mary reilly be set in victorian london where mary reilly ( julia robert ) be a housemaid to a dr. henry jekyll ( john malkovich ) and he treat her and the rest of the servant well so she be relatively satisfied with her life . however and the calmness of the household be break when jekyll start to stay out all night and he then say he will be collaborate with an assistant name mr. edward hyde ( john malkovich ) on his experiment and he should be treat a they treat him . reilly meet mr. hyde who turn out to be a bit of a bad lad and meanwhile she have secret affection for her master dr. jekyll and soon realises they be both one and the same person . direct by stephen frears i will openly admit right here and now that mary reilly bore me stiff and i honestly want to switch it off and go to sleep but in the fairness of this comment i decide to endure the final 40 minute . the script by christopher hampton be base on the novel of the same name by valerie martin which itself obviously take inspiration from the robert louis stevenson novel the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde and who be it exactly that think tell the story of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde from the perspective of his housemaid be a good idea . no offence but it sound lame just think about it and sure enough the finish film be total crap that i personally find way to hate it on many level . from the absolute tedium of it all to the snails pace and to the awful romance between the main character and the slushy sentimental drama to the fact it one of the most boring film i have see . i do not like anyone in it and i do not like the way the maker have take a decent horror theme story and turn it into some horrible tedious romance and the lack of any horror or scar just sink it without trace as far a i be concern . by the way do i mention it be bore . director frears do alright and to give the film credit where it deserve it the production design and look of it be fabulous . this would give any period hammer horror flick a good run for it money and then again i suppose you can stage a film like this when you have nearly 50 million dollar a your budget . apparently tim burton be set to direct this but decide to make ed wood ( 1994 ) instead and he might have actually inject some horror and mystery into the plot while still retain the gothic romance just like he do with his excellent sleepy hollow ( 1999 ) . there no real horror or scare in mary reilly and it have a nice fog enshroud look but little else . animal lover beware and there be shot of eel be kill and skin and be the old romantic that he be mr. hyde take mary to a slaughter house and again there be various animal carcass string up be skin and gutted along with various organ in bucket and strewn across the floor . a man be also kill with the end of his walk cane in the film most violent scene . i be amaze this have a budget of near $ 50 and 000 and 000 and it doesn not look like it although it undeniably well stag and make . accord to the imdb roberts get pay $ 10 and 000 and 000 for this and well she terrible in it and her accent be awful . shot on location in london and scotland and in pinewood studio . generally speak though there a great cast here include malkovich and george cole and kathy staff and michael gombon and glenn close a the owner of a london whore house . at the 1997 razzie award mary reilly be nominate for two and julia robert a bad actress which she should have win and stephen frears a bad director which consider the film look alright be maybe a bit harsh . mary reilly be in my opinion a terrible film and it as simple and straight forward a that and when i watch a film i want to be entertain and not bore out of my skull and that just the way it be . thank god i saw it on cable tv and do not spend any of my hard earn money on it . mary reilly suck and she should have stick to be a lowly servant girl .