Edge of Sanity (1989) Jekyll, Hyde & Jack the Ripper in thinly-spread Erotic Horror (Review)

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) is one of the more regularly adapted and reimagined texts in science fiction literature, up there with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Whilst based on historical fact, conspiracy and theory, Jack the Ripper has enjoyed just as many takes throughout cinema. However, how often have they been conflated to suggest the Hyde persona was, in fact, Jack the Ripper? That is the idea behind one of Arrow Video’s latest releases, Gérard Kikoïne’s 1989 psychosexual horror – Edge of Sanity.

Anthony Perkins is Dr Henry Jekyll, a celebrated doctor in 19th century London, married to Elisabeth (Glynis Barber) – outside of his limp, he wants for nothing. The film opens with a sequence where young Henry watches as a man has sex with a promiscuous woman in a barn – he is caught and disciplined by the man in a cold open that sets the stall for what is to come. His research away from the hospital is the thing that will cement his place in the medical world, he insists. One day at work, his classical values are rocked when a prostitute turns up at his department. Later that night, the monkey he is experimenting on panics, throwing a cocaine-like substance in with a blue liquid to create the virile and frighteningly unhinged Jack Hyde, who goes about London murdering Prostitutes. As the title suggests, the line that separates the two becomes thinner and thinner, the longer the murder spree continues.

When Jekyll ingests this substance that puts a little purple shade of eyeliner on, darkens his hair and gives him the strength of a wild animal – to which the only real immediate thought can be “cocaine is a hell of a drug”. And that isn’t me being facetious or making a poor taste joke. Jekyll spoon-feeds a caged animal with a white powdery substance, one that does all those things to him. There’s no reading between the lines necessary. Edge of Sanity is a movie about drug mania and overdosing, albeit one using the framing devices of Jekyll, Hyde and Jack the Ripper. You can say one thing about J.P. Felix & Ron Raley’s script – it doesn’t lack any ambition.

As a horror, it opens on the notes of sexual violence and threats at knifepoint – the first two murders are especially hard to watch. After that, Jack “The Ripper” Hyde runs around the dark streets of London, killing Prostitutes and then running away, with a few visits to an underground sex club along the way. There’s a compelling scene at a dinner party that suggests Jekyll feels truly liberated by becoming Hyde, but it’s underutilised – much like the police investigation around the sides. There’s a lot of movie in this new arrow video title, and nothing feels like it gets the time it needs.  

Edge of Sanity presents a solid interpretation of dangerous, sexualised horror with those first two kills – afterwards, it becomes repetitive, paired back and rushed. All this cumulated to the point that I began pining for Walerian Borowczyk’s wild 1981 movie, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne. That erotic horror captured the tone Kikoïne strove for – that film (review) felt dangerous, whereas this seems to lose faith midway. After those two first kills, the momentum goes walkabout, with much of the horror, while perfectly efficient feels superficial in the exact way that led to the downfall of all too many early 90s horrors. 

That’s not to say there are no saving graces – such an assertion would be hugely harsh. From the top-down, Anthony Perkins gives two strong performances. One half sees him as the sort of classical British actor found in any period drama. While the other is fearless as he embodies the mind of a deranged, violent maniac. The real selling point of his appearance is the bleeding of one into the other: of balancing on the knife-edge of sanity. He was always under-rated Anthony Perkins, and he rarely got the chance to showcase it after the critical backlash against his legendary turn as Norman Bates. The location work is also stellar, elevated further by the atmospheric considerations spent on any street-level scene. But, as good as it can be, Edge of Sanity is undone by its lofty ambitions. To be Jekyll, Hyde and Jack the Ripper, well, something has to fall by the wayside, and for me, it’s a simple case of the film spreading itself way too thin.

Extras come in the shape of a strong 2K restoration based on the original 35mm camera negative. An interview feature called ‘Over the Edge’ with the author of Nightmare USA, an incredibly insightful deep dive interview called ‘Jack, Jekyll and Other Screen Psychos’. Filling out the extras is 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 and ‘Staying Sane’, Gérard Kikoïne discusses Edge of Sanity. While I may not like the film, those that do, are treated to a kingly package.

Rob on Edge of Sanity (1989)