Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde

Henry Pride (Bernie Casey) is a successful yet altruistic black doctor who develops a serum that he hopes will cure liver disease; when he tests the formula on himself, he transforms into a white psycho who kills prostitutes and pimps.

Although, at face value, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde is a trashy example of blaxploitation horror, it does attempt to explore deeper themes that would have resonated with its intended black audience. With Dr. Pride transforming into a bestial white man, the film equates whiteness with power and corruption, a belief understandably held by many in the black urban underclass; it also explores the idea of black guilt over attaining success and status in a predominantly white profession, and likens the doctor's repeated use of his serum to drug addiction, an issue that affects the poor and underprivileged. There's plenty to dig into if you enjoy films with social commentary...

But what about the more 'fun' aspects of the film?

Let's start with the obvious: Mr. Hyde's appearance. White face paint and some light prosthetics work does not convincingly turn a black man into a caucasian, and the scenes in which the transformed Dr. Pride is mistaken for a 'honky' are hilarious. The make-up was created by FX legend Stan Winston, but it is far from his best work.

Mr. Hyde throwing people around like rag dolls: extremely comical, but hugely entertaining.

Silky the pimp: I love a stereotypical pimp and Silky ticks all of the boxes.

The nudity, courtesy of Marie O'Henry as Linda, the hooker with a heart: no exploitation film is complete without gratuitous T&A and Linda's completely naked health checks at the free clinic are about as gratuitous as it gets. If Dr. Pride wasn't so kind and upstanding, I'd be questioning his ethics...

Johnny Pate's funky soundtrack.

The King Kong inspired finalé that sees Mr. Hyde scaling the Watts Towers (one of LA's more unusual landmarks).

Better than Blackenstein and Scream Blacula Scream, but not as enjoyable as Abby or Blacula, this is mid-tier blaxploitation horror that can be commended for addressing social issues along with its escapism. 5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

This film opens with a socially conscious physician named Dr. Henry Pride (played by Bernie Casey), who strives to alleviate suffering in the inner city of Los Angeles. When he is not assisting those in need of medical attention, he devotes nearly all of his waking hours to working on a cure for liver disease that he hopes to finalize soon. Unfortunately, when he cannot find any willing volunteers for his research, he decides, in a moment of desperation, to use himself as a guinea pig- with disastrous results, as he becomes a homicidal maniac targeting prostitutes living and working nearby. Rather than reveal any more, I will simply say that, although the overall plot has been used numerous times in the past, I found the idea of using it within the framework of a blaxploitation setting to be quite compelling. Admittedly, the low-budget production values did limit the film to some extent; however, it still managed to entertain me for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

--Don't take it seriously and you'll have a great time with this film.--

Here's another point of view about the "quality" of this movie. If you're the kind who doesn't take life too seriously, enjoys b-movies and/or blaxploitation flicks, and doesn't mind a classic bad movie every now and then for a good laugh, then you'll enjoy this film. But the point is to not take the film seriously. After all, what film do you know of with a character named Silky the pimp will be a contender for an Academy award!

No, this movie is not *that* scary, though there is lots of suspense. But it *is* funny (make your own jokes as the movie rolls), with lots of action, crazy blaxploitation-style music, kitschiness. . . did I mention Silky the pimp? It is not meant to be a commentary on race relations. It's bad film entertainment at it's worse, er, I mean best! It ranks up there with "Blacula;" it's quality comes from the fact that it is played so "straight."

I recommend this to all other fans of bad b-movies and blaxploitation films like myself. Kick back with this film, some friends, some snacks, and laugh all night!

In the twilight of the Blaxploitation genre they already entered in horror genre, this is a rip off of the successful formula of the notorious Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde's variation, this turn a famous black Dr. Henry Pride (Bernie Cassey) and his assistance Dr. Billie Worth (Rosalind Cash) have been developed a special serum aiming for heal liver diseases of their patients, however it presents a collateral effects became into an instant albino monster aspect, so without any human guinea pig available Dr. Pride dares text it himself.

So Mr. Blake strikes on famous nightclub Moonlight Lounge that work as prostitutes meeting point where a Dr. Black's patient Linda Monte (Marie O'Henry) is on duty to get wealthy clients, breaking and destroying the place among the costumers, it triggers some murdering aftermaths on nearby area, therefore the police enters to find out the still unknown assassin.

Supported by a lame screenplay, bad dialogues, far-fetched fights and so for, the picture survives by its uniqueness on trash offering, so bad that is so good on laughable acting of the extra pissed and undying albino monster, it's a tremendous entertainment that will pleased everyone that loves Grindhouse cinema, as far I know it's the first time DVD format release in Brazil!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1986 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 5.5.

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The black Dr. Henry Pride (Bernie Casey) takes a formula that turns him into an evil white man. Here's another blaxploitation film but this one here is actually pretty good thanks in large part to the very good performance by Casey. The film is over the top in every way possible from the non-stop Kung Fu fighting to the wonderfully funny pimp. The first scene where the evil white guy is about to get jumped by three hoods is priceless.

This film hasn't been officially released but it is out there in bootleg form.