Hyde's Secret Nightmare (2011 - Italy) is a film sealed by the unlikely signature of Jesus Carrier Houseman in which Domiziano Cristopharo was initially involved in the directing phase. The latter, however, rejoins it as producer and also as actor in a brief but effective body modification sequence centered in body sewing and involving Poison Rouge. The screenplay is by Andrea Cavaletto from an idea by Domiziano Cristopharo and Gualtiero Serafini.
Hyde's Secret Nightmare has a bewitching power from the very first shots, focused on disturbing images that suggest the brutality of self-inflicted actions in his private parts. Then the focus falls on a male face soiled with powder, his naked body rotating in on itself, and his eyes reddened with tears as he wears a wig. From that moment Hyde's Secret Nightmare opens wide the door on a complex story, thick with emotions, nudity, extremism, sex, content and reflections that will accompany the viewer throughout the duration (about two hours) of the film.
Hyde's Secret Nightmare is a universe filled with meaning; it is a journey into perdition, a lulling in sighs and carnal desires within the walls of a film with a retro flavor and horror content.
Defined as "horror porn." Hyde's Secret Nightmare blends the two genres by dosing them with equal proportions. Horror and erotic-hard sequences intersect with each other, letting a thread of drama shine through that borders on obsession, paranoia, phobia, perversion, and lack of self-acceptance in an extreme world whose sex seems the only way to achieve a state of well-being.
On the heels of an old-style horror movie with mad doctors, hunchbacked helpers, corpse snatchers, and characters reminiscent of old movies of the past (The Morgue Monster, The Hyenas of Edinburgh, to name but a few), the story opens of Henry (Claudio Zanelli), a scientist trying to create the miracle drug to cure his impotence. Helping him is the faithful hunchback Hans (Giovanni La Gorga) but also Abdul (Andy Spider), a necrophilic mortician who provides him with corpses useful for his studies. Dissatisfied with his experiments, Henry tries the serum he has studied and perfected for years on himself, finding himself, however, in a woman's body, that of Eva Hyde (Roberta Gemma).
By the end of the viewing one is stunned, as if exhausted by the continuous scenes of nudity and sexuality that are almost hammered out and intersect with a massive horror sphere that enjoys explicit and successful textbook sequences. Hot commentary on this film proves almost impossible. Putting aside the hard side laced with excessive parade of male autoeroticism and an explicit, shameless and interminable final sequence (which could have been done without), what bubbles to the surface is the horror side embellished with original twists in which three well-packaged moments of necrophilia are inserted. Mention should be made in this regard of the sequence of the man in bed indulging in the amputated part of a corpse, that of sexual intercourse in the ambulance, and that of intercourse with a deceased woman's hair inside a car.
Going deeper, precisely into the heart of said film, we find a tangle of sensitive issues such as impotence, diversity, non-acceptance of one's body, lack of happiness and sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, protected sex is one of the messages suggested by the character Eva Hyde played by hard actress Roberta Gemma. Her name by the way is taken up in the title of the film (Hyde's Secret Nightmare) and by assonance is reminiscent of the word AIDS. The title of the film also refers back to "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," a novel by Stevenson. The protagonist of Jesus Carrier Houseman's film is in fact named Henry and has an antagonist, Hyde, who in the film, however, is represented by a woman.
Interrupting the moments that are too truculent or too obscene are monologues (or a kind of confessions) about social hypocrisy, the Church, sex in old age, the abuse of pharmaceutical companies, the mistreatment of women, and experiments. Topics, however, turn out to be inserted almost forcibly, as if to tone down or soften the visual extremism of the sexual and horror camp with which this film is steeped. The result of the aforementioned monologues could either be boredom or a moment of "relaxation" for the viewer.
The cast boasts well-known names of the caliber of Venantino Venantini whose acting evidence is always of an excellent level. Not so, however, is that of Roberta Gemma, who is certainly more at ease in the hot context, and whose acting level contrasts noticeably in the sequences in which she engages in dialogue with Venantini. The actress's sympathy, however, leads the viewer to forget her acting flaws. Not bad is the performance of Claudio Zanelli completely at ease in the role of the distraught mad doctor conflicted about his sexuality and also that of Nancy De Lucia (the prostitute) who proves to be the perfect protagonist of a delightful horror picture.
In addition to the aforementioned actors in the cast we find: Giovanni La Gorga, Andy Spider, Adam Ford, Poison Rouge, Gabriele Guerra, Angelo Campus, Giulia Innocenti, Francesco Castiglione, Peppe Laudisa, Lucia Batassa, Chiara Pavoni, Livia Lucina Ferretti, Giovanna Nocetti, Francesco Malcom, Alvia Reale, Matthias Vannelli, Yuri Antonosante, Domiziano Cristopharo.
The film enjoys the original soundtrack by Kristian Sensini, who was recently responsible for that of P.O.E. 3 Pieces Of Eldritch by Domiziano Cristopharo. Music includes "Passion and Love" by Alexander Cimini. Sound Design by Edo Tagliavini and Gabriele Elliott Parrini.
Hyde's Secret Nightmare is produced by Angelo Campus, Adam Ford, Domiziano Cristopharo and ClubGemma.
The drawings and illustrations are by Moz (Infernal Workshop).
