review: THE DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE ROCK 'N ROLL MUSICAL

Elite  //  Buy from Amazon.com In 1974, a disfigured phantom sought revenge; a year later, a disgruntled transvestite created the ideal mate. In the tradition of two of the music and film industry's greatest cult classics comes "The Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Rock 'n Roll Musical," an original romp through one of literature's greatest stories This is one of those unheralded gems that finds new life and the light of day thanks to a DVD release. I'd never heard of this film, I have a tough time finding anything available online about this film (other than this DVD, of course), yet the film smacks of being a true cult gem, nowhere near as popular as the mighty "Rocky Horror" yet still in the same vein and kooky family. I loved this film - it's wacked-out, to be sure, and the acting, script and songs are mixed bag of great, decent and brain-meltingly awful, but mix them all together with a grimy 70s blender and you get a pretty fantastic phenomenal piece of entertainment. You have to hand it to the filmmaker (who apparently was very green and clearly ambitious beyond his experience), as he plowed through this production with a fierce determination to realize his ultimate vision and absolutely succeeded. Kudos to Elite for releasing this type of long-lost classic onto DVD for rediscovery in the 21st century! Video The non-anamorphic 1.66:1 letterboxed presentation is about what you'd expect from a mid-70s genre-bender like this one - varying quality, varying look & feel, but par for the course. Audio The included Dolby 2.0 stereo mix is up to the challenge of delivering both the dialogue and the musical numbers in fine form. Extras audio commentary w/ cast & cew interview / Hal Blaine behind the scenes featurette listing of awards & festivals trailers Closing Thoughts Truly mind-altering, entertaining romp + nice assortment of extras = a very unique (and enjoyable) viewing experience