Edge of Sanity

1989 "Beware the beast within!"
5.3| 1h31m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 April 1989 Released
Producted By: August Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

When his experiments into a powerful new anesthetic go hideously awry, respected physician Dr. Jekyll transforms into the hideous Jack Hyde. As his wife Elisabeth 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.

Genre

Horror, Thriller

Watch Online

Edge of Sanity (1989) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Gérard Kikoïne

Production Companies

August Entertainment

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Edge of Sanity Videos and Images
View All

Edge of Sanity Audience Reviews

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film
MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Woodyanders Prim and respectable physician Dr. Henry Jekyll (the late, great Anthony Perkins in sterling eye-rolling wacko form) transforms into the evil and deranged pasty-faced fiend Mr. Jack Hyde after a disastrous lab experiment inadvertently creates crack cocaine. Hyde terrorizes Victorian era London, England by savagely slaughtering prostitutes in the White Chapel district. Director Gerard Kikoine, working from a deliciously deviant and depraved script by J.P. Felix and Ron Raley, brings a genuinely shocking and surprising kinky sensibility to the familiar premise: The oodles of tasty female nudity (there's some male frontal nudity, too!), the startlingly raw'n'ribald perversity (a man watches from a window as Hyde pleasures a hooker with a cane in one especially lurid sequence), and the sizzling erotic sexuality all ensure that the incredibly seamy atmosphere reigns supremely sordid throughout. The sturdy acting from the capable cast rates as another major asset: Perkins has a histrionic field day in his juicy dual role, Glynnis Barber lends sound support as Jekyll's concerned wife Elisabeth, the fetching Sarah Maur Thorp vamps it up nicely as saucy tart Susannah, and Ben Cole positively oozes as slimy male hustler Johnny. The opulent set design, Tony Spratling's lush cinematography, the flavorsome evocation of the repressive Victorian period, and Frederic Talgorn's robust orchestral score give this picture an aura of class while the brutal killings draw a neat'n'nasty parallel to Jack the Ripper's notorious exploits. Good decadent fun.
Hellraiserdisciple 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. One J.P. Félix is one of the two writers credited with the screenplay. This Félix is 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.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.
benjamin telushkin I am one of those guys that likes horror movies less gory so that's one reason this wasn't my thing, and also, how repetitive can you get. A movie has to evolve and I love the story of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and if I would make it I wold start out with Mr. Hyde to being pretty bad, to cruel, to evil, to murderous. But this film jumped to being murderous and and din't evolve for like 80 minutes. Just kept on killing naked prostitutes, becoming Dr. Jekyll, then became Jake the ripper Hyde and murdered another naked prostitute. For a person to say this film was good or scary would have to have a shallow, immature taste in films and just wants to see it not for the art or brilliance but for the breasts and blood.
KGB-Greece-Patras To be honest, I have never seen or read the original story. Maybe this is a good thing, I don't know. As far as I can understand it gets the basic idea and only harshly does it re-make previous versions. Performances and film pace is overall OK. No stupid subplots and all, even some smiles raise from time to time. Due to some erotic scenes involving prostitutes, it can easily be characterized sexploitation, and as far as erotic stimulation is concerned, it scores quite high. Moreover having Anthony Perkins starring in it, it could easily be loved by horror completists or cultists. All in all, I had a nice time.