Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2004)

Platform:  DVD MOVIE Publisher:  ALPHA VIDEO Packaging:  DVD STYLE BOX From London's fog-shrouded back alleys to the palaces of the rich Jekyll's obsessions and Hyde's destructive lusts combine to make a cocktail of mayhem madness and finally murder.This thrilling new blood-drenched adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's chilling classic is a dark fairy-tale with equal parts of mystery horror drama and black comedy. "This rare treat comes recommended!" - Rue Morgue Magazine "Four Stars!" - Joe Bob Briggs United Press International "...His performance ranks up there with the Frederic March Jekyll & Hyde..." - Midnight Marquee Magazine Awards:Winner "Best Actor" (Mark Redfield) - Shockerfest USAWinner "Best Actress" (Elena Torrez) - Shockerfest USAWinner "Best Independent Film" - Festival Of Fantastic Films Manchester UKStarring: Mark Redfield & Elena TorrezProduced by: Stuart Voytilla & Mark RedfieldDirected by: Mark RedfieldWritten by: Stuart Voytilla & Mark RedfieldMusic by: Nalin Taneja DVD Details: Loaded with extra features including director's commentary "Making Of" documentary deleted scenes and more. Run Time: 109 minutesNumber of Discs: 1Originally Released in 2002ColorNo region encoding; For global distribution. Product Description

Pleasant Surprise

Forget the film's low budget; Redfield alone makes this one well-worth the price and the time. He is a very gifted and natural actor who gives new life to Stevenson's two-sided character. The entire cast is way above average, including Elena Torrez, who is mesmerizing as Claire, Kosha Engler as Jekyll's ill-fated fiance and Carl Randolph as his friend and confidant; but it is Redfield's film and he gives us a Jekyll and Hyde we are not likely to forget. Given the mostly lame fare Hollywood is turning out these days, it's encouraging to see professionals of this caliber produce entertaining films like this one. January 31, 2007

"Redfield...Torrez...Engler...Randolph...Voytilla ~ Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (2002)"

Alpha New Cinema present "Mark Redfield's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (2002)...The cinema has a long, illustrious line of some of the greatest actors who portrayed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on big screen (John Barrymore, Frederic March, Spencer Tracy and Jack Palance.)...and now with Mark Redfield gives them all an artistic run for the money, yes Redfield is that good...Redfield has created both a kinder, gentler Jekyll and a vicious, more brutal Hyde... unpredictable you are always trying to guess his next move, but alas he gets you everytime...take note that Redfield is suave and debonair as Jekyll, sinister and scary as Hyde, his performance in both roles is impeccable.....don't miss a single spine tingling scene.

Under director Mark Redfield, associate producers Tom Brandau and Thomas E. Cole, executive producer Terry Woods, producers Stuart Voytilla and Mark Redfield, writing credits of Mark Redfield and Stuart Voytilla, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", original music Nalin Taneja, special makeup effects artist by Bob Yoho . . . . . cast includes Mark Redfield (Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde), Elena Torrez (Claire Caine), Kosha Engler (Miriam Carew), Carl Randolph (Gabriel Utterson), Howell Roberts (Lord Ashton), R. Scott Thompson (Mordecai Carew), E. John Edmonds (Sir Danvers Carew), Jeff Miller (James Parker), J.R. Lyston (Detective Inspector Newcommen/Additional Voices), James Nalitz (Poole), Jennifer Cortese (Alberta), Josh Petroski (Henderson), Robert Leembruggen (Jack Little), Ronald Burr (Cobb), Alena Wright (Annie Jackson), Melanie Ambridge (Ashton's Patient), Nicole Stover Woods (Little Girl on Street), Brad Marshall (Dr. Humbolt), Tom Brandau (Mr. Clarkson/Additional Voices), B. Thomas Rinaldi (Bertelli), Chuck Richards (Dr. Hastie Lanyon), James Mills (Louis Lumiere), Brian Naughton (Auguste Lumiere), James Griffith (Coachman), Randolph Aitken (Williams (as Randy Aitken), Martin Thompson (Featured Player), James Laster (Featured Player), Leo King (Featured Player), Joel Mason (Featured Player), James Hackman (Featured Player), Hawkins Weber (Chaing/Additional Voices), Keith Thompson (Detective Charles Spottiswoode) . . . . . .our story opens with this statement - "More than one hundred years ago, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a story about a man whose experiments with the human soul have since become legend. The tale is still told with horror the world over...it is the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"...our journey takes us through old London in 1900...Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men, a good and an evil side...also believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated...Jekyll succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes...when he discontinues use of the drug it is already too late...the entire production has an excellent cast, outstanding performances, top notch scenery and a mesmerizing score...Best Independent Film from the Festival of Fantastic Films, Best Actress Elena Torrez from the Shockerfest USA and especially that of Mark Redfield for Best Actor, his portrayal is compelling from beginning to end from the Shockerfest USA, Shriekfest Award given in recognition of Mark Redfield's work as an actor, writer, director, and producer.

BONUS FEATURES:
1. Trailers
2. Deleted Scenes
3. Audio Commentary by Director
4. "The Making of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde".

Great job by Alpha Video for releasing "Mark Redfield's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (2002)...looking forward to more releases from the vintage horror era of the '30s, '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or Alpha Video where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for original horror entertainment...just the way we like 'em

Total Time: 110 mins on DVD ~ Alpha Video 1008D ~ (8/31/2004) August 25, 2006

Lame Retread

I love low budget independent films and had high hopes for this one. But this film is static. Never mind the production value, which is very noble for its budget, but the pacing is deadly. Admittedly these folks achieve much with little, but the film fails on the most fundamental level. It's boring. The editing is glacial and the pacing stalls. It should have been 65 minutes. The best thing about the Dr. Jekyll is Mr. Hyde who isn't seen nearly enough. He had the most dramatic potential. Instead we have to suffer through dithering Baltimorean-Brits stammer through endless and tiresome exposition. It feels like a backwater stage play committed to video.

Noble efforts by everyone in the production, but a story this tired needed a kick in the pants and funky new low budget technology should have given it a fresh voice. Instead it's just a lame retread.
February 27, 2005

Redfield's Performance

All I can say is that Redfield plays Jekyll and Hyde like no one has since Fredric March! Brilliant! The interesting spin on his version of the character(s) is that Hyde is possibly the true self and that Jekyll was always a mask. His twisted, wild eyed, dwarfish, satyr-like Hyde is truer to Stevenson's description than the hairy ape/wolf-man that people usually associate with the character. He plays Hyde with an almost comical glee, similar to March's performance. Evil can be humorous in a twisted ironic way. Script-wise it follows the original story closer than any film before it. We don't find out until toward the end that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. But there were some surprising and unnecessary deviations from the story. For example, Sir Danvers has a son (?!) who Hyde kills instead of him (taking much of the horror away from the story as his son is almost as odious as Hyde. You're glad he gets killed), Hyde kills his mistress' lover instead of her, he reveals his secret to Dr. Lanyon's assistant instead of him, and a gun inexplicably explodes in hyde's hand maiming him (I'm still trying to figure out why this was put in the story) just to name a few. Also this film is one of the lowest budgeted modern indi films I've ever seen. The streets of London are miniatures with the actors cheaply superimposed upon them. It seems all the money went into making Mr. Hyde's excellent makeup, that they had to go and use cheap, $3.00 Halloween beards and moustache's that neither looked remotely real or even matched the actors hair color. It would have been better to leave the actors clean shaven. And Sir Danvers's snobbish son... with a modern gelled crew-cut?! Although the acting is forced at times, and downright bad at others, for the most part it's decent. Redfield's acting however is exceptional. Yes, I recommend sitting through the faker than fake beards, zero budget not-so-special fx, and bad acting just to see this guy play Jekyll & Hyde. It's truly inspired! Enough for me to give the film 4 stars. Plus it's a cheap DVD, so what do you have to lose? September 20, 2004

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