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Sadly Over-hyped

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Edge of Sanity (1989) ** 1/2 (out of 4) As a young child, Henry Jekyll was severely beaten by his father after getting caught watching him with a prostitute. Flash forward several decades and Jekyll (Anthony Perkins) is a highly respected doctor who accidentally takes a potion that turns him into a mass murderer.EDGE OF SANTIY is a very flawed movie but at the same time there are a lot of interesting things in it. Director Gerard Kikoine made some adult movies early in his career and he certainly doesn't shy away from the sexuality because that is on 100% blast and especially when you compare it to other horror movies from this era. Obviously you want to watch the unrated version, which clocks in at 90-minutes, a full five-minutes longer than the R-rated version that was shown in American theaters.The film benefits from really taking a perverted spin on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story. Sexuality was always a part of the novel and it came into play for a few of the screen adaptations but never quite like this. There's a lot of kinky sex on display as well as plenty of nudity. You've also got some very graphic murders, which were obviously a nod to the Jack the Ripper killings. Many of the prostitutes here are slashed up very brutally so this movie certainly scores in regards to its adult nature.Of course, the greatest thing going for the movie is the performance of Perkins. As Norman Bates proved, the actor could play various ranges and I thought he was perfect here. He's certainly believable as the kind doctor but he also brings a certain coldness to the role of the killer. The supporting cast are good as well. As I said, there are some flaws including the pacing of the picture and the fact that there's really no story at all. Everything is just set up to get to the next nude woman and next killing.EDGE OF SANITY might not be a complete success but it's European feel and its willingness to show skin and violence makes it worth watching.

Henry Jekyll (Anthony Perkins) experiments with cocaine, and the experiments have gotten out of control, transforming him into the hideous Jack Hyde. As Hyde he searches the London streets at night for his prey in whorehouses and opium dens.Early in the film, we see a blade against an eye. This is a very impressive effect, clearly looking like a real eye and areal blade. (I mean, it is not "Un Chien Andalou", but what is?) There is one scene with a bath house full of several nude men, one of whom is in a rather suggestive pose. I am surprised this passed the censors. While not sexual, this seemed a bit provocative to me. And what purpose did it serve? Was this just a way of showing the paradoxes and contradictions in Victorian society? Is this an anti-drug film? I would say no, as it is not remotely a realistic portrayal of cocaine addiction. They could have just as easily invented a new drug for the purposes of the film. And yet, they did not do so -- so why single out cocaine?

In the beginning a boy witnesses a sex act between a woman and a man who may be his father.He gets a whipping from him and the woman laughs diabolically.Then her face turns red of blood.Henry Jekyll wakes up next to his wife.This man is a doctor who does experiences with cocaine, and this drug turns him into hideous Jack Hyde.The whores of London become his victims.Edge of Sanity (1989) is directed by Gerard Kikoine.This movie is a modern take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story.I've read the chilling novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and seen a few movie versions of the story.This works nice.It shows us a possibility if Jekyll and Hyde were implicated in the crimes of Jack the Ripper.Anthony Perkins is very convincing as both the doctor and his evil version.Glynis Barber plays Elisabeth Jekyll.Sarah Maur Thorp is Susannah.David Lodge is Underwood.Edge of Sanity mixes horror with erotica.In one scene we see Mr. Hyde masturbating a woman with his cane before slashing her throat.The old tale has gotten a new look.

I've been obsessed with the story of Jack the Ripper since I was a little-kid. Every-other-year, some idiot THINKS they've discovered who it was, and why-it-happened--they never will (cold-case, duh), but we can gain-insight into some areas of it simply by exploring the darkness-within. This film does that, and sometimes even goes-too-far, but it's all-fun here. The real--and only--reason to watch this movie is for the excellent-performance by Anthony Perkins, period. Everything is a setup for him to come-on screen, it's his baby, and I'm sure producer-Towers knew this was only going to be memorable because Perkins was in it. He was right."Edge of Sanity" is a melding of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and some elements of the Jack the Ripper story, with an added-dash of exploitation-fare (boobs, drugs, stylized-violence, and psychosexual-excess). As entertainment, it cannot-be-beat, it's a very-satisfying-romp, with lots of decadence to it. The main-problem with the film comes in the production-design, as it really looks like the late-1980s to-the-hilt, but this is not meant to be a solid period-piece, anyway, and more a fantastical film-reality, just a pure-genre affair.But Edge of Sanity really has a passion to it--you see, the Perkins protagonist/antagonist is an unwitting-inventor of crack-cocaine, thus explaining the metamorphosis from his daily-life as a Doctor who bases his life on reason, to the base Mr. Hyde. It sounds nuts, but you knew this coming-in from the title, right? It's a bold-stroke, and a risk in the writing, but I think it paid-off in a way that resonates with our current "drug-problem". The Victorian era was also rife-with drug-abuse, though it was basically-invisible. People took-tinctures of Opium and Hashish as daily-tonics, and even gave Opium to crying-babies so-as-to-quiet-them. Everyone was "hooked", and that is sorely-missing in this tale, unfortunately, but Mr. Hyde DOES go generally-unnoticed until he gets-violent! The MGM DVD is pretty-good, and is widescreen with a solid-transfer and audio--it's never looked-better. People forget that just getting a good-copy of a film like-this was very-very-difficult until-recently, especially in the original aspect-ratio. The film shines, and it has some wonderful-moments of visual-beauty to it, as well as some incredible-makeup on the late Mr. Perkins, probably one of the best American movie-actors ever, and one of the horror's greats. This can only be a film about addiction.