Doctor Jekyll review – gives Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing a run for their money

In a delicious example of nominative determinism, British horror powerhouse Hammer Film Productions was recently acquired by theatre producer John Gore. He will oversee a revival of schlocky, low-budget British horror – starting with a new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 Gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It is well-worn territory for the studio, including Hammer staple Terence Fisher’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) directed by Roy Ward Baker.

The latter version rode on a wave of gender-swapped horror remakes, playing to the suspense potential of an oh-so-innocent female secretly veiling the monster inside. As with bigger-budget horror movies from Hitchcock’s Psycho to De Palma’s Dressed to Kill, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde played to the most terrifying trope of all – the man whose alter-ego is a woman. It’s important to have all of this in mind when watching Joe Stephenson’s Doctor Jekyll, which goes one step further than previous iterations by changing the genders of both Jekyll and Hyde, now Nina and Rachel.

Both good Nina Jekyll and evil Rachel Hyde are played by Eddie Izzard, who has spoken vocally about her own gender transition and how she has been treated by a fiercely transphobic Britain. Izzard’s character is never discussed as having transitioned in the film, and in a flashback to childhood is played by a young girl, deliberately questioning the assumptions that an audience might make about the story of her character. We see her version of the past, and while we know that scandal has forced her into exile, much of her history is enshrouded with mystery.

Having just finished her one-woman version of Great Expectations in London’s West End, Izzard once again shows off her theatrical versatility in the lead. The contrast between sweet, caring Nina and scenery-chewing Rachel is consistently a joy to behold, and with a minuscule budget, the film’s horror is solely conveyed through her performance. Joining her for the ride is Scott Chambers as Rob, who does an excellent job of playing foil to Izzard’s Jekyll/Hyde as he takes on a post as her carer. Meanwhile, Lindsay Duncan makes for a delectably sinister housekeeper, channelling her best Mrs Danvers to sustain the air of mystery underneath the raucous orchestral score by Blair Mowat.

Doctor Jekyll revives a missing element of British cinema – you can see the walls shaking, the cheapness of the props, the hamminess of the acting. But that’s what Hammer is all about, the sort of horror that has you laughing one minute and throwing your popcorn in the air in fright the next. Izzard also subverts the fear of gender that has long haunted horror cinema by both playing to and away from the ongoing ‘trans scare’. It looks like Hammer has returned from the dead.