"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne"

Howdy. Time to investigate something directed by Walerian Borowczyk, a director whose work I'd never seen and frankly, didn't know much about. I did know that his stuff seems to be loved and reviled in equal measure, so the term "polarizing" seems to apply.

TSCODJAMO (how's that acronym?) is another take on the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," which you might have already gathered. And this film adaptation was released in 1981, with Udo Kier as Jekyll, and supporting performances from Patrick Magee as a somewhat over-animated general and Howard Vernon as a physician. The "Miss Osbourne" of the title is Jekyll's fiancee (named after Stevenson's wife), played by Marina Pierro.

Most of the story will be familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the book or other adaptations. This particular version is heavy on the, uh.....kink, let's say. Hyde is even played by a completely different actor with a close-cropped Moe Howard do. There's a whole lotta blood-lettin', rapin' and other general mischief. And someone else gets in on the act, too.....guess who?

The movie is engaging visually, although so much light is used in most shots that an almost blown-out video effect exists for most of the runtime. I'm unfamiliar with Borowczyk's other efforts, so I'm not sure if this is typical of films with his stamp on them or not. Maybe I'll investigate "The Beast" or "Immoral Tales" soon.

In all, the movie is an odd mash-up of art and exploitation, and according to what I've read of Borowczyk, seems indicative of a lot of his live-action career (he made many stop-motion animated films, as well). There's a lot to look at in the movie, but I'm not sure how successful it really is. I wasn't bored, I'll say that much.