By David Dent
Like the corpses in some of the company’s movies, Doctor Jekyll represents Hammer Films’ latest return from the industry grave at the helm of new CEO, British theatre mogul (it says here) John Gore.
Lest we forget, the last time Hammer revived its fortunes under the captaincy of Simon Oakes, back in 2011, their debut movie was the dull The Resident. Luckily this time the revived company’s first offering is a whole lot livelier, even if it does leave you with a feeling that you’ve just watched a Ken Russell movie minus all of the naughty bits.
Larger than life figure Eddie Izzard plays Dr Nina Jekyll, pharmaceutical billionaire who now lives in stately isolation in a big house in the country, assisted only by Poole (Lindsay Duncan), Jekyll’s factotum.
Newly released from prison, Rob (Scott Chambers, the acting name of the prolific producer/director known as Scott Jeffrey) is successful in applying for the job as carer to the mysteriously infirm Jekyll, against Poole’s wishes; Rob is spectacularly unskilled for the job. But Jekyll has faith in him, even going so far as to give him the code to the house’s security system.
Meanwhile Rob’s past catches up with him in the shape of an ex who wants him to come in on a plan to burgle Jekyll’s pile; but Rob needs to keep on the straight and narrow if he’s to have a chance of seeing his sick daughter again. He’s also a bit confused about Jekyll and a nighttime character called Hyde, whose appearance is heralded by the green glow of a cigarette.
As you’ve probably guessed this is a modern-day update of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, the sort where the names of the story’s characters are ported over (go on, guess what Rob’s surname is?) and with the added thrill that Izzard gets to play Jekyll and Hyde.
It’s patchily funny – an ongoing sort of gag around crunchy nut cornflakes gets some laughs – and Chambers and Izzard are both very good in their roles. Which is a blessing, as the viewer spends a lot of time in their company. Unfortunately Doctor Jekyll is all rather polite; I kept hoping that things would go a bit crazy, but restraint is the order of the day for the most part, and it’s such a well worn story that I needed more than the gimmick of Izzard to sustain me.
Doctor Jekyll is released in cinemas on 27 October 2023.
Bloody Flicks 