Summary
Doctor Jekyllupdates a horror classic with an added twist:its titular villain is a woman. TheHammer horror filmwas released to UK audiences last year, and will be released in the United States on 2nd August. Doctor Nina Jekyll and her murderous alter-ego, Rachel Hyde, are played by comic legend Eddie Izzard, who is delightful in the role. Izzard is genderfluid, andthe film implies that her version of Doctor Jekyll is a transgender woman.It won’t be the first time aHammer Film Productionsmanifestation of Jekyll and Hyde introduced gender into its premise.
In 1971, the production company releasedDoctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde,their fourth adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella. The film’s notable twist is that it shows a male Jekyll transforming into a female Hyde after taking hormones in an effort to prolong his life.Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hydeused the idea of gender transition to provide the"shock…after shock…after shock"promised on its film poster – thankfully,Hammer Horror’s latest Doctor Jekyll iteration, in the trailer, doesn’t take this outdated approach. The film manages to avoid equating transness with villainy, butits ambiguity around Nina’s gender identity presents another issue.
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Doctor Jekyll Twists A Horror Classic By Changing The Gender Of Its Antagonist
Nina Jekyll Is Stated To Be A Transgender Woman, But This Is Only Mentioned Once
It is unclear whether audiences are supposed to take note of Nina Jekyll being a transgender woman.The character is never discussed as having transitioned in the film,though there are a few allusions to this in its dialogue. At one point, Nina (or perhaps Rachel – the film makes the switch between personas subtle) refers to her taste for whiskey as a“residual habit from walking in a man’s world.”In a flashback to her childhood, Nina is played by a young girl, though this could just mean that she transitioned as a child.
Doctor Jekyllcould have been consistently ambiguous about its main character’s gender identity, except a brief shot in its title sequence states it explicitly.Newspaper clippings hint at Jekyll’s fall from grace as the head of a pharmaceutical company. One headline reads:“Trans CEO Jekyll Accused Of Abuse”.From this point,Doctor Jekyllencourages its viewers to view Nina in that context,and since this new adaptation brings forth the characteristics most associated with this iconic villain – namely, a divided identity and an insatiable bloodlust –it runs a surface-level risk ofreviving an old, transphobic horror trope.
Horror Has Often Exploited The Fear Of Transgender Individuals
Doctor Jekyll Avoids This Misrepresentation
Unfortunately,horror has often used gender non-conformity as a cheap shock tactic.There are multiple examples of this in films that are considered classics in the genre. In Hitchcock’sPsycho,it is revealed that the elusive Norma Bates is actually Norman Bates in disguise, when the killer emerges wearing his mother’s clothes. InTheSilence of the Lambs,Buffalo Bill crafts a bodysuit from the skin of his female victims after being denied gender-affirming surgery. There is a long line of work that exploits fear and misunderstanding of transgender identities and uses it as shorthand for a character who is meant to shock and disturb.
The thematic connection between gender transition and Jekyll’s transitional persona provides a glaringly obvious metaphor.
Any horror film that alludes to gender non-conformity in its antagonist has to be aware of its place within this lineage.Doctor Jekyll’s problem isn’t that it makes these connections. There is no shocking reveal of Nina’s transgender identity. Audiences are never made to view her womanhood as incongruous or uncomfortable. A large part of this, and toDoctor Jekyll’scredit, is its casting of a transgender actor in the role. Most importantly,Nina’s gender is not associated with her evil alter-ego. Instead, the problem withDoctor Jekyllis that it doesn’t say much at all.
Doctor Jekyll Makes A Bold Statement That Takes A Big Risk
This Adaptation Falls Short Of Subversion With Its Themes
It’s hard for an adaptation to introduce a twist like altering a main character’s gender without signaling that it is trying to make a point.InDoctor Jekyll,it’s unclear what that point is.The thematic connection between gender transition and Jekyll’s transitional persona provides a glaringly obvious metaphor. There was an opportunity here to take assumptions formed from decades of transgender misrepresentation in horror and subvert them.The idea of a hidden self that refuses to be suppressed, and the self-destruction that results from forced suppression, could have created an interesting retelling with the twist that Hyde is not a true monster.
Doctor Jekyllrelies too much on ambiguity and fails to make a bold statement.
ButDoctor Jekylldoes neither of these things. It’s wonderful seeing Izzard at home playing this character, and it’s usually a good thingwhen a piece of media introduces a transgender characterwithout making their identity a narrative issue.But this film can’t get away with doing that. The themes of the source material are too closely related to the character’s gender identity to not comment on this connection. The result is that Nina’s transness feels like the elephant in the room. It’s something that the viewer can’t help but think about even as the film largely ignores it.
None of this would be a problem if the title sequence hadn’t explicitly referred to Nina as trans. Then,Doctor Jekyllcould have existed as a straightforward gender-swap that simply cast a transgender actor.Doctor Jekyllis an enjoyable watch becauseEddie Suzy Izzard shines in her role.Her comic delivery makes Nina Jekyll instantly captivating, and she equally delivers a subtly sinister Rachel Hyde. The creators could have made more of such a talented lead. Ultimately,Doctor Jekyllrelies too much on ambiguity and fails to make a bold statement.
Doctor Jekyll
Cast
Hammer Films invites you to screen DOCTOR JEKYLL, a new adaptation of the classic tale from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella starring Eddie Izzard. Directed by Joe Stephenson (MIDAS MAN), DOCTOR JEKYLL is a slow-burn gothic horror that delves into themes of duality, concocting a surprising mix of dark humor and flashes of camp within a twisted fairytale. The film also stars Scott Chambers, Simon Callow, Lindsay Duncan, Jonathan Hyde, Morgan Watkins and Robyn Cara. DOCTOR JEKYLL will open in theaters and on demand beginning July 15, 2025.
