The fear of
the year is here!
I was recently invited by my buddy Rod Barnett
to appear as a guest on his podcast THE BLOODY PIT. He didn’t have any specific
topic in mind, and asked me if I had any particular film that I was interested
in discussing.
Last summer I was a guest at the LONE WOLF
FULL MOON TATTOO SHOW, and while there I ran across a tattoo vendor selling VHS
tapes. I immediately scooped up a handful of them, and among the ones I grabbed
was a big box clamshell of DR. BLACK/MR. HYDE. I had never seen this one
before, so my son Luke and I watched it a couple of days later and loved it! I
suggested this movie to Rod, who had never seen it before either, and he enthusiastically
agreed.
Dr. Black,
Mr. Hyde is a 1976 blaxploitation
horror film loosely inspired by the novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is directed by William Crain, the
man who also directed perhaps the best known blacksploitation movie of all
time, BLACULA.
It stars Bernie
Casey as Dr. Henry Pride, a man who, along with his research partner Dr. Worth
(Rosalind Cash) is working on a cure for cirrhosis of the liver. Impatient to
test on human subjects, Pride injects himself with the serum. However, it turns
out his formula has certain side effects, as one can guess from the title of
the movie. In this case it turns Pride into an angry white-skinned monster that
sets out on a killing rampage, leaving a trail of dead pimps and hookers in the
community.
It’s easy to
dismiss a film like Dr. Black/Mr. Hyde as cheap exploitation trash, but this
movie actually has a lot going for it. There are some serious themes woven
throughout the ridiculous sci-fi plot, in particular addressing issues of race
and class struggles, as well as medical ethicalities. It is a fun movie, and
one I recommend. Watch for the podcast coming soon (I'll provide links here) where Rod and I delve deep
into this film and uncover a lot of details about this movie and interesting
tie-ins to other Hollywood films and actors.
In the meantime,
here’s the trailer for Dr. Black/Mr. Hyde, one of the greatest trailers ever!
And you can watch the entire film on YouTube HERE
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