Island of Lost Souls

I came to this island to get down. When I learned the law was no more, I got out of my seat to jump around, jump around. We are Devo!

A pleasant surprise: good pacing, nice sets and make-up, cool buildup. Laughton was a revelation, his Moreau is delightfully shady and twisted. The climax is grade A classic horror material and I'll be shouting "House of Paiiinnn" every time I enter the dentist's office from now on. The opening credits got me excited about this so-called Panther Woman but in the end her character was just a big puss.

The lead actor is pretty bad, but Laughton is excellent as the insane yet refined Dr. Moreau, and Lugosi has a great, memorable scene. Some of the creatures are very well designed, as are the sets. I found the pacing, tension, and atmosphere to be better than most early horror, it just needs a better soundtrack.

Like FREAKS, the film preys on the unsettling implications of Darwinism, that we're just a genetic mistake away from beasts. In this sense, it's compelling viewing with a number of eccentric, disturbing angles to it. However, Arlen is a stiff leading man, and his character is erratic and undefined. Laughton has a little fun with the role, but I wouldn't rank it among his best work. At times it's all a little too campy. But it doesn't waste much time, and occasionally drew me into its odd world.

Shocking transcript of grotesque colonialist delusion in outrageous pre-code glory. Tight pace, refined tone & Laughton's chillingly nuanced performance work magic as the story slides more and more into nightmarish insanity. The monsterwork is absolutely classic and still manages to get to you with its horrifying detail. Just seething with vile pathos and twisted subtext. Boring protagonist hardly even matters. I expected to enjoy a nice cheesy midnight-snack but was quite stunned by the end.

Sorry, but f--k Dracula; this should be the classic. Horror doesn't alaways age well, but this remains engagingly creepy for mulitple reasons. There are some vivid directing choices, memorable set design & the cinematography suggests the characters are enmeshed in a virtual cage of shadows. The real draw here though is the highly unconventional portrayal of a mad-scientist who doesn't seem mad at all, but so unapologetically cruel & immoral that decades later his ideas remain viscerally taboo.

A great horror movie from the 30s that still manages to be creepy and unsettling today. It starts quick and has a short run time that doesn't allow a minute to be wasted. The acting ranged from very good (Laughton and Lugosi) to good enough (Burke and Arlen). Horror fans really shouldn't miss this as it's one of the first great ones.

The script is a welcome, subversive assault on all things righteous, and only becomes more disturbing when chewed through the brooding, sensual megalomania that Laughton embodies here. The animalistic crying of "Knives!" is ridiculously spooky - having the symbolic reverberations to back up the visual. And the screaming.

Definitive version of the Wells novel, with Laughton really chowing down on his very juicy role. Leila Hyams is fascinating as the cat girl, Lugosi excellent, all the settings and backgrounds are smashingly atmospheric. Accused of being tasteless in its time, which is probably fair enough -- the final scene is as chilling as anything ever put onscream (as Forry Ackerman might say!).

Starting from the intro and including the whole set and masks this film is incredibly well made regarding the early year of its production. The characters are well designed and show quite a lot of depth, the thrill is perceptible even nowadays and the topic of 'playing god' more up-to-date than ever. Dr. Morreau's apparently civilized, upper-class British demeanour turns the whole movie sarcastic beyond compare.

In this movie Bela Lugosi is the Brooklyn Gorilla.

This is one of the best of the early Hollywood horror film's I've seen.Charles Laughton gives a incredibly twisted performance as the "mad" scientist Dr. Moreau and really seemed to relish his role.The final 15 minutes is one of the great endings to any movie I've seen.

I'm so surprised this movie isn't more famous than it is. In terms of quality it's right up there alongside the well-known horror films of the early 1930s. The atmosphere is adequately creepy, the makeup effects are top notch, and Charles Laughton is entertaining and effective. Lugosi is good too in his small role. There are some issues - Arlen's acting, for one, and I also felt the pacing wasn't perfect - but overall this is a quality horror film and a worthy adaptation of the novel.

A great concept hindered by talented but inconsistent execution. Laughton is great and the tension is well built thanks to the makeup work and some good shot choices, but the rest of the acting isn't up to par and the ending is a bit lacking.

Bloodchilling. One of the best horror films of the 1930s (or any other era). It beats the crap out of both the remakes

not knowing what to expect, the first shots of the ship in fog that begin the movie told me immediately that this was going to, at the very least, have good enough cinematography to keep me going. but it's fast, it's unsettling, it's fun. laughton is especially great as smarmy, conniving, and evil moreau. loved it.

One of the better and more imaginative of the old universal horrors. Other than Laughton, the acting is uniformly poor, but the mood of the film is unique, with some great art-direction and makeup design. Its commentary on darwinism and medical engineering is amusing to a paranoid like me, but ultimately falls a little flat, mostly because it's dated, simple, and incredibly campy. Regardless, it's well worth watching.

god, john landis is a putz

An excellent adaptation of H.G. Well's "Island of Dr. Moreau", although at just over an hour long, the plot feels a bit rushed at times. Still, this is extremely atmospheric and, at times, downright chilling. Charles Laughton, in particular, does an incredibly creepy job of portraying the sadistic and power-hungry Dr. Moreau.

So much greatness is found in this horror flick. The cast is uniformly excellent with Laughton being the obvious standout, the lighting and camera work is spooky and exciting, the makeup effects are really cool, and the climactic moments made my hair stand on end.

Charles Laughton gives a chilling performance; the kind that reminds me why the sideshow psychos they throw in modern movie just don't do it for me.

Proudly stands with the best of 30’s horror, thanks to rock-solid authoritative performances; a beautiful bit of Laughton’s signature ham-boning delivers a Moreau to eat Brando’s heart out, but a masterfully developed sense of sweaty, seedy depravity gives the good doctor a real sense of danger and menace. A credit to Kentin making his freakshow island really pop and come to life, and still be genuinely unsettling. Props to the fast cut to happy, jaunty music over the end credits crawl!

For the most part, this film plods its way through a number of hammy scenes, often not taking itself all that seriously. Towards the end some cool ideas kick in, but feels ultimately like half a movie cobbled together, leaving you to imagine the missing bits. This is often considered essential pre-code horror, but the sordid and sensational qualities are arguably the most interesting things about it.

So dark and brooding, you can almost feel the sweltering heat of the jungle. Laughton is awesome as always. Special effects are mercifully subdued in shadow, which is abundant anyway in this movie. What is the law? House of Pain...!

Meh.

This is a time capsule. Look at it with today's eyes and wonder how this was banned in many US cities in addition to a dozen countries around the world. There are episodes of L&O grizzlier than this. My how we've grown up.

The story's philosophical aspects aren't fully exploited (apparently H.G. Wells himself disliked the movie on these grounds), but "Island Of Lost Souls" remains an engaging film, occasionally bordering on unsettling with its candid depictions of cruelty and fearmongering. The cast is good, particularly Charles Laughton, the claustrophobic aura is suspenseful and the finale is a fitting climax that resolves both the social and the thriller side of the tale, even if the emphasis is on the latter.

why did lota not look even remotely like an animal tho

Nightmarish sensationalism based on the notion of science run amok -- as if that needs to concern us any more.

Mostly what one would expect with slightly better masking and shots.

The costumes of the beast men and Laughton's performance are so good, you start creating a better impression of this film while you're watching the bland "hero" do very little. Although I wanted to see more of Lugosi and the creatures, leaving them mysterious helped add to the creepy story, since the philosophical questions ("are we not men?") were mostly ignored.

I'm noticing that the poster, promotional materials, and even the opening credits of the movie itself put so much emphasis on "THE PANTHER WOMAN" when she's honestly just kind of a side character who isn't really necessary. It's like they wanted the movie to be about her instead of about the H.G. Wells story.

All the men wear white linen at all times, and I found it pacing very slow but still enjoyed it. My wife, on the other hand, fell asleep watching this 70-minute film.

This adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel is the best horror film of the 1930s, and there's very very stiff competition ("Freaks", "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Old Dark House" also were released in this year alone). This film has a constant low-level sweltering menace to it with beast men peeping out from the bushes in almost every scene, and the pre-code simmering sexuality of Kathleen Burke's panther woman and brutal not-so-implied vivisections give a lot of it a startlingly modern feel.

Solid early sci-fi/horror that gets by on the convincing performance by Laughton as a crazed scientist playing god and its alluring atmosphere which, like most genre films of the period, is slightly stilted but strangely gripping. Legosi also shines as the leader of the 'beast men' and the sets and makeup effects have stood the test of time. Shame that the overall impression is weakened by some bad acting and pacing issues, which is unacceptable given its brief duration.

Fim de semana do dia das bruxas filme #3: A Ilha das Almas Selvagens. DVD Versátil Obras Primas do Terror Volume 6.

Are we not men? We are DEVO!

Probably the best adaptation of the HGW classic.

Awesome! I wish there was more, it was a little disjointed occasionally, but overall it's great.

What is the law?? What is the law???

Old school creepiness! The make-up is excellent. The animal men managed to look so natural in their unearthly costumes and not nearly as cheesy as such creatures often do in movies. The other thing that stands out is Charles Laughton as the eccentric doctor who manipulates evolution by making animals into humans. The aura is kind of simmering grotesqueness. Relaxed horror only broken by ghastly screams and freaks walking around. Even more so for the finish.

This movie is so filled with subtext that it's oozing out through all the cracks in the film reel.

What is the law? NO SPILL BLOOD

Lugosi steals the show.

Laughton's facial hair makes the film. There, I said it.

Ah yes, the violent, unperceptive, handsome young hero whose daft bullheadedness is constantly rewarded; the evil scientist - an utterly irrational "genius"; the swooning, fawning, whimpering, screaming women; the chorus of single-minded and eventually rebellious male savages. Thank you Wells, thank you Kenton and Young for nurturing American culture's most obnoxious paradigms and prejudices. Better luck next time Laughton.

Same old kitsch in the same vein as "White Zombie". Both of them kind of suck, but you can see how it might have been scary in the 30's. This one is a little less laughable, but it's still wholly yawn worthy.

watched: 2012, 2015

Good classic horror/sci-fi movie with a creepy performance from Charles Laughton. It was a little dull at time, which is surprising considering the short runtime, but well worth a watch.

The guy playing Parker SUCKS as an actor The rest of this movie is top notch

79.125

this film showcases everything that made the early 30s so exciting and awesome. charles laughton's dr moreau has to be one of the most unique and menacing villains in the history of cinema.