I, Monster (1971)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Stephen Weeks

Writers:

Robert Louis Stevenson (novel)
Milton Subotsky (screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Christopher Lee stars in this Amicus production of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" where the names have been changed to Dr...

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Split Personality | Victorian Era | Pulfrich Effect | 19th Century

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Dr. Charles Marlowe / Edward Blake
Peter Cushing	...	Frederick Utterson
Mike Raven	...	Enfield
Richard Hurndall	...	Lanyon
George Merritt	...	Poole
Kenneth J. Warren	...	Mr. Deane
Susan Jameson	...	Diane Thomas
Marjie Lawrence	...	Annie
Aimée Delamain	...	Landlady (as Aimee Delamain)
Michael Des Barres	...	Boy in alley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lesley Judd	...	Woman in Alley (uncredited)
Ian McCulloch	...	Man At Bar (uncredited)

Directed by
Stephen Weeks

Writing credits
Robert Louis Stevenson		(novel "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde")
Milton Subotsky		(screenplay)

Produced by
Max Rosenberg	....	producer (as Max J. Rosenberg)
Milton Subotsky	....	producer

Original Music by
Carl Davis

Cinematography by
Moray Grant

Film Editing by
Peter Tanner

Casting by
Ronnie Curtis

Art Direction by
Tony Curtis

Makeup Department
Harry Frampton	....	makeup artist
Joyce James	....	hair stylist
Peter Frampton	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Teresa Bolland	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Burgess	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Peter Young	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Buster Ambler	....	sound mixer
Michael P. Redbourn	....	sound editor (as Michael Redbourn)
Nolan Roberts	....	dubbing mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Bob Kindred	....	camera operator (as Robert Kindred)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bridget Sellers	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Carl Davis	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Phyllis Townshend	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Amicus Productions

Distributors

• British Lion Film Corporation (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• Cannon Group, The (1973) (USA) (theatrical)
• Lumiere Pictures (1994) (UK) (VHS)
• Sinister Cinema (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• Retromedia Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• VTI Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• GSE  titles (as G.S.E.)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Australia:M | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | UK:X (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Amicus Productions

Trivia:

Attempts (and is mostly successful) to exploit the Pulfrich effect to provide a 3-D experience. To see this, use a pair of glasses with the right lens much darker than the left. These are available for other videos or can be made by removing the left lens from a pair of sunglasses. Some clever camera work and choreography that keeps the foreground moving to the right and the background moving left makes this possible.

Quotes:

Dr. Charles Marlowe: The face of evil is ugly to look upon. And as the pleasures increase, the face becomes uglier.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Nightmare Theatre's Late Night Chill-o-Rama Horror Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

middling, somewhat faithful Jekyll/Hyde adaptation w/name changes, and some Freud added

I saw the Retromedia DVD of this, presented in widescreen. The picture quality left a lot to be desired - grainy and faded.

The movie is a fair adaptation of the original story. Parts of it seem to be almost verbatim, particularly the scene where the story of the young child being trampled is related. It's told rather than shown, as in the story, though it is partially depicted in a nightmare a character has. Why the Jeckyll/Hyde names were changed when the lesser characters' names were maintained is a mystery. If someone ever meets Lee at a convention, maybe they could ask him?

Some reviews play up the drug use and Freudian psychology angles. It's true the potion was injected rather than imbibed, but that didn't seem to be too significant. Freud gets some mentions in the first third or so of the film, and the Doctor does seem to be treating patients with some of his theories, possibly, but after that it isn't in the forefront.

Lee's transformation is one of the more minimalist ones. He gets a silly grin that keeps his upper teeth exposed, and a jaunty walk. In later transformations, his hair becomes more unkempt, thin, and gray; his walk becomes less jaunty and a little stooped; his skin becomes whiter and a little warty. At no point, however, could anyone mistake him for a different person. That makes the failure of his friends to recognize him after the injection, from either the front or back, rather bizarre.

If a potential viewer is interested in seeing some of the more faithful screen adaptations of this story, they might check this one out. Otherwise, there wouldn't be too much point - it's nothing exceptional.