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6 Degrees Entertainment

Edge of Sanity (Special Edition)
(Kay Lenz, Shelley Winters, Tony Bill, Robert Hays, Morgan Fairchild, et al / Blu-ray / NR / (1978) 2022 / Arrow Films - MVD Visual)

Overview: Anthony Perkins builds upon his legendary status as cinema’s seminal psycho in Edge of Sanity, a delirious conflation of Robert Louis Stephenson’s classic horror novella ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and Jack the Ripper’s real-life reign of terror over Victorian London.

When his experiments into a powerful new anesthetic go hideously awry, respected physician Dr Jekyll (Perkins) takes off into the night, casting aside the shackles of upper-class propriety as he disappears into the shadowy decadent demimonde of Whitechapel in pursuit of sensual pleasures under the guise of ‘Mr Hyde’.

As his wife Elisabeth (Glynis Barber) passes her time in charitable work, rehabilitating the district’s fallen women, Hyde is drawn into an escalating cycle of lust and murder that seems to know no bounds.

Produced by exploitation maestro Harry Alan Towers (The Face of Fu Manchu, Count Dracula) and directed with a hallucinogenic intensity by Gérard Kikoïne (Lady Libertine, Buried Alive), Edge of Sanity plunges the viewer into a labyrinth of depravity from which there is no escape.

Blu-ray Verdict: Anthony Perkins plays Dr. Jekyll who after a lab incident caused by his guinea monkey turns him into the sinister Mr. Hyde. Soon the bodies start popping up all over London.

The story is well known, but we get a little twist here. The twist being that Mr. Hyde is actually Jack the Ripper. I really liked the fusing of these two stories. It gave the film another dimension to it. Edge of Sanity is a surprisingly sleazy film too, thank goodness. J.P. Félix is one of the two writers credited with the screenplay and is also (apparently) actually one of smut peddler Jess Franco’s many pseudonyms!

It’s hardly surprising then that we get regular doses of nudity and some not overly gratuitous violence. We even get the odd humor on occasion. Just watch as the rabid Mr. Hyde has bent a prostitute over the table inspecting her butt and we see her bored face. He’s just another weird customer with a fetish. The script is pretty good, but without knowing exactly what, I still felt that a certain something to put it over the top was missing.

Anthony Perkins shines as the star of the show. He balances nicely between the two personalities. Perkins has a very charming side, as we’ve seen in Psycho, which can change in an second. In this film his psychotic features are enhanced with make-up, giving him more of a wax figure look. It looks supremely creepy.

In several instances he reminded me of the zombified Stephen from Dawn of the Dead (1978). The story is really a sad one. Dr. Jekyll is only a man traumatized during childhood years and his decent into madness starts off as an unfortunate accident. Jekyll is more a victim of circumstance than anything. He accidentally inhales the smoke from the broken glasses unaware of what the mix will do to him.

Unfortunately for the good doctor the effects have fatal consequences. Jekyll’s smoking device looks like a crack pipe. This film came in 1989, which was at a time when crack was at its height in the US. Edge of Sanity appears to be a cautionary tale covered in layers of filth. We see Perkins trying to resist it, but his demons get the better of him. His spiral downwards is very well depicted.

We see the raving madman and a cold and calculating monster that is Mr. Hyde gradually taking over Jekyll. This is perfectly realized in a party scene, where the topic of freedom is brought up. Jekyll wonders what anyone really knows about freedom. I thought I was free? retorts one of the posh ladies. The doctor starts talking about freedom to do whatever we feel like. You see something you like and you take it.

The other guests are a tad upset by this, but Jekyll rages calmly on. You all act as if our manners, our morality, were handed to us by God. With skeptical eyes she replies: But they are. Perkins continues: No madam, they’re not. We made them up by mutual agreement. But what if I don’t agree?"

He goes from the dinner table leaving the others in shock. There is a distinct flavor of Nietzsche’s philosophy here, which is the rejection of morality as an absolute truth. I doubt Nietzsche would have approved Mr. Hyde’s thoughts of doing whatever one feels like, but accepting that life is essentially meaningless is key.

The other dinner guests’ refusal to accept this makes them passive nihilists. The active nihilist on the other hand sees opportunity to build something instead of hiding in fear behind religion. Jekyll/Hyde is somewhere in between. He rejects God and morality, but instead of building he tears the world apart. And, fortunately for him, in a society as judgmental as this, who would expect that any well educated person could possibly be behind such atrocious crimes?

The technical aspects of Edge of Sanity are simply outstanding! The camera-work is impeccable with lots of crooked angels, intruding close-ups of Mr. Hyde and smooth dolly shots. The lighting and use of colors are strong and vivid adding additional delirium. There are gorgeous set-pieces to feast our eyes on. You really couldn’t ask for more. In a lot of ways this has an adult Tim Burton feel to it.

In conclusion, Edge of Sanity is a nice and creepy horror film. For some reason, despite all its accomplishments I still felt slightly detached to it all. That however, shouldn’t deter anyone looking for a sleazy horror with originality, a menacing Perkins and production values far beyond your normal fright flick. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Brand new 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed stereo audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Brand new audio commentary by writer David Flint and author and filmmaker Sean Hogan
Over the Edge, a brand new interview with Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA
Jack, Jekyll and Other Screen Psychos, a brand new interview with Dr Clare Smith, author of Jack the Ripper in Film and Culture
French Love, a career-spanning interview with director Gérard Kikoïne
Staying Sane, Gérard Kikoïne discusses Edge of Sanity
Original Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

www.MVDvisual.com





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