The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio is a 1971 horror film directed by Eric Jeffrey Haims from a screenplay by Donn Greer (assistant director of Satan’s Cheerleaders), based on a story by Bonnie Jean, very loosely adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It stars Sebastian Brook (Rosemary’s Baby), Mady Maguire (A Scream in the Streets), Donn Greer, Gray Daniels (Gallery of Horror, Gremlins 2, The Rain Killer), John Terry, Rene Bond (Necromania, Please Don’t Eat My Mother, Invasion of the Bee Girls), Casey Larrain (The Toy Box), Terri Bond, Hump Hardy, Nora Wieternik, Cathie Demille, Ric Lutze, Melissa Ruiz, Duane Paulsen and Jane Tsentas.
In the US, the film was issued an ‘X’ rating by the MPAA but by 1973 it received limited theatrical showings in North America. It was not released domestically on VHS. In late 1982, British video label Intervision announced plans to issue it on Beta and VHS. However, with the ‘video nasty’ controversy raging and their sleazy box cover (see above) already publicised, Intervision cancelled the release, making it mail order outside of the UK. It seems to have had a very limited Australian release, however. In early 2014, Vinegar Syndrome announced a limited edition Blu-ray Disc release of just 1000 copies on a double-bill with A Clock Work Blue.
Plot:
The Florence Nightingale Institute has a reputation for training highly respected nurses. Unfortunately, director Dr. Dorian Cabala (Sebastian Brook) has peculiar and perverted rules. To make matters worse, a killer begins preying on the students, leaving their abdomens with three star-shaped punctures. As the trainee nurses prepare to stage their own version of ‘Dr. jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ two cops (Donn Greer and Gray Daniels) keep an eye on Dr. Cabala and his charges…
Reviews:
“Eric J. Haims’s film is weird and gory and worth the time a viewer spends with it. Pants optional. I’m going out of my way to not give too much away. Because it’s the kind of film I love discovering from a decade that is chock full of wonder and odd: the 70s. A completely idosyncratic, individual oddball of a film seen by almost no one.” Bleeding Skull
“If you happened to miss the opening credits of this 1971 effort, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were watching an Andy Milligan movie. It’s all here: penny-pinching period sex/horror with elaborate but oddly shabby costumes, grainy 16mm blow-up cinematography, crudely recorded and mixed sound, elderly library music cues, a mix of affordable practical locations and flimsy sets, and amateur thesping that is all over the map, sprinkled with some vintage horror iconography.” By John Charles
“Filled with headache-inducing Milliganesque bad camerawork, bad editing, bad lighting, bad acting, bad plot, bad effects, bad sex scenes. And no, none of this is in the ‘so bad it’s good category’” Chelle’s Inferno
IMDb | Thanks to By John Charles for some of the info for this posting.
