Hammer Films produced a number of classics and an even larger number of very good, entertaining films and a few misses. While Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde is not a classic, it is one of their better later films, and much better than Hammer's other Jekyll and Hyde re-imagining The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll.

Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde looks incredibly good, no surprise seeing as Hammer's films always looked good no matter the quality of the rest of the film. The sets and lighting recreate the Victorian London era with lovingly and evocatively and they look sumptuous and splendidly Gothic. One also has to love the rich colours and the beautiful and atmospheric photography. It is not just that the production values look great that is really well done, but also how much it contributes towards the feel and atmosphere of the film, here the atmosphere is wonderfully moody and has a real sense of fear throughout, which were not always there as effectively in other later Hammer films.

The film also has a chillingly haunting, with also some touches of lush romanticism, score with an at times Rachmaninov sound to it, the dark richness of the orchestration adding so much. It also has the advantage of being well placed and used effectively, excepting some overblown moments in a couple of the transformation scenes. Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde is very intelligently scripted, with some witty and thought-provoking dialogue, while the story(with one of Hammer's most innovative and pretty ingenious premises) is incredibly clever and enormous fun, the suspenseful and often very creepy atmosphere staying consistent all the time and the chills and scares come off tastefully and unsettlingly. Loved the use of the Jack the Ripper mystery, which really did give off a sense of dread, and the nod to Sweeney Todd. The transformation scenes are beautifully shot and boast good effects work and a real edge-of-your-seat tension. The film is strongly directed, the characters carry the narrative very well and the acting is solid; with Ralph Bates giving by far his best performance in a Hammer film and Martine Beswick- youthful beauty at its best- even better in a menacing but never over-the-top performance.

It's not perfect however, but comes close. There are a few pacing longueurs, where a few scenes towards the start dragged just a little. And while the film is incredibly entertaining, rich in atmosphere and does a great job with the majority of its ideas, others did come off rather clumsily, especially the anachronistic and out of place inclusion of Burke and Hare, leaving one wonder why they were included in the first place(a nod to Stevenson's story The Body Snatcher perhaps?).

Overall, while not without flaws and not one of the Hammer classics, it's one of their better later films and never fails to entertain, chill and engage, making the most out of a great premise. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is a very strange variation on the old Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story. In this re-imagining of the Stevenson tale, Jekyll has been trying to create a serum to prolong life and reasoned that as women live longer, it must be something about the hormones. But his experiments allow him to change gender!!! There is no MR. Hyde in this one! But, to continue his work, he finds he needs to kill young ladies--and here the story seems a lot like Jack the Ripper. There's even the infamous Burke and Hare (famous for grave robbing in Edinburgh long ago) making an appearance in the film. So, we have sex changes, Jack the Ripper-style murders and Burke & Hare (who influenced Stevenson to write "The Body Snatcher")--this film has a ton of plots crammed into it. Oh, and lest I forget, a bit of a soft-core porn film, as when Mrs. Hyde appears, it's often naked time! That's because like many of the Hammer films of the 70s, they spiced it up with some nudity to try to draw in audiences--as film revenues were way down from the studio's heyday. I think this film actually suffers from too many plots. Now I would NOT have made yet another Jekyll & Hyde film---there have already been too many. But to have so many divergent ideas in the film seemed to muddle things a bit. A sharper focus would have made for a better film. It also didn't help that the acting and dialog were rather weak...especially the dialog. As a result, this seems like a rather weak horror entry by Hammer.

By the way, get a load of the way that Mrs. Hyde so easily crafts a red dress from just a curtain! It reminds me of the "Gone With the Wind" take-off from "The Carol Burnett Show"--minus the curtain rod!

One of the best of the latter day Hammers, this is an engrossing and surprisingly light-hearted film with a tongue firmly pressed in cheek. Don't let that put you off, though, as it's still a disturbing horror film, and there are many bloody murders along the way to startle and shock the viewer. The best thing about this film is the way that it ties together three different classic horror strands into one; this isn't your basic Jekyll and Hyde variant, as I, MONSTER was from the same year.

No, as well as Robert Louis Stephenson's story providing a basis for the film, we also learn that our good Dr Jekyll buys bodies from the body snatcher pairing of Burke and Hare, and (and!) moonlights as Jack the Ripper in his spare time! Of course, the twist in the tale is that instead of turning into a hairy brute, Jekyll now turns into a beautiful woman, which provides plenty of comic relief - lines such as "he's not been himself of late", a scene where Bates makes advances towards his alter-ego's love, and many other similar moments. The film is set in the classic fog-bound streets of Victorian London, a perfect place to brew plenty of atmosphere as shadowy figures roam around and prostitutes fall dead.

What makes this different from many other Hammer films of the time, though, is the jokey feel in which thing aren't taken too seriously. This is thanks to THE AVENGERS man Brian Clemens, serving as scriptwriter, and who makes the film very palatable; it's a fun film to watch. Ralph Bates gives a tour de force performance here, for once he is given a solid and starring role (let's forget the misfiring HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN) and does a good job of it. It's just a shame that Bates was never in more horror films, as I always liked his performances - watch the scenes where he convinces himself to murder people, because the outcome is more important than the means to that outcome. He may not have been totally convincing but he was a likable actor nonetheless. Martine Beswick is the alluring, mesmerising Sister Hyde, and portrays the character with icy beauty, extremely cold. Of course, we all know by now that Bates and Beswick possess uncannily similar appearances, and it's a lot of fun watching the two spirits struggle over the body of one person.

The rest of the cast are also good - especially the actors playing Burke and Hare. Gerald Sim plays an elderly doctor whose love for women gets the better of him, and Lewis Fiander and the actress playing his sister are nice, normal folk and provide good comparisons to Jekyll's manic lifestyle. The main thing I liked, though, were the many visual images used, such as Bates' face split in a broken mirror, suggesting his split personality, plus the transformations where Bates and Beswick's visages are distorted and merged into one.

As I mentioned earlier, this is one of my favourite latter-day Hammer films, resplendent with all the classic scenes of bubbling test tubes, mad doctors, and young prostitutes being stalked through the foggy alleyways by a faceless man. The ending is also surprisingly dark, with all the research Jekyll has done being destroyed when a beaker full of a chemical solution is tipped upon his diary. DR JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE is a great, old-fashioned slice of melodrama, complete with a dramatic score, a classic rooftop chase finale, and immaculate sets and costumes, and should be viewed by any fan of the Hammer studios.