In The Neanderthal Man, a mad scientist transforms himself into a prehistoric caveman, his cat into a saber-toothed tiger, and his housekeeper into an ape person. He alienates his daughter and girlfriend in the process. And unwittingly kills several of his friends.
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Jekyll & Hyde is a very different take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale. It adds a romance with his sister-in-law, that has unexpected consequences for both.
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It should be said that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an adaptation of the stage play, not the original story. Having said that, it’s an excellent telling of the Jekyll/Hyde story. Jack Palance turns in a great performance as Hyde. Rarely, if ever, has Hyde been portrayed as what he is. The dark side of human nature. Rage without mercy, jealousy, anger, pettiness … It’s a long list. And Jack Palance does a wonderful job of bringing this monster to life on screen.
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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a bad adaptation of a very good original story. What if the various fictional characters of Victorian fiction all lived in the same world? It’s an excellent premise. The original graphic novel told the story well, faithful to the original characters. Sadly, that’s not true at all here.
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Daughter of Dr. Jekyll – a young woman discovers that she’s secretly the daughter of Dr. Jekyll. And shortly after, a series of vicious murders start …
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Mary Reilly is a telling of the Jekyll and Hyde story, from the perspective of a housemaid. A housemaid who begins to fall in love with both men …
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Hand of Death is a B-grade monster movie. It deals with a scientist who creates a paralyzing nerve gas. After a lab accident, his touch becomes lethal.
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If there’s a problem with the 1941 version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of a man split between his dark and light sides, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it unfortunately comes down to the lead actor, Spencer Tracy. It’s undeniable that Spencer Tracy is a fine actor but not in this film. He portrays Dr. Henry Jekyll as nearly neutral and spineless, and he plays Mr. Hyde not as a wild, unhindered, lover of self, but as a slightly more menacing version of Dr. Jekyll. When he starts a bar fight he doesn’t participate. When he abuses the lovely singer Ivy (Ingrid Bergman) its barely what most people would consider anger.
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The Manster is a low-budget horror movie, based in Japan. The stereotypical amoral mad scientist, Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura) starts off the movie by destroying a hideously mutated creature, that used to be human. In fact, its his own brother, setting the doctor’s character for the audience. Putting scientific advancement above human relationships, a point that gets reinforced later in the film.
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