Review #226: Island of Lost Souls (1933)


This review was originally written in October 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #80: Island of Lost Souls (1933)

Rescued by a cargo ship after a shipwreck, Edward Parker is kicked overboard by the captain and stranded on a remote island where a disgraced scientist named Dr. Moreau has been conducting bizarre experiments, turning animals into men. While friendly and accommodating at first, Moreau begins to see that Parker's presence can benefit his research, and Parker soon finds himself fighting to escape the island before he becomes an experiment unto himself.

I've never seen any of the other Island of Dr. Moreau movies before this (and to be honest, I didn't realize this was an adaptation of that story until ten minutes into the film) but I knew the basic premise. I thought this was pretty good- better than most of the classic films I've seen this month- and the characters were all fully-realized and acted relatively realistically. (I think it was stupid for Parker to agree to stay an extra night once his fiancee arrived for the rescue, he knew something bad was bound to happen, but whatever.) Dr. Moreau was an intimidating enigma throughout, and the feeling of being trapped somewhere while trying to play along with your captors in the hope that they'll keep their word and let you go is definitely a visceral feeling that a lot of the best movies I've watched this year have managed to use to great effect. So my point is, this movie had a lot of good stuff in it.

I don't think it's perfect, but I can't really think of anything specific it did wrong. Ultimately I don't think I'd ever watch this one again but it has made me interested in seeing some of the other adaptations, so that's a definite point or two in its favor.

Overall Rating: 7/10 Obvious Dummies Thrown Overboard

Ridiculous Ratings Board: Apparently, this film was banned in the UK for over twenty years, until it was released with an X rating. Among the objections from the ratings board were one count of blasphemy (Moreau has a line "Do you know what it means to feel like God?") and mentions of vivisection. As in, you never see anyone vivisected, not even close, but they say the word. Apparently that's just too much I guess. Have ratings boards always been that stupid?

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