Dr. Heckyl und Mr. Hype

Supposed spoof of Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde films turns out to be a lame attempt at a "modern" version. Perhaps the filmmakers (chief on the list of wrongdoers would be Griffith, who wrote great fly-by-night scripts for R. Corman) thought the reverse angle -- Heckyl is ugly but nice, and Hype "handsome" (we're talking about Oliver Reed here) but sadistic -- would sustain the film. It doesn't, and neither does Reed, up to his usual method-inspired hysterics here. When you see that this movie expects you to believe Reed is handsome with OR without makeup, you can realize how stupid it is. I mean, I like a comedy, but in order to be funny it has to hold up its straight aspects, for chrissakes.

Some redemption is that Reed's Hype is so distasteful that you actually start to like him in the bad makeup! Welles is a fellow podiatrist, and Coogan a cop chasing the monster. The dialogue is stilted, and if there was a laugh to be culled out of it you wouldn't be able to pick it up on the soundtrack. Some jokes that might make adolescent boys laugh just from the sicko aspects (body part fetishes, etc.). Awful photography. Just not a good film. Don't see it, even if you're a fan of Griffith and Corman, unless you really want to be bored.

Pretty unappealing comedy/horror movie. More of a comedy, with horror elements that don't mix well. It has comedy sound effects, and sped-up footage and other pretty low comedy elements.

Oliver Reed is horrible-looking podiatrist Dr. Heckyl, with whom we're evidently expected to sympathize. However, he's pretty unappealing, even appearance aside. He turns into Mr. Hype, supposedly a very handsome man, but without compassion. However, as Mr. Hype, he looks like...Oliver Reed - who's hardly good-looking by anyone's standards, but we're expected to believe he is. Women see something "tacky" in Mr. Hype's eyes, and he invariably kills them in ways that don't really work in such a silly comedy, they belong in a real horror movie (albeit a bad one).

This title is out of print, and relatively hard to find. With any luck, it will stay that way.

it's obviously not supposed to be "great" movie, but for the hilarious horror/comedy it is, one would take this as it is. a breath of fresh air for the over bloated 70s/80s horror movie market. it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it shouldn't have to. viewing this ridiculous movie for what it is, it is a beautiful depiction of a shitty movie made enjoyable through writing and acting. oliver reed does a magnificent job playing both lead roles, even while switching between the two. looking for a well written movie with unexpected plot twists, it is obviously not going to rate very well. it was 1980, why would you make a super deep movie with every opportunity for criticism? while writing this i would obviously assume it's not to be under the scrutiny of every movie buff this side of the Mississippi. take it for what it is, a ridiculous horror movie with a brand new twist on the old, often retold, story of the doctor that creates more than what he meant to create. great for what it is, and hardly a moment wasted. 8 thumbs up.

..... mixture of spoof, return to the earliest Three Stooges brand of yok-yok comedy, and morality tale. No one could ever believe in Oliver Reed as the traditionally handsome love interest -- so how about an off-beat, chemically alluring (artificial pheromones?) hunk of sleaze? this was written, cast, directed, filmed, and packaged as a Midnight Madness "D" grade flick for T.V. cultists. And very successfully. I get a huge kick out of it on those rare occasions when I have a chance to see it again. One of these days I hope to be able to save a copy of my own -- then I can see it at least once every six or seven months. If you want a real horror flick, though, look somewhere else. And if you only like Acadamy Award selections, DEFINITELY take a pass on this little marvel.

Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980)

* (out of 4)

Rather horrendous horror-comedy-spoof has Oliver Reed playing an ugly and disfigured Dr. Henry Heckyl. Most of the time the nice Heckyl wishes he could be beautiful and he gets his shot when a co-worker comes up with a serum that does a wide range of things including making him handsome. The only problem is that he also turns into a jerk and a murderer. Director-writer Charles B. Pierce made some good movies in his time but I'm really not sure what he was trying to do with this thing because the "spoof" of Robert Louis Stevenson's story had already been done with THE NUTTY PROFESSOR. This film here is really a complete misfire and for the life of me I can't see how this thing could have gotten a greenlight and especially in 1980. You could possibly see this coming out in the early 70s to a drive-in crowd but I'm not sure it would have played any better then. The biggest problem is that the entire film is just so slow and boring that it's impossible to really care for anything going on. At 97-minutes this here is at least thirty-minutes too long and by the hour point you're already willing to give up on it. The movie has a weird sense of humor but this doesn't mean that it gets any laughs. Most of the humor is aimed at how ugly Reed's character is and there's also a running joke of a doctor creating a chemical that will allow obese people to become skinny in the matter of hours. The make-up on Reed looks decent but at the same time it's more weird than anything else. As for Reed, he turns in a decent performance as Heckyl but he's rather too bland and boring as Hype. Sunny Johnson clearly steals the film as a love interest and we also get supporting bits by the likes of Mel Welles, Dick Miller and Jackie Coogan.