I, Monster

Long overdue DVD, but for collectors ONLY!
At long last, a DVD release of this 1970 Amicus release. Perhaps too late, considering the brisk sales of the bootleg over the internet, etc. However, I would have to recommend this release only for the most avid collectors/completists of Amicus/Hammer/Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing/British horror. This both on the merits of the DVD, and of the film itself. The film is essentially a fairly faithful adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with the names inexplicably changed to Dr. Marlowe and Mr. Blake. The story of its filming has been told well elsewhere and often (the abortive 3D process etc.), and the loss of time and money unfortunately show in the film. There is a definite air of poverty about the production. This sometimes works in its favor (in the seedy lower London scenes, for example), but some of the material could have probably been reworked with more time/money. There are some deft touches, with some psychological pointedness, such as the exchange...

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. MARLOWE (???) AND MR. BLAKE (???) .
This is an interesting version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", starring horror legends Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. If only the screenplay had been a little better this film could have been a horror masterpiece. Because Lee is wonderful in the title role, which for some arcane reason known only to writer/ producer Mr. Milton Subotsky, has been renamed Dr. Marlowe and Mr. Blake while all the supporting characters have the names from the book. The only reason I can imagine this was done was to hide (Hyde) the fact that it was an adaptation of Dr. J & Mr. H, probably one of the books most often filmed. But anyone who saw this film and didn't realize its origin, well...they must be really dim bulbs let me tell you.

Regardless, Lee is wonderful in the part. His Blake/Hyde is a truly evil, vile, ugly creature. The scene of his pusuit through the London streets of a prostitute near the end is really frightening. When he...

"What would I be doing with an ugly thing like you?"
I was pleased to see someone bothered to dig up I, Madman (1973) - Amazon gives 1973 as the theatrical release date, but the IMDb lists 1971, so perhaps one is the American release date, and the other a UK release date -a musty, under appreciated Amicus (The Studio That Dripped Blood) film for a DVD release, as it gives me hope that perhaps there's enough interest to see the release of some of what Amicus was really known for, that being their horror anthologies. I would surely like to see such films as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Tales from the Crypt (1972), and Tales That Witness Madness (1973) made available on DVD. Based on the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and directed by Stephen Weeks (Gawain and the Green Knight), the film brings together the legendary stars Christopher Lee (Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith) and Peter Cushing (The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires) in one of their many, on screen...

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