose with his teeth. I do think we see a sincerity in Tony Todd when able to briefly portray Jekyll, willing to "take a walk on the wild side" in order to test his serum as to see if it will cure his heart since some of the research on their test animals proved promising.

Director (and renowned make-up artist) John Carl Buechler takes a different path to the Robert Louis Stevenson story, playing this adaptation as a gore film with comic overtones and over-the-top theatrics from Todd when under the hideous disguise (and wretched teeth) of maniac Hyde. Todd fares better as Jekyll, giving him an anguish (dealing with Hyde and understanding what this monster is doing to people weighs heavily) while scenery shark during his duration in the role of Hyde, no restraint or even a slight hint of subtlety. While Todd's voice is always well utilized in his horror films, the crap he's been stuck in during the 2000s, these movies are a far cry from Candyman or The Crow. The make-up job does his Hyde no favors. I think if Buechler could have resisted the need to go overboard with the camp, perhaps letting Todd use his voice more and spend less time on screen for us to see clearly (his look is so cheap and unconvincing, it takes away menace and leaves laughter, not the point of the Jekyll/Hyde story), this may have worked better.

Tracy Scoggins is a cop struggling to carry gun because of an incident to her partner (it blew up in his hands throwing pieces of his skull at her face), while Tim Thomerson is a CSI (Tim's role really is nothing special), and John Carpenter vet, Peter Jason, is Scoggins' boss. Judith Shekoni is Todd's girlfriend, operating a club, with Stephen Wastell as Scoggin's partner. These characters are all basically stereotypes cribbed from cop shows with little new or fresh; it is all about Todd's fiend taking people out like a middle linebacker. Stick with the good ones and leave this adaptation be.