I SAW HAMMER'S DOCTOR JEKYLL

After reading about the latest, Hammer production, Doctor Jekyll in Classic Monsters of the Movies, I pondered how long it might be before I could view it. Thanks to YouTube, the coveted opportunity struck. 

This 2024 variant on Robert Lewis Stevenson's novella, directed by Joseph (Chicken) Stephenson and written by Dan Kelly-Mulhern, is the freshest I've seen in quite a spell: a Jekyll/Hyde sequel more than a redux, which plays upon Hammer's famous turns on the established theme, namely The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (Jekyll's Inferno/House of Fright) and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, but it also harbors aspects of The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll and The She-wolf of London, as it deals with a woman haunted by a perceived affliction. 

In truth, Eddie Izzard's Nina is a trans woman with unethical, pharmaceutical ties, though such is never emphasized as an overriding part of her duality. Rachel Hyde is more a sporadic, split-personality trait passed down from her grandfather, Henry (Jonathan Hyde, shown via flashback). In fact, Nina doesn't look at all different when Rachel takes over, for the transformation is more insinuated, thanks to Izzard's uncanny ticks and tocks (an award-worthy performance, in my opinion), mounting the differentiation with careful, conniving thrusts, which pull her naive, healthcare assistant, Rob, into an anguished world. 

Rob is played by Scott Chambers (the young mastermind behind Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey and Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare), who invests substantial sympathy into his portrayal. The lad's past, it appears, is marred by drug abuse and robbery, but with the help of his brother, Ewan (Morgan Watkins), he's gotten his act together. Ewan even pulls a few strings to get him the job with Jekyll, and a job is essential if he's to gain visitation rights for his hospital-bound, infant daughter, Ari. 

Rob's ex, Robyn Cara's Maeve, doesn't make it easy, though, as she does her utmost to revert him back to his old ways. On Jekyll's front, her estate overseer, Lindsay Duncan's Sandra Poole, is nearly as bad, questioning Rob's ability to assist Jekyll and at one point, goes so far as to fire him. Though the combined opposition is strong, Rob perseveres through Jekyll's insistence, or is it rather Hyde's?

Nina wishes to purge Rachel, but can Rob detect when one persona begins and the other ends? From this, Rob and Nina's friendship grows more coerced than mutual, with a dire outcome in wait, wracked by a diabolical twist. 

Doctor Jekyll is really more the story of doubts and fears than of blatant monstrosities, but through the lead characters' emotional swings, the traditional, Stevenson darkness permeates, thus keeping the sequel in spiritual sync with its archetypical source. 

As unique as it is, I can't call Doctor Jekyll a major, redefining moment in the long queue of Jekyll/Hyde adaptations, but it turned out more gripping than I anticipated, due to its character buildup, and though it holds some humor, it's anything but a comedy. 

And as far as neo Hammer goes, this is an honorable step in the right direction: paying homage to the company's legacy by reinventing familiar ingredients in a updated scheme. For that, I'm pleased with the conventional yet innovative aim.