Watch The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne For Free

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

After being very disappointed with "The Beast", I had little expectations towards Borowczyk's other entry in the horror genre "Dr. Jekyll and his Women", and ended up being very surprised. It feels like the more serious but neglected younger cousin of Paul Morrisey's "Flesh for Frankenstein" and "Blood for Dracula", which also starred Udo Kier, and took a considerably more violent, erotic and often humorous approach at a classic horror story. While it does have a witty sense of humor, "Dr. Jekyll.." is a darker affair, that actually does seem to try and creep you out. While it isn't a 'terrifying' film, it is genuinely disturbing, haunting and sometimes creepy. The various changes from the source material worked in favor for the film, as it made it more fresh and engaging than other versions of the story. The empashis on Mr. Hyde as a sex maniac is much bigger in this one, as basically all he does is rape members of the high society, men and women alike, to death with a 35 foot, sharp-as-a-knife "organ". Despite the rather "absurd" premise, the subject matter is treated very elegantly and doesn't really come off as exploitive or comical. As a matter of fact, the rape scenes are all quite hard to watch, and unlike "The Beast", are not at all arousing, with gruesome aftermaths. Still, it's also quite beautiful and, as usual for a Borowczyk film, very dreamlike and surreal indeed, with some deliciously otherworldly shots that you'd want to frame and hang on your wall. The film also works as an interesting social commentary on the decadent lives on 19th century high society, as Jekyll and Hyde seem to represent the depraved, monstrous characterstics of the bourgeoisie, hidden behind an elegant, sophisticated facade. As I mentioned before, the film is quite different from the novel. Nevertheless, it manages to capture the novel's atmosphere perfectly, unlike many other more faithful adaptations. Borowczyk pays extreme attention to detail, with everything from set design, costumes to background lounge piano music, just screams "Victorian England". The synthesizer soundtrack by Bernard Parmegiani is subtly used to great effect in creating the fear of the unknown prowling every corner. While the film is slow, it's never really boring. There's an impeding sense of doom that grows with every minute, and each frame has such visual flourishes that it's simply impossible to look away. Last but not least, the film also benefits from a great cast that includes Eurohorror regulars such as Marina Perro and Howard Vernon - Dr. Orloff himself! Though the dubbing is not very good, the actors still manage to give good performances, particularly Pierro and Kier (who, unfortunately, gets the same kind of dubbing as he had in "Suspiria"). Overall, another great, obscure art-house horror gem that deserves more praise and recognition. 10 out of 10

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981) ** (out of 4)Walerian Borowczyk's wild, over-the-top sexual fever nightmare has Dr. Jekyll (Udo Kier) and Miss Osbourne (Marina Pierro) having an engagement party but soon the entire thing leads to a disaster when a sexual predator shows up.THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE isn't the first version of the Jekyll and Hyde story to feature a sexual slant. This film is something that many consider a masterpiece but I'm not going to share that much praise. It's becoming rather clear that I respect Borowczyk a lot more than I actually enjoy his films. This movie here is very slow moving but it's beautiful to look at. It doesn't have anything we haven't seen before yet it has moments that are strong enough to hold your attention.The biggest issue with this film is the fact that I simply see it as a fake. Porn, art and horror can go together and several directors have done it. Jess Franco and Jean Rollin immediately come to mind and I think both of them didn't try to hide behind any one genre and they would just jump into the material and go for it. I'm not sure why but it always seemed to me that Borowczyk didn't ever go in full steam. I mean, both this film and THE BEAST took familiar stories, added a touch of sex but I wouldn't say either went to the extreme of what they could have.We basically have a rapist running around the party and, like in THE BEAST, we see an erect penis. Was this meant to be shocking? I guess for some it would have been but to me it was just a silly sequence and nothing that happened was all that shocking. It was well-made and there's no question that the film has a surreal atmosphere and a beautiful image but on the whole there's very little story and it's overly boring. Both Kier and Pierro are good as are the supporting players including Howard Vernon.

This film is, as the other reviewers said, rather like watching a dream. It is interesting to note the subtle changes this film makes on the usual Jekyll/Hyde movie formula: Udo Kier's Dr. Jekyll is not really a benefactor of humanity, but a man who revels in being able to commit horrendous crimes in the guise of his alter ego - actually moving the story closer to R. L. Stevenson's original idea. He preaches a philosophy of going beyond good and evil through science. Likewise, Hyde commits actually repellent crimes of rape, child abuse, and sadism - making him closer to the idea of "unchained evil" than the more genteel transgressions of other movie Hydes. Overall - a memorable, beautiful, shocking, film. Well worth seeing.

Doctor Jekyll is a rather different version than most adaptations of the Jekyll & Hide story. Its emphasis lies on sex, this time. Jekyll changes into a rather beastly kind of lover/murderer who seduces, haunts and kills all the people gathered in the house for a party. Although the story is well known, this change of direction makes it very interesting to watch. The photography is rather special, with light almost bursting of the screen. The only negative thing I found was the English dubbing which is done very badly. Try to find the original version if you can. Udo Kier and Patrick Magee are very amusing to watch.