Dr. Heckyl und Mr. Hype (1980)

Dr. Heckyl und Mr. Hype: Directed by Charles B. Griffith. With Oliver Reed, Sunny Johnson, Maia Danziger, Virgil Frye. An ugly, misshapen podiatrist ingests a formula made by a colleague and turns into a handsome, devil-may-care (but violent) ladies’ man.

“Supposed spoof of Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde films turns out to be a lame attempt at a u0026quot;modernu0026quot; 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 u0026quot;handsomeu0026quot; (weu0026#39;re talking about Oliver Reed here) but sadistic — would sustain the film. It doesnu0026#39;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. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSome redemption is that Reedu0026#39;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 wouldnu0026#39;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. Donu0026#39;t see it, even if youu0026#39;re a fan of Griffith and Corman, unless you really want to be bored.”