The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide

Adult Version of Jekyll & Hyde, The (1972)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The title pretty much tells you all you need to know in this David Friedman produced sexploitation pic. Dr. Leder (Jack Buddliner) is in an antique store when he discovers the notes of Dr. Jekyll. He takes them home, does a few experiments and soon finds himself raping and killing women. Soon the good/bad doctor ends up turning himself into a woman (Jane Louise) who also goes on a sex hunt. Hammer did a similar film the previous year with much better results if you're actually wanting a decent attempt at making a movie. This thing here is clearly not trying to be "good" but instead just trying to keep the viewer interested for 90-minutes while a variety of women get undressed. This film was a major chore to sit through because it runs way too long and there isn't a single original idea to be found here. This is a sexploitation picture so you know there's not going to be too much plot but the direction is quite sluggish and makes the film drag. Lead actor Buddliner is incredibly bad in the part and isn't the least bit interesting or entertaining. What's worse is that the screenplay could have had fun with the male to female thing but the writing never even attempts anything. Instead we get one sex scene after another, which isn't a bad thing in small doses but in this film they just keep coming and getting slower with each new one. The women here are extremely beautiful as we get some natural ones as well as some that prove actresses were getting breast implants in the 70s. Future porn star Rene Bond appears as a secretary here and she's clearly the best thing in terms of nudity and acting (believe it or not).

I seem to be one of the few people who actually likes this film. Obviously we are not talking 'class' here but surely one knows pretty much what to expect from the title and if David Friedman was not too 'hands on' with this one it's still well worth a look. Sex and nudity (both sexes) all the way through and some surprisingly sharp violence mixed in. Not a lot of time is spent on the 'changes', which is probably just as well with limited budget and the change into a woman is at least different. It of course also gives us yet another lady to get naked. Pity about the silicone on the two leads but it does mean that the Hide (sic) lady suitably looks a little unreal stroking herself through a man's shirt as if she can't quite believe it. The leading guy, with his stumpy, hairy body, wayward moustache and minuscule penis does well to attract such enthusiastic performances from the ladies and does look fairly menacing in his bad man guise

A non stop assault of hard gore and soft sex, The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide is a concoction that would have had Robert Louis Stevenson rolling in his grave, although not necessarily out of anger. As the ‘Hide' title tips you off the film's aspirations lie firmly below the belt, in fact even before the opening credits we are privy to a couple on the job. The girl is Nurse Debby (Rene Bond) and the lucky guy on top is Dr Chris Leeder (Jack Buddliner). Leeder is engaged to a sweet girl named Cynthia- but is guided by murkier motives, he's after her money and hopes to run off with it and Ms Bond. Hunting for engagement presents in a old curiously shop Leeder discovers the notebook of the original Dr Jekyll. Later Leeder returns to the shop in a feverish panic, so much so that he strangles the owner when he refuses to sell the book to him. Leeder becomes obsessed with the world of Dr Jekyll and his monstrous alter ego Mr Hide- envisioning Jekyll (Buddliner again) transforming into Mr Hide, an animated pasty faced sex killer clad in top hat, cape and cane. Limping around impressive mock Victorian sets Mr Hide is picked up by a prostitute who offers him some ‘fun'. Unfortunately for the girl, her and Mr Hide's idea of fun are far from the same. Soon its a bareassed Mr Hide chasing the girl around the room with a whip making a bloody mess of her. ‘You must be barmy' she tells him surely one of the cinema's great understatements. Mr Hide finishes the night with his grotesque partypiece- ramming a red hot poker in the girl's privates. Leeder daydreams more and more about Mr Hide's sex crimes each one more viler than the last. It so consumes his life that he misses his engagement party to experiment on himself. One sip of Dr Jekyll's special brew and the rolly-polly Buddliner is transformed into ‘Miss Hide' (Jane Tsentas)- who makes her entrance in this world when her breasts burst out of Leeder's shirt. Despite her leggy, blonde appearance Miss Hide is a knife wielding nymphomaniac as lethal as her male counterpart. By night she prowls LA bars looking for men to pick up,leading to the films most infamous encounter, where Miss Hyde castrates a sailor during some back alley sex, holding the bloody member up for the stunned seaman. Leeder gets sick of reading about Mr Hide's sex crimes as well as coming home every night in knickers and a mini skirt, but fearing the law decides to ‘Hide' out by turning back into the femme fatale. Not even Rene is ultimately safe from Miss Hide's paws and ends up dragged to the floor for a unique interpretation of ‘Chris particularly wanted us to get together'. Under the direction of L Ray Monde (known to his mother as Lee Raymond) and money from several United Airline pilots- The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide always impresses, its bright comic book like lighting style partially belies its low budget and set bound roots. Only the fickle finger of obscurity has kept the film from being the notorious of the notorious. In a typically ‘tender' moment Mr Hide breaks into a girl's house ties her up, rapes her, then beats her about the head with what looks like a soda siphon. Distributed by David F Friedman's EVI company the film was moderately successful, but you get the feeling that many venues decision to cut out some of the ‘goodies' seriously weakened the film. Few films were ready and willing to go all out in the sex and horror stakes as The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide was, and justly it really has to be seen intact with all the scandal and outrage that its content incurs. There isn't any deep profound meaning to be found here- sex and violence is all that The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide is really about. Made at a time when softcore was going down for the count its very much the old guard resorting to tried and tested violent shock value to win back an audience. On its own perverse terms The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide is also an equal opportunities film offering space for its psycho male and the allure of the violent sexy female with each of the sexes dishing it out as good as the other. Its also well cast, with everyone looking like a character you'd imagine to see strolling down Hollywood Boulevard in the early Seventies. Buddliner, the most seedy of protagonists looks perfect as both gigolo Leeder or sex psycho Mr Hide. As Miss Hide, Tsentas is menacing, seductive and appropriately towers over most of the cast. Tsentas appeared in few films- although the hardcore Sacrilege in which she plays a go-go dancing Witch terrorizing a Ray Davies lookalike is well worth seeking out. One of the more famous Hide alumni is legendary cutie Rene Bond. Like Tsentas, Bond had graduated from early hardcore such as the mind boggling Girl in a Basket. Eventually the films got softer and the budgets got bigger as did her breasts thanks to the wonders of implants. The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide sees her in all her sex kitten glory, running around the surgery half naked teasing the lumbering Mr Buddliner who has all the sex appeal of a big flea's armpit. An enduring image from a film that will leave few sleazemongers short changed or with their jaws undropped. The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide is an exploitation film in everyway that matters- equal parts eye candy and eye opener.

Dr. Chris Leder (Jack Buddliner, who is ugly enough to make ME feel amazingly good about my body) goes to a bookstore with his fiancé, Cynthia (Jennifer Brooks, better know as "that one girl in that flick where Elvira shows her hoo-haas). He sees a book he wants but waits till he's alone to go get it. The store owner isn't selling, so Chris naturally strangles him. (i hesitate to say kills because he blinks "after death). He then uses the book to turn himself into MISS Hyde. A pre-breast enhancement, pre-hardcore star, Rene Bond (quite easily the only redeeming value of the movie) also stars as secretary of Dr. Chris in this hard soft-core film. This film was hard to sit through & I know that ANY movie released on the "Something Weird" label is for acquired taste. Do yourself a favor and skip this. See Hammer's "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" instead, which is miles better.

My Grade: D

DVD Extras: Commentary by David F. Friedman; Theatrical trailer; gallery of exploitation art

Eye candy: all the girls get nude at one point in the film

ANTI-Eye candy: Jack Buddliner gets nude (giving the word cocktail weenie a new meaning, frankly I feel sorry for the guy)

Is there anything more pointless than soft-core pornography? It's like giving a record to someone who doesn't own a record player: they can admire the cover artwork, but are unable to enjoy the sweet, sweet music.

The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide is one such futile exercise: it's full of hot women with big breasts (both natural and obviously augmented) who happily saunter around as naked as the day they were born; the star of the show, John Barnum, is just as obliging, proudly showing off his button mushroom. The sex scenes are frequent, but are about as satisfying as a trip to the zoo when the penguin enclosure is closed for cleaning and all the monkeys are asleep.

Thankfully, there is a modicum of plot that prevents the film from being totally worthless, and which should provide fans of classic horror with some amusement. Barnum plays Dr. Chris Leeder, who likes to fool around with his busty receptionist Debbie (Rene Bond), despite being engaged to sexy Cynthia Carson (Laurie Rose), who is clearly a little slow on the uptake, oblivious to the fact that her fiancé's practise comes equipped with a double-bed and an en-suite shower.

While visiting a second-hand store with Cynthia, Leeder finds an old journal written by the infamous Dr. Jekyll; however, when he tries to buy the book, the shop-keeper (Norman Fields) tells him it isn't for sale. Not one to take no for an answer, Leeder returns that evening, strangles the shop-keeper and steals the journal, which contains details of a formula that allows a person's true nature to come to the fore. In Leeder's case, the potion turns him into a statuesque blonde beauty with big plastic tiddies and an uncontrollable violent streak. With a cop investigating the murder of the shop-keeper hot on his trail, Leeder decides to hide from the law by assuming the identity of the sexy but sadistic Miss Hyde (Jane Tsentas).

In addition to the copious soft-core romping and frequent full frontal nudity, The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide also delivers a few mean-spirited moments of violence, which help to alleviate the tedium: as Leeder reads the journal, we are treated to a couple of flashbacks to Dr. Jekyll's deviant activities as Mr. Hyde, including a street-walker with a really bad English accent being tied to a bed and having a hot poker shoved between her legs, and another woman being raped and bashed over the head with a bedside ornament. In the film's most memorable scene, Miss Hyde visits a bar, picks up a horny sailor (Bruce Brightman), and accompanies him to an alley for a knee-trembler, where she proceeds to cut off the guy's schlong with a knife. It's laughably executed, but at least the film's heart is in the wrong place.

5/10.