Dr. Jekyll and Sister
Hyde (1971, director:
Roy Ward Baker; script:
Brian Clemens;
cast: Ralph Bates, Martine Beswick, Susan Brodrick,
Lewis, Fiander)
Stephen King famously said that horror is a conservative genre,
because it's about people struggling against attacks on normalcy
and social order. Catholic cultural critic
E. Michael Jones
narrowed the scope, positing that horror is about the
transgression of God's sexual moral code. Both theories find
supporting evidence in
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971).
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Britain's Hammer Studios
specialized in horror period pieces, most notably its many Dracula
films starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Coming at the
tail end of Hammer's heyday,
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is, as its title implies, (very
loosely) based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel (with Jack the
Ripper and Burke & Hare tossed in for good measure).
As in the novel, Hammer's Dr. Jekyll (Ralph Bates) is a noble man
of science. But rather than seek a serum to extract all the "evil"
from man, his goal is an elixir of life. He wants to live forever
so he will have enough time to cure all diseases. And his elixir
works (sort of), but it has a side effect. It changes the
recipient's sex.
Testing the elixir on himself, Dr. Jekyll becomes Mrs. Hyde
(Martine Beswick).
The transformation only lasts a short while. Jekyll doesn't
remember being Hyde, but he figures out what must have happened.
He names his alter ego Hyde on the spur of the moment, explaining
to his upstairs neighbor that "My sister is staying with me." Then
he quickly adds "Mrs." to explain why his sister's last name isn't
Jekyll. And, as there is no husband in sight, further elaborates,
"She's a widow." (Jekyll is not exactly a smooth liar.)
Unfortunately, Jekyll's serum requires organs from young women, so
he enlists grave robbers Burke & Hare, who murder women when the
morgue's supply runs low. After they're caught, Jekyll/Hyde must do
their own killing. The press calls this new, unknown killer "The
Ripper."
Susan (Susan Brodrick), the upstairs neighbor, begins courting
Jekyll. It should be the other way around, but Jekyll is no
Casanova. Jekyll likes Susan, but he's also beginning to like
transforming into Hyde. It's addictive. Jekyll fondles the dresses
he bought for "his sister." And as Hyde, he/she begins to seduce
Susan's brother, Howard (Lewis Fiander).
So Jekyll/Hyde is dating a sister and her brother. Essentially,
it's a ménage à trois involving two siblings and a genderfluid
bisexual. Très kinky, n’est-ce pas?
Surprisingly (or perhaps not?),
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde enjoys a cult following among
gay audiences. It's so transgressive. Mainstream horror fans
like it too. It's original and fun. It's bloody and salacious by
the standards of 1971, but its gore and nudity would be considered
tame before the end of the decade. Today the film is more admired
for its camp than its scares.
The casting is excellent. Apart from being talented and
charismatic actors, Bates and Beswick share the same sharp
features, pale skin, and dark hair. They look like brother and
sister. They also look like one might have transformed into the
other. (The above is a publicity photo; as they're playing the
same character, Bates and Beswick never actually appear together
in the film.)
But does the film have a
message?
One poster from the era promised ...
Shock After Shock After
Shock ... Unnatural Laboratory Experiments Performed Behind Barred
Doors! ... Once Again He Will Change Sexes and Kill, Kill, Kill!
... Warning! The Sexual Transformation of a Man Into a Woman Will
Actually Take Place Before Your Very Eyes! ... PARENTS: Be sure
your children are sufficiently mature to witness the intimate
details of this frank and revealing film. ...
That's not very woke.
Now, it's doubtful that director Roy Ward Baker or screenwriter
Brian Clemens intended a serious criticism of transgender
politics.
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is pure exploitation film, its
vintage poster using the lurid language of a carnival barker to
lure people into the freak show tent. It's not an outright attack.
But neither is it very respectful.
Yet there is a message, that of classic horror, as defined by King
and Jones and Mary Shelley. It's the message of Frankenstein. Do
not play God. Do not tamper with His creation. You will suffer and
fail. Jekyll changed his sex but never became fully female. The
transformation was always temporary, and thus incomplete. And in
his futile attempts, he created much misery and death for himself
and others.
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