‘Blood-hungry spawn of the world’s most bestial fiend!’
Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is a 1957 American horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (The Black Cat; The Strange Woman; The Man from Planet X) from a screenplay by producer Jack Pollexfen (The Neanderthal Man; Captive Women; The Man from Planet X).
The film stars Gloria Talbott (The Cyclops; I Married a Monster from Outer Space; The Leech Woman), John Agar (Tarantula; The Brain from Planet Arous; Zontar: The Thing from Venus), Arthur Shields, John Dierkes and Martha Wentworth.
In the US, it was released by Allied Artists as a double-bill with Bert I. Gordon’s The Cyclops.
Plot teaser:
It features Gloria Talbott as Janet, the daughter of the infamous Dr. Henry Jekyll, and John Agar as her fiancée. Janet learns that she may have inherited her father’s condition, and she begin to believe she may be guilty of murder when people are found horribly killed. However, all is not what it seems…
Reviews:
” …the film succeeds with eerie music and gloomy atmosphere, particularly in the dream sequences. It’s much better than Columbia’s boring Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951) in that we actually get to see a monster running around.” Joe Lozowsky, DVD Drive-In
“Ulmer has no patience for the niceties of smooth plotting or transitions; he’s only got a little over an hour to tell this story, and he seems determined to milk it for all the potent imagery it can yield, even if it means giving in to incoherence and silliness from time to time. The film’s finest scene comes towards the end, during the monster’s last nighttime raid, as it pauses to peer into a window at a sexy young woman changing into raunchy black lingerie. It’s an unashamedly exploitative moment, one that’s completely out of tune with the rest of the movie…” Only the Cinema
“Talbott is perfect in the role as she exudes that innocent and demure quality needed, and that wild-eyed wonderment at each revelation that is proffered to her. And while the actress is a great fit for the film, sometimes the script works against her a little as she is perhaps a little too accepting of each and every situation she is made aware of.” The Tell-Tale Mind
“Shortcomings aside, Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is an engaging, entertaining, and atmospheric job from a masterful director. Ulmer transformed a miniscule budget and an indifferent script into an exercise that retains a thrall of unease.” Jay Alan Henderson, Forgotten Horrors, Vol.6: Up from the Depths
Buy Forgotten Horrors Vol. 6 from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Cast:
- Gloria Talbott as Janet Smith
- John Agar as George Hastings
- Arthur Shields as Dr. Lomas
- John Dierkes as Jacob
- Molly McCart as Maid Maggie
- Martha Wentworth as Mrs. Merchant
- Marjorie Stapp as Woman Getting Dressed
- Reita Green as Young Woman
- Marel Page as Young Man
Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Wrong Side of the Art!
