The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide — The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide(DVD)
The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide was the second & final film directed by Lee Raymond- whose other directorial credit was Swedish produced Love Thy Neighbour and his wife- which sounds more of a straight slice of 1970’s sleaze, which you certainly can’t say about the film we’re reviewing today.
The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide is centred around thickly moustached & two timing Doctor Chris Leeder. The film begins with the doctor visiting a second-hand bookshop with his fiancé- in a backroom hidden away is seemingly the diary of Doctor Jekyll. He decides later without his fiancé to return to the shop, the owner won’t sell the book- so the Dr strangles him. After this, the doctor starts reading through the diary, and we get flashbacks to the past sexual attack of two separate women- first a prostitute who he whips, then violates with a red hot poker. Then a woman he spies from the street- gets raped, then beaten & violated. As doctor Leeder reads further through the diary he comes across the recipe for the Hide potion-he makes it, but instead of turning into a mad man he switches to a blonde femme fatale.
The film darts between mellow & groovy 70’s soft-core action, silly over acted transformation sequences, grimy & sadistic rape/ torture, and decidedly cheesy 1970’s vibe. At times the film has an almost schizophrenic quality to it- as it will suddenly switch from sleazy groovy-ness, into fairly brutal psycho-sexual action. The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide was produced by infamous exploitation promoter David F. Friedman- so you know exactly what type of market this was meant for. It’s the perfect film to have been played in the grindhouses of 42nd Street, back in the ’70s & ’80s.
This recent DVD reissue is very much a bare-bones affair- with nothing extra here, except a trailer reel of Cheezy other releases. The print of the film looks ok, for a 1970’s exploitation production- though I don’t think it’s been remastered in any way- coming across as just standard DVD quality.
Over the years I’d heard mention of this film a few times and was fairly familiar with films garish-yet- crude poster artwork from various genre books. So it’s great to finally get to see the film- and I can certainly advise you check this release out, if you're looking for fairly unpredictable 1970’s sleaze, which swings back & forth between groovy camp-ness, and fairly unsettling psycho-sexual action.