THE JEKYLL AND HYDE PORTFOLIO is a cheap and low rent horror film from the USA, made by an independent group of filmmakers. Unsurprisingly it's a rather inept slice of horror, one which looks and feels amateurish which isn't helped by the wooden acting style and anything-goes plot. The film received a measure of notoriety during the UK's video nasties boom but it really isn't worth your while unless you have a huge liking for this kind of thing.As ever, Vinegar Syndrome have done a splendid job of making this film look good, which is more than it deserves. A killer with a split personality is going around and murdering women in some slapdash gore scenes while detectives investigate. The film has a weird, mannered, old-fashioned look to it which reminded me of Andy Milligan's style, with which this picture has much in common. Exploitation fans will be delighted by the nudity but I was more repulsed by the endless dissection of frogs, chickens and the like which makes this a bad taste effort.

A murderous and mysterious maniac with a split personality terrorizes folks at a remote rural asylum. Boy, does this wonderfully wretched clunker cover all the endearingly shoddy dimestore cinema bases: The ham-fisted (mis)direction by Eric Jeffrey Haims, the plodding pace, cruddy gore, the clumsy use of narration, hopelessly amateurish acting by a lame no-name cast(Sebastian Brook cops the top thespic dishonors with his ridiculously twitchy portrayal of the stern and suspicious Dr. Dorian Cabala), the meandering story, the talkly'n'tedious script by Donn Greer, Arch Armbault's rough and shaky cinematography, and the ramshackle production values all give this baby the crude charm of your basic backyard Andy Milligan opus. Moreover, there's not only a satisfying smattering of tasty female nudity and leering soft-core sex, but also truly appalling and explicit scenes of real frogs being dissected that would make members of PETA through a total fit if they ever saw this picture. 70's skinflick starlets Rene Bond and Sandy Carey are on hand to bare their luscious wares while Bond's real-life husband Ric Lutz pops up as a shy and timid wimp. The killer's identity is a genuine surprise. A real schlocky hoot.

The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio (1971) * 1/2 (out of 4) Bizarre, to say the least, film from director Eric Jeffrey Haims has become a rather big cult favorite due in large part to its VHS having a very limited run and the rarity has led many to pay an outrageous amount on various online sites. Thankfully (or unthankfully) Vinegar Syndrome stepped up to the plate and released this rarity as a double feature with one of the director's other works. The film is pretty simple as there's a murdering rampage happening on a campus and it appears to be the work of someone with a split personality who might just be influenced by the zodiac. THE JEKYLL AND HYDE PORTFOLIO became a cult favorite because of how rare its tape was but there's enough bizarre stuff going on here where it's probably going to gain an even bigger following by those who enjoy bad movies. This thing is pretty awful from start to finish but yet there's a certain bit of originality to its look and style and I really can't compare it to anything else I've seen. I've heard people compare it to the work of Andy Milligan but I wouldn't go that far. For the most part everything from the acting to the dialogue is horrible but I thought the director at least did a good job at bringing a certain atmosphere to the picture. The entire thing has a rather low-budget and weird atmosphere that you can't help but keep watching. The film is full of some outrageous murder sequences and strange sex scenes. The highlight has to be a nude woman getting into bed and her female roommate saying that she's cold. The nude woman allows her to sleep in the same bed but only if she gets naked. What follows is a pretty "entertaining" sex scene. The movie really doesn't have much going for it outside the bizarre level so fans of low-budget flicks should at least watch it once.

A split personality type kills because of being born under a certain sign of the zodiac. Period piece set in the 19th century features early 70's gore including a decapitation and some real life blood and guts - frogs are dissected in a biology class. Made with z grade production values and similar to an Andy Milligan film. Sebastian Brook who was in the late 60's comedy THE GAY DECEIVERS goes slumming here and appears as the director of a nursing school with the name of Dorian Cabala. A mixture of murder mystery and softcore sex scenes with most of the female roles played by performers in X rated movies. I first saw this on VHS in 1985 and most recently on a DVD-R. As far as I can tell it has not had a proper DVD release.