What’s set up to be a pretty good social satire, sadly, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976) quickly falls apart after the opening act introduces Dr. Pride as the inventor of a new anti-cirrhosis drug that, when ingested, drains away skin pigmentation and ratchets up strength and aggression to superhuman levels.
Now, I think when Pride (Casey) falls under the influence and transforms into his bestial alter-ego and goes on a rampage, he's supposed to be mistaken for a Caucasian by all the witnesses and the authorities.
And here lies the main problem with the film as the makeup doesn't sell this assumption at all (-- by Stan Winston, no less), as Brother Hyde looks like an albino at best and one of the viral vampire mutants from The Omega Man (1971) at worst.
But again, this plot point doesn't really matter as the whole movie switches gears as the Hyde persona comes to the forefront and becomes fixated on a prostitute named Linda (O'Henry), which brings some internal mental strife as Dr. Pride has a thing for his co-worker, Dr. Billie Worth (Cash).
Meanwhile, Brother Hyde goes on a hooker killing spree over some repressed mommy issues because of course he does.
And as we race to the climax, Brother Hyde throws some pimps around and busts some heads most righteously before pulling a King Kong, climbing the Watts Towers, where he kinda unceremoniously meets his end.
The
film was directed by William Crain and shot by Tak Fujimoto, who tried
valiantly to bring the same kind of dignity and flare to elevate this
latter day Blaxploitation venture, like they had managed to pull off so
well a few years earlier with Blacula (1972), but this proved to be a futile gesture.
All the ingredients were there. And Bernie Casey, always a welcome sight, does the best he can; as do Ji-Tu Cumbuka and Milt Kogan, who played the befuddled cops charged with finding whom they refer to as “Black the Ripper," which resolved a decades long search of trying to find a non-existent film with that title. So, at least there's that.
In
fact, all the characters in Doctor Black, Mr. Hyde were all pretty great,
but the plot they’re all plugged into is not only threadbare but it also
kinda stinks.
Take out the nudity and what you got is a fairly inane Made for TV Movie or an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974), where Darren McGavin took the week off. Entertaining enough, but there's too many nuggets of “if they only did this” or "if they'd only tried that instead" lying around to needle this one, with a title and cast like that, firmly into the “Expectations Be a Bitch” file.
Originally posted on February 1, 2014, at Micro-Brewed Reviews.
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976) Dimension Pictures / EP: Manfred Bernhard / P: Charles Walker / AP: William Crain / D: William Crain / W: Larry LeBron / C: Tak Fujimoto / E: Jack Horger / M: Johnny Pate / S: Bernie Casey, Rosalind Cash, Marie O'Henry, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Milt Kogan, Stu Gilliam, Elizabeth Robinson