THE ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL & HIDE
Color, 1972, 91 mins. 32 secs.
Directed by Lee Raymond
Starring Jack Buddliner (John Barnum), Laurie Rose, Rene Bond, Jane Tsentas, Jude Farese

THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ZORRO
Color, 1972, 102 mins. 42 secs.
Directed by William Allen Castleman and Robert Freeman
Starring Douglas Frey, Robyn Whitting, John Alderman, Jude Farese, Penny Boran, Robert W. Cresse
Distribpix | Something Weird (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD), Image Entertainment (DVD) (US R1 NTSC)

After cementing his place in exploitation history as a producer of Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Trilogy and pioneering roughies like The Defilers, David F. Friedman went on to shepherd in a slew of very colorful softcore epics, two Nazisploitation game changers under a pseudonym, and an eventual, halfhearted segue into hardcore. A cheerful presence and remarkable storyteller, he found a brand new following when he became the first rights holder to make a deal with Something Weird Video in the early '90s, bringing essentially his entire roughie and softcore catalog to VHS and eventually to DVD or DVD-R. Friedman and Something Weird's Mike Vraney and Lisa Petrucci became fixtures at conventions for years, and though he passed away in 2011, Friedman's legacy shows no signs of waning. Two of his earliest films to make the jump to DVD in 2000 as standalone titles from Image Entertainment's deal with Something Weird, The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hide and The Erotic Adventures of Zorro, came out in 1972 and pushed the envelope as far as it could go to compete with the sudden rise of porno chic. Essentially both films used familiar pop culture stories to update Friedman's roughie formula with a lot more nudity, stronger sexual content, and a blazing color palette that couldn't be tamed by even the worst prints and projectors.

An unapologetic wallow in the grindhouse gutter, The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide drags its core concept to ridiculous extremes as it pulls out one perverse twist after another on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Amazingly enough, Hammer produced a similarly plotted variation, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, mere months before this one and which left far more to the viewer's imagination... but then more isn't always less, is it? Dr. Leeder (Jack Buddliner -- a pseudonym for non-performing XXX actor John Barnum), a creepy guy who looks like Harry Reems after a really rough night, comes across the medical notebook of the legendary Dr. Jekyll (just like Young Frankenstein!). Naturally he feels compelled to go to murderous lengths to duplicate his predecessor's formula, which has the unexpected result of turning the doc into... a voluptuous blonde woman (Tsentas) with a heavy murderous streak! The new Miss Hide promptly seduces everyone in sight, including '70s porn kitten Rene Bond (as his secretary) and a skanky sailor who winds up losing a valuable portion of his anatomy. Whippings, canings, and other nastiness soon wash over the screen until Hide finally gets the idea of going after the Doc's innocent young fiancée (Rose), with nasty results.

Considering this film is supposed to feel cheap and grimy, it's always looked very striking with the first DVD looking just fine and definitely crisper than the earlier Something Weird VHS version. The audio was never slickly recorded to begin with but sounds clear enough here and delivers each moan and scream with perfect clarity. The DVD also premiered an audio commentary by Friedman, who offers some frequently humorous production anecdotes to Vraney and a succinct history of the transition within the adult industry from "nudie cuties" to rougher fare like this. The theatrical trailer is astoundingly rude, closing with the film's title card emblazoned over a shot of Leeder's manhood. Incidentally, this trailer was singlehandedly responsible for the book chain Borders (remember them?) pulling its exclusive Extra Weird SWV trailer sampler off the shelves. An amusing and probably educational gallery of Friedman's exploitation ad mats is also included.

Another saucy take on a familiar legend, The Erotic Adventures of Zorro drops the viewer right into the middle of pre-statehood California where no-good racketeers control the land and exploit the Mexican populace. In the tradition of his earlier softcore romps like Trader Hornee, Friedman piles on the jokes as fast as the skin while getting as close to hardcore as possible (and sort of crossing into it with one slightly demure shot). The local people are currently held in a reign of terror by tax-happy Luis Bonasario (Friedman regular Farese), whose victims include the ravishing the local ladies enabled by the corrupt Sgt. Latio (sexploitation legend Bob Cresse) who dispenses one liners even during his hyperbolic sex scenes. At the behest of his father, expert swordsman and ladies' man Don Diego (Douglas Frey) arrives in town from Spain and poses as an outrageously fey gay man to divert the evildoers' attention from his true identity: Zorro, defender of the people. Diego falls for Bonasario's niece, Maria (Whitting), who has developed quite a crush on the masked hero. Will he save the day? And more importantly, will he become monogamous?

As with most Friedman productions of the era, Zorro is well mounted, wittily scripted, and lots of fun for those who are game. The film takes about half an hour of plotting before the plentiful sex scenes begin, but luckily the performers (including reliable scene stealer John Alderman) are all game enough to make their dialogue engaging enough on its own. The sets and costumes all look like the real thing (with some recycled supposedly from Duel in the Sun!), at least as convincing as any "real" Zorro movie (and yes, that includes the Antonio Banderas one). Oddly enough, for such a ghettoized film this Zorro has been imitated prominently including a much-noted similarity to 1980's Zorro, the Gay Blade, which lifts many plot points and jokes in their entirety. At least Hollywood hasn't gotten around to copying The Long Swift Sword of Siegfried... yet.

Again the DVD special edition looked quite spectacular for the time, with sharp print quality and plenty of colorful eye candy. Though this is one of Friedman's longest films, the excellent presentation makes it fly by in what seems like minutes. The commentary track with Friedman and Mike Vraney is a rollicking good time as usual, filled with anecdotes about the grindhouse business and trying to sell a softcore item in an increasingly competitive market. Also included is the very explicit theatrical trailer (with an infamous bit at the end for more lenient exhibitors), another trailer for Siegfried, a gallery of Friedman posters and ad art, and a 1930s Mexican-themed short thriller called Scarred Face (10m29s) which, well, is a lot of fun and belongs on here as well as anything else.

In 2025, Distribpix and Something Weird released both films together on Blu-ray as part of a very promising "The David F. Friedman Collection" featuring gorgeous new restorations from 4K scans of the original camera negatives (with a smidgen from Hide pulled from a print -- see the fourth frame grab comparison below). As you would expect, these already colorful and rich-looking films are even more impressive than ever here with a lot more detail and gradations in color than what was possible back in the DVD days. As usual these are presented open matte at 1.33:1 so you don't have to worry about any skin from the earlier versions getting matted out, though these also zoom in to widescreen just fine if you're so inclined. The DTS-HD MA English 2.0 mono tracks also sound excellent and come with optional English SDH subtitles. Both of the great Friedman and Vraney commentaries are ported over here along with the films' respective trailers (in HD), plus a pair of very NSFW 5m32s and 5m11s image galleries featuring press books, lobby cards, stills, and production shots. In an extravagant gesture, the package comes with two booklets, the first featuring "Friedman's Seven Beauties" by Shawn D. Langrick covering the details about Bond, Boran, Tsentas, Kynn Harris, Kathy Hilton, Becky Sharpe, and Starlyn Simone, all fascinating reads. Then the thicker booklet has "Mighty Monarch" by Austin Miller paying tribute to Friedman's work on these two films in particular, "Long Live the Mighty Monarch of Exploitation Cinema" by Petrucci sharing memories of the man himself and the role his autobiography played in uniting him with Something Weird, and "The Pleasures of Duality: Jekyll & Hyde in Adult Film" by Dr. Laura Helen Marks briefly running down the Stevenson tale's influence on adults-only fare.

THE ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL & HIDE: Distribpix (Blu-ray)

THE ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL & HIDE: Image Entertainment (DVD)

THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ZORRO: Distribpix (Blu-ray)

THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ZORRO: Image Entertainment (DVD)

Updated review on December 11, 2025