Edge of Sanity (1989)

When Henry Jekyll's experiments with cocaine have gotten out of control, he transforms into the hideous Jack Hyde. As Hyde he searches the London streets at night for his prey in ... See full summary »

Director:

Gérard Kikoïne

Writers:

J.P. Félix (screenplay), Ron Raley (screenplay)

Stars:

Anthony Perkins, Glynis Barber, Sarah Maur Thorp

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Perkins	...	Dr. Henry Jekyll / Jack 'The Ripper' Hyde
Glynis Barber	...	Elisabeth Jekyll
Sarah Maur Thorp	...	Susannah (as Sarah Maur-Thorp)
David Lodge	...	Underwood
Ben Cole	...	Johnny
Ray Jewers	...	Newcomen
Jill Melford	...	Flora
Lisa Davis	...	Maria
Noel Coleman	...	Egglestone
Briony McRoberts	...	Ann Underwood
Mark Elliott	...	Lanyon (as Mark Elliot)
Harry Landis	...	Coroner
Jill Pearson	...	Mrs. Egglestone
Basil Hoskins	...	Mr. Bottingham
Ruth Burnett	...	Margot

Storyline

When Henry Jekyll's experiments with cocaine have gotten out of control, he transforms into the hideous Jack Hyde. As Hyde he searches the London streets at night for his prey in whorehouses and opium dens. The police can't catch him, he has nothing to lose but his mind...

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Plot Keywords:

threesome | mind altering drug | getting away with murder | bad guy wins | evil wins | 

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Taglines:

Anthony Perkins hasn't been himself lately!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong perverse sexuality/violence/gore and drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last film of David Lodge.

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Goofs

The film is set in Victorian times but people are using new pound coins.

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Alternate Versions

The UK cinema and subsequent Palace video versions were cut by 2 minutes 10 secs by the BBFC to edit a throat slash and scenes of blood spattering. The cuts were waived in 2004 for the MGM release.

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Connections

Version of Suspense: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1949)

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Soundtracks

Il Trovatore
Performed by Leontyne Price & Plácido Domingo
Courtesy of RCA Victor Red Seal A division of BMG Classics

User Reviews

Drugs are bad mmm'kay!

While watching this movie it's quite apparent that somewhere deep down in it there was a good movie and a good idea behind it all. However the overall end result it's pretty poor and really not interesting and exciting enough.

It does sound like a good main premise; Combine the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story with the London killings done by Jack the Ripper, at the end of the 19th century. Yet the movie its concept and story never seems to get off the ground. It's mostly because of the dull and uninspiring storytelling that the movie and its concept fall flat. There is rarely anything good or interesting happening in this movie and it's a real problem that the movie is lacking in some good decent mystery and tension.

The movie also fails to create a good atmosphere for its story. It seems so easy to create a dark and moody atmosphere, set in dark and moody London after midnight. Yet the movie is often too bright with its colors and everything is too smooth and perfect looking.

Lets take the victims for example. They are all perfectly figured young girls, who are real natural beauty's, with perfectly smooth faces and hair that obviously gets treated well on a daily basis. Not very convincing, considering that these girls are supposed to be 20th century prostitutes, who were considered to be the lowest of the lowest.

The story itself is also far from convincing. It's one thing that Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde, due to the use of cocaine but this doesn't really explain his odd and sudden transformation into a completely different looking person. It's also quite amazing that no one ever suspect this aggressive and creepy looking guy to be perhaps in some way connected to any of the murders of the prostitutes, that he himself was also often seen involved with by many others. no wonder that the police never caught the ripper, if they really were this stupid as well in real life.

What makes this movie even more a weird watch is the fact that it can also definitely been seen as a soft-core-porn flick. There is really quite a lot of nudity in it and lots of different sexual acts get explicitly implied.

It's interesting to see Anthony Perkins in this type of role but he basically gets far too little interesting or new to do with his character. Nevertheless, he was a more than great actor, so it's still a bit of a pleasure to watch him in this. He was actually a very underrated actor in my opinion and it's a bit of a shame that most people only know him for his iconic "Psycho" role, while he was much more versatile as an actor. It's still a wrong move by this movie to only purely focus on his character, while things could had been given more depth and tension if it had some other strong solid characters in it as well.

A failed attempt at a potentially interesting and refreshing idea.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Details

Country:

UK Hungary

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Edge of Sanity

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Gross USA:

$102,219

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Vision, Hungarofilm, Allied Cine Group Pic II

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1