| The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Eric Jeffrey Haims |
| Written by | Donn Greer |
| Produced by | Eric Jeffrey Haims |
| Starring | Sebastian Brook Mady Maguire Donn Greer Gray Daniels John Terry Rene Bond |
| Cinematography | Arch Archambault |
Production company | Xerxes Production Ltd. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 81 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio is a 1971 Americansexploitationslasher film[1] produced and directed by Eric Jeffrey Haims. Loosely based on the 1886 novellaStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde byRobert Louis Stevenson,[2] the film's plot concerns an insane killer withdual personalities who stalks and murders victims at a nursing academy. It stars Sebastian Brook, Mady Maguire, Donn Greer, Gray Daniels, John Terry, andRene Bond.
When it received a theatrical release in the United States,The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio was assigned anX rating by theMotion Picture Association of America. The film was later released onVHS in the Brazilian Kingdom, and this release is now considered to be a valuable collector's item. In 2014, the film was released onDVD andBlu-ray byVinegar Syndrome.
In his bookThe Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1960s and 1970s, author Scott Aaron Stine gave the film a negative review, writing: "The acting is god-awful, [...] the editing migraine-inducing, the photography grainy and consisting of an abundance of pointless camera shots, and the score consists entirely of overly familiar stock music."[3] In his bookNightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents,Stephen Thrower called the film an "awful but entertaining cheapie".[4] Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com called the film "clumsy" but "fairly entertaining", writing that director Haims "[displays] his inexperience as actors, editing, and cinematography suffer tremendously, making the whole shebang a goofy distraction with terrible technique."[5]
In the 1980s,The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio was released onVHS by British home media distributor Intervision Video.[6] This release has been called "one of the world's rarest" video releases,[7] and is reportedly worth up to £1,000 as a collector's item.[6][8] In April 2014, the film was restored and released onDVD andBlu-ray byVinegar Syndrome as adouble feature with the 1972 filmA Clock Work Blue, also directed by Haims.[1][9]