Horrorfest 1: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This October, in honor of Halloween, I've decided to watch 31 horror flicks in 31 days. Some of them will just be DVDs and VHS tapes I have collecting dust on the shelf, others will be titles I've never seen before that I'm either checking out at the Laurelhurst or on Netflix using the "watch now" feature.

So, here we go:

HORRORFEST 1: DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1920)

I've wanted to see this silent film ever since I was a little kid. I used to check books out of the library about the making and history of horror films, and I remember seeing a still of John Barrymore from this flick in one of those books dressed as Mr. Hyde with his dark, stringy, greasy hair and his long skeletal fingers, a slimy and crooked smile on his face. Barrymore's Hyde has a look on his face that not only shows that he's evil, but seems to suggest that he can secretly see the evil you're hiding inside of you, and is laughing at you because of it.

Here's the picture I remember:

Anyway, about two decades later, I've finally watched the whole movie, thanks to Netflix.

The flick gets off to kind of a slow start, but as soon as Hyde shows up, things pick up. Robert Louis Stevenson's story is famous as an allegory for the duality of the human soul -- the good side vs. the evil side, and the battle to reconcile both of them. But, it's also clearly about the powers and dangers of addiction -- the good Dr. Jekyll gets hooked not only on his new, evil, uninhibited Mr. Hyde persona, but he also gets hooked on the drug he has invented in order to bring about the change. At first he uses the drug to change into Hyde -- before long, he can't get enough of the drug just to stay as his true self, Dr. Jekyll.

The great and unique part of this flick is the look of Mr. Hyde -- he looks monstrous enough to chill the audience, but real enough that you can picture yourself running into him on the street. He also looks similar enough to Dr. Jekyll that you feel like you're watching the same character, just in an altered state, as opposed to two individual characters. This is unlike the later JEKYLL & HYDE films, some of which go to such extremes as to turn the character into an almost werewolf-like monster.

I think most of this look is due to John Barrymore and his performance. As Jekyll, he has the classic good looks of a matinee idol, veering on the edge of a little too fancy schmancy, like most silent film stars of his era. As Hyde, Barrymore uses his posture and facial expressions more than makeup to complete the transformation. Each transformation is more torturous than the last and each time he becomes Hyde he's more hideous and dangerous.

Aside from the transformation scenes and the brutal murder of Jekyll's friend Carew at the hands of Hyde and his cane, the other most standout scene is a nighttime scene in which a sleeping Dr. Jekyll is overcome with the transformation into Hyde without even inducing it with drugs. The filmmakers use an image of a giant, hairy spider to represent the evil inside of Jekyll, first crawling out of Jekyll's sleeping body, then turning around and crawling back on top of Jekyll. Aside from the creepy thought of such a creature crawling into bed with you, the viewer can't help but see the rape parallels as the creature's many arms envelope Jekyll's helpless body.

If you think you can sit through a silent flick, this one's worth checking out. John Barrymores' Hyde has got to be one of the greatest screen villains of all. I wonder if Drew Barrymore has ever seen this?