"You! You made us in the house of pain! You made us... things! Not men! Not beasts! Part men! Things!"
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I have a hard time getting into movies dated before or around the 1950's. Yes, I know that there are some classic films before that time period, and I have seen my share of them, but recently I've had a hard time sitting through movies from the early 1900's. With that said, one of my “personal” favorites from long ago is “Island of Lost Souls.” Released in 1932, it really isn't considered one of the best from its time, but every time I watch this movie (which has only been twice) I seem to always enjoy it to the max. Directed by Erle C. Kenton and written by Phillip Wylie, the film is an adaptation of H.G. Wells book “The Island of Dr. Moreau” published in 1896.
Considered as a shocking horror film for its time, many people of the 1930's were against the content of the movie. Even though people of current times wouldn't find this as the typical horror film compared to what we see in theaters today, this movie was something that people from the 30's had never seen before in their life.
The movie opens with a man who was ship-wrecked being rescued by a freighter that is delivering supplies to an uncharted island that is owned by Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton). The freighter was scheduled to deliver the supplies to the island along with Dr. Moreau and his assistant Montgomery. After a chain of events between the captain of the freighter and Mr. Parker (the man that was rescued out at sea), Parker ends up being thrown overboard by the captain and forced to travel to this unknown island with Dr. Moreau and Montgomery. Upon arrival, Parker is told he will be able to leave the island first thing in the morning to head homeward bound to be with his fiance, but Dr. Moreau has different plans for him.
You see, Dr. Moreau is somewhat of a mad scientist and his experiments are proof of that. On his private island, Dr. Moreau practices vivisection on animals, trying to turn them into human beings, or the closest form he can possibly get. Basically it is a form of hyper speed evolution, but at the time of the movies release, this type of practice was severely looked down upon. All of Moreau's creations live on this island but they aren't in a perfect human form. They all have extreme amounts of body hair and don't function as smoothly as a natural born human. Dr. Moreau has used a variety of animals stretching from tigers, lions, pigs, and dogs to try to perfect his creations. His best creation and closest he has gotten to a full fledged human is a woman that was created from a panther. She is called “Lota” and attains extremely similar characteristics as a regular human. She knows how to communicate far better with humans than Moreau's other creations and also has human characteristics and emotions.
With Parker suddenly on the island, Moreau wanted to use him as a test to see if Lota could be attracted to another human. Without explaining himself and his practices on the island, Moreau introduces Parker and Lota to one another, and gives them some time alone. Moreau's test is a success, and now want's to keep Parker on the island as long as possible to continue his studies with Lota.
After a search and rescue from Parker's fiance and some unfortunate events for Dr. Moreau, Parker is able to escape from the dreaded island to leave Moreau and his dreaded creations stranded there.
Now, if you can sit through recent movies like Paranormal Activity and others of the like, don't expect to have bad dreams after watching this film. Like most horror films from it's time, it probably won't hold you back from getting a good nights rest. Although it isn't as horrific as some may hopeful, it is still an entertaining watch. Not only that, but this movie extremely advanced for it's time. The content that is dealt with in the movie isn't actually performed until years and years later. Since it's official release, their has been a remake titled “The Island of Dr. Moreau” staring Marlon Brando, but after watching both I would without a doubt recommend “The Island of Lost Souls”....especially if you love classic horror films.
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