DR. JEKYLL – Movie Review

Can I just start by saying how happy I am that Hammer Films is back? The legendary British film company was a monumental part of horror history as it took classic monsters and made them more visceral and terrifying. There have been some Hammer Films released in recent years and it’s good to see them active again and part of the modern horror landscape. 

With DR. JEKYLL, the new film starring Eddie Izzard, Hammer is taking another iconic character from classic horror literature and giving it their treatment. Where that once meant period settings, splashes of bright red blood, and ample cleavage, modern Hammer films rely more on build-up and chills and DR. JEKYLL is no different.  While his adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic may be lowkey but it does work, though this is an exercise in restraint, almost to a fault.

Izzard plays Dr. Nina Jekyll, CEO of a Pharma company who has become a recluse. Rich enough to stay out of view, she lives her life in the shadows of a gothic mansion with her only connection to the outside world being an assistant that oversees the estate and Nina’s general needs. After suffering an injury to her leg though, Nina needs a live-in assistant, and that is when she hires Rob, a recently released felon desperate for work. Rob’s daughter was taken from him and is in a hospital with an undisclosed illness and all he wants is to get his life right and get his daughter back. Jekyll’s assistant doesn’t like Rob but Nina does so he is hired on a trial basis to look after her but if he makes one wrong move, he’s out. Rob finds Nina compassionate, and kind, but finds her occasional mood swings startling. When people from Rob’s past re-emerge with a devil’s bargain – access to Jekyll’s home for a robbery and his ex won’t do everything in her power to thwart his getting his daughter back – he is put into an untenable position. If Rob can stay on the straight and narrow he has a chance to get his daughter back, and possibly with Nina’s help, but if he doesn’t do was his former associates want he may lose his daughter and everything else he cares about. What Rob doesn’t realize though is that Nina Jekyll has a secret, and it may be the most dangerous one of them all.

As I mentioned before, this is a film of restraint. The teases of Hyde are there but it’s all so subtle that we are often in the same boat as Rob where we are not sure what is happening. There are clever allusions to the past and it seems this is inherently connected to the past stories of Jekyll and Hyde as we get a reference to the past in a way that seems to hint at a bigger world. Not that this is building a sort of creature universe but is telling us that there is a world beyond this story, and other people and stories that populate it. 

Izzard is surprisingly subdued in her role/s and while I wasn’t expecting it, it’s an interesting choice. We don’t get over the top histrionics but diabolical calculation. As the film escalates so too does the danger and we start to see what Hyde really is. The acting is good all around and while the film clearly didn’t have a large budget, the scope of the film is such that it doesn’t matter. This is a movie about the acting and not special effects, and Izzard does a fine job. 

Now, if you are expecting gouts of blood or epic transformations the you’ll be sorely disappointed but if you want a slow burn horror that is more about the characters then you’ll be pleasantly surprised. While not an amazing film, it’s a solid movie with a lot of atmosphere and it’s a really interesting story as it plays out with an interesting ending. Things felt a little subtle for me and some of the music cues feel heavy handed, but it’s otherwise a good watch. 

This won’t be a movie for everyone, with how low-key it is, but I dug it, and think it’d definitely worth a look for Hammer fans and classic horror aficionados. We need more low-key horror, and this is a welcome addition to that category. 

3.5 out of 5

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637946