The Adult Version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide (1972)

Yes, the title is misspelled. In the late '60s and early '70s, there was a line of porno books that called themselves 'the Adult Version of …' – which seem to have inspired this David F. Friedman production. It takes place in that strangely affectless world of swinging porno, where there is nothing unusual about everyone having sex with each other regardless of the relationships they are supposed to be in. Dr Chris Leeder (Jack Buddliner) is a thick-middled stud, with a '70s tache and a bald spot, who spends his days in the office humping his nurse (Rene Bond) but is engaged to be married to a rich woman (Jennifer Brooks). In an antiques store, he comes across the notebooks of Dr Jekyll and is compelled to get them – even strangling the owner when he refuses to sell. Thereafter, we cut between two stories: reading the book cues scenes from the original rampage, with Buddliner as an eye-rolling 'Hide' having sex with several Californian cockney sparrers before bloodily murdering them (whipping, sword in the vagina, etc); while mixing up the potion turns Leeder (silly name) into Miss Hyde (Jane Tsentas), who goes around having sex with men and women, and adding the occasional dose of ultra-violence (cutting off the patently fake cock of a sailor in an alleyway after a 'knee-shaker'). It ends, inevitably, with Hyde plunging through a window and turning back into Jekyll in death: a finish used surprisingly often in these things, including Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde. The production values are minimal, with the 'period' sequences even feebler than those of the average Andy Milligan effort, and every single scene drags on too long, whether it be unappetising sex or would-be nasty 'roughie' violence. It's one of those films that stumbles on and on until it just stops. Directed by Byron Mabe (as 'B Ron Elliott') and Lee Raymond (as 'L Ray Monde').

First published in this form here.

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