Edge of Sanity

Gérard Kikoïne – 1989 – England

Lurid, cheesy and deliberately anachronistic rendition of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde story, with the added twist of Mr. Hyde turning out to be Jack the Ripper.  In one of his last roles, terminally creepy Anthony Perkins plays the good doctor beset with a neurosis stemming from being spanked and humiliated by his father in front of a prostitute as a boy.  In behavioral experiments he accidentally takes a dose of a weird concoction that turns him into a psychotic madman; (conveyed by some pale makeup and his hair being combed forward instead of back).  Into the underworld of London he goes, acting out every cruelty he can imagine, but with a special interest in slashing ladies-of-the-night.  Aside from the almost Ken Russell- or Derek Jarman-like production design and air of debauchery, the main point of interest is Perkins’ over-the-top hysteria in his dual roles.  Other than that, a premise that had some real potential doesn’t really come to much.