O Médico E O Monstro

As a borderline schizoid and fan of the original short story I'm always up for perusing any new J&H material. After catching this curio on Sky I felt compelled to comment. The usual themes of duality and the nature of guilt and morality are all present and correct. As is usual in most screen re-imaginings of Stephenson's tale an obligatory love-interest is tacked on in the form of a pretty female lawyer with whom Hyde confides. There's no real gratuitous violence or gore here, the horror seems to be attempting to stem from the psychological, unfortunately this never really gels together. As such, we're left with a fairly entertaining if unnecessary and understated (there's no real physical changes apparent between Henry & Edward) version of the familiar story. There's a fairly feeble 'twist' ending that anyone not recovering from recent cranial surgery should see coming at least a couple of furlongs off.

5/10. P.S: For a vastly superior contemporary take on the tale viewers could do much worse than check out the recent BBC mini series 'Jekyll' starring James Nesbitt. It's available on DVD and well worth a watch.

This new versions boasts an acceptable cast , such as Dougray Scott giving a bravura acting as the infamous Doctor , Tom Skerritt and Krista Bridges . Run-of-the-mill rendition of Robert Louis Stevenson 's popular story dealing with Henry Jekyll : Dougray Scott and his own nemesis , Hyde. Jekyll is a well-regarded physician whose evenings are spent researching a rare and sacred Amazonian flower so potent it's said to literally separate the soul, giving life to man's Dark Self. These experiments lead to release of his ruthless alter ego Mr Hyde . Dr. Henry Jekyll . The obsessive experiments to isolate its psychotropic properties happen to coincide with a series of brutal murders gripping the city with fear . Dougray/Jekyll/Hyde himself becomes a raging beast driven to terrible deeds with creepy results . Jekyll is a doctor who dares to venture into the unknown , but things go wrong when Hyde exects criminal acts and violent incidents . He knows the Dark Self is coming into his own. It's even given himself a name : Mr. Edward Hyde. Where he can no longer do harm, Jekyll solicits the help of Claire Wheaton : Krista Bridges . He awakens with bloody mementos and violent memories of the screams of his victims . Agreeing to represent Jekyll , her case for extreme mental imbalance is convincing . Confined to a jail , Jekyll realizes that he has lost control, that Hyde now emerges in both body and soul on a horrifying whim, and slaughters with equal abandon. Hyde also knows that Claire is looking to suppress him. Are You a Jeykll or a Hyde? Do you have secret longings that you dare not reveal? If you do, it's the Mr. Hyde in you .There is a little bit of both in everybody!.It Chills you! Half-Man ! Half-Monster!. Everyone has a dark side !.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2008) contains thrills, suspense , chills , mystery , horrifying scenes , all of them you can find out all about it from this TV film . This is the classic and known story of the famous novelist Robert Louis Stevenson in which Hyde pits everyone against each other , while Jekyll struggles to retain control over the insidious other half. Here is blended the Robert Stevenson's vintage story with the criminal court genre . As Dr. Jekyll, unable to stop himself from transforming into the murderous Mr. Hyde, wants his attorney to secure him a speedy trial, a guilty verdict and a quick execution. It is a so-so film , but neither notable , not awesome , but simply passable. The horror of Jekyll transformation into Hyde is played down in favor of the psychological and emotional consequences . What's more important is the relation among the three main characters : Scott , Bridges and Skerritt . Actors are pretty good , giving decent interpretations . Main and support cast are adequate , Dougray Scott plays an anxious doctor to plead guilty, waive trial, face sentence, and be put out of his misery, relying on heavy make-up as well as conforting his face , along with Krista Bridges as a compassionate attorney attracted to unusual and lost causes and the veteran Tom Skerritt as his faithful friend . This routine retelling was produced by Robert Halmi Sr and regularly directed by Paolo Barzman who has shot lots of episodes of popular series (Being Human , Lost Girl , Killjoys, The Phantom, The Last Templar , Dark Matter , Bomb Girls , Haven , SurrealEstate , Wynonna Earp) .

This classy Robert Louis Stevenson novel has been adapted a large number of times : the first silent 1920 rendition performed by John Barrymore . 1931 adaptation by Robert Mamoulian with Frederic March, Míriam Hopkins . Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 1941 by Victor Fleming with Spencer Tracy , Lana Turner , Ingrid Bergman, that's still considered to be one of the finest film version . The two faces of Doctor Jekyll 1960 by Terence Fisher with Paul Massie , Dawn Addams and Chistopher Lee. 1968 by Charles Jarrot with Jack Palance , Denholm Elliott , Oscar Homolka . 1971 by Roy Ward Baker with Martine Beswick, Ralph Bates , Gerald Sim. 1973 by David Winters with Kirk Douglas , Michael Redgrave , Donald Pleasence , Susan George . 1995 by David Price with Sean Young , Tim Daly , Harvey Fierstein. 1999 by Colin Budds with Adam Baldwin , among others.

This is yet another version of Robert Louis Steveson's THE STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE and if truth be told this is possibly the most bland version you will see . It's inoffensive containing the sort of material that'd make it through he censors of a dull daytime TV soap . It is as uninvolving as it is inoffensive . Director Paolo Barzman doesn't have a big enough budget to do the story justice and much of the story is told in medium close up and we get some very choppy editing . When Doctor Jekyll relates a story about being in the Amazon we don't get an establishing shot of wild untamed majestic shots of the tropical rain forest we get a close up of a fire and a couple of Oriental extras giving the impression that it was filmed in someone's fireside living room . Hey I wonder if ....

Scottish actor Dougray Scott plays the title character and he's somewhat ill cast in the role . His American accent is totally unconvincing as Dr Henry Jekyll and seems to think Mr Hyde is a bit of a camp homosexual , honestly the villain comes across as some pantomime dame and will have you booing and hissing and throwing popcorn at the screen . It's not even bad enough to be entertaining high camp , just ... oh what's the word ? ... oh bland . That's the word I'm looking for

That said I did see Dougray Scott in an episode of DOCTOR WHO a couple of weeks ago and his performance was probably the best thing about the episode so one wonders if he could be a ready made replacement for Matt Smith once he leaves the role . At the very worst Scott giving a bad performance as the Doctor would be ..... bland

I love how people say the transformation was good when there is little transformation from Dr. to Hyde. All they did here was have the actor twitch his head and act stiff and make bizarre faces like he was constipated.

So all you have is the worst remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

The one BIG mistake this film makes is when the helper of DR. Jekyll testifies, it doesn't make any sense just like most of this slow moving farce.

I gave it a 2 instead of 1 cause of the yellow lights that were used during the night scenes (HPS Bulbs In the Light Fixtures) just sheer brilliance.

In Boston, a mysterious serial-killer is attacking and murdering women. The distinguished Dr. Henry Jekyll (Dougray Scott) asks his friend Gabe Utterson (Tom Skerritt) to indicate an attorney for him and he schedules a visit to Claire Wheaton (Krista Bridges). He confesses that he was the subject of his research with psychotropic trying to isolate the evil side of the human beings and he is responsible for the murders. When Dr. Jekyll goes to court for the trial, Claire wants to prove that the killer is the unknown Mr. Edward Hyde.

This umpteenth version of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" is a forgettable update of the classic story. Set in Boston in the present days, instead of London in the end of the Nineteenth Century, the plot is confused and the conclusion is predictable in spite of the good acting of Dougray Scott. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – O Médico e o Monstro" ("Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – The Doctor and the Monster")