The Island of Dr. Moreau was always a doomed affair. From the ever-increasing budget demands, the daily script rewrites which forced Rob Morrow to exit early, the unpredictable reaction by Marlon Brando to his daughter’s suicide, Val Kilmer’s own rage-filled reaction to getting served divorce papers, to the harsh weather as North Queensland got pummeled by tropical storms, the movie was a mad endeavor from the start.
And it only got weirder, which makes this film for cult eyes only.
If you’ve ever seen the 1990 post-apocalyptic Hardware, you probably recognized the sheer genius of its writer and director Richard Stanley. Additionally, if you’ve ever seen his follow-up, the supernatural horror film Dust Devil, then you are well aware that his unique vision is definitely not for the mainstream. Which made the announcement from New Line Cinema way back in 1996 that he would be helming their remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau all the more interesting. Here was a (back then) B-movie and horror movie company breaking out into the big leagues with a major production of a classic novel about a god-like figure making humans out of animals through vivisection and placing the content in the hands of a true science fiction visionary.
We all thought it was too good to be true. And it was.
After less than a week of filming – after the script was written, the storyboard completed, the locations picked, the creature makeup molded, and the cast assembled – New Line Cinema axed Stanley and shut down the production for three weeks because he couldn’t control the egos in the film and the actors - namely Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer - made it increasingly difficult for him. New Line packed his bags, hired someone to escort him to the plane, and started looking for other directors.
Except Stanley, being the genius that he is, never boarded the plane. He couldn’t leave The Island of Dr. Moreau behind and for good reason; he wanted to watch the whole thing burn. And burn it did.
Exit Stanley. Enter John Frankenheimer. And still the drama continued.
That’s right, the film that effectively put out the fire in Val Kilmer's Hollywood hot streak has arrived on blu-ray in a brand-new Collector’s Edition. It looks good, but nothing can change the cult-bin fate of this bizarre adaptation. This edition from Shout Factory includes two cuts of the film, a new 2K scan of the interpositive for the Director’s Cut, and some new supplemental material yet manages to circumnavigate the awful shoot that was The Island of Dr. Moreau.
You probably already know the storyline of this film. Originally written by H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau concerns itself with a brilliant geneticist on the brink of superseding evolution. When a U.N. diplomat visits Moreau's island laboratory, he uncovers fantastic but brutal experiments that turn animal life forms into human-like beasts. As Moreau and his assistant race toward their barbaric goal of creating the perfect life form, the beasts revolt, threatening not only the island but ultimately all of mankind.
If there’s anything to be said about John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau it’s that Wells’ source material is so strong that even this mess of a movie (flirting, at times, with being a complete disaster) is never unwatchable and strangely fascinating. It’s also a bold testament to the power of Stan Winston’s creature designs. 
Unfortunately, The Island of Dr. Moreau remains a grand example of just how vapid and mediocre the Hollyweird of the Nineties could be.
Stranded on a remote island by a gene-splicing madman, Dr. Moreau (Brando in white-face) and held captive from escape by his unsteady assistant, Montgomery (Kilmer) and a collection of weird creatures, Edward Douglas (David Thewlis, the film’s only sympathetic character) discovers that his co-inhabitants are all man-made. Let the weirdest of the weird begin. The man-animals, coming in all shapes and sizes, call the good Dr. Moreau “father” and seem to worship humans, even if they are a little unnerving.
The purring Aissa (Fairuza Balk) wants to be just like (and loved by) Douglas and Sayer of the Law (Ron Perlman) touts scripture as if he’s Moses, but it’s all pantomime. They aren’t totally domesticated. The only law is Dr. Moreau and as long as his fur-covered humanoids are controlled by computer chips placed under their skin, there can be no true law. Oh, the humanity!
Playing very little with the role of morality and method, The Island of Dr. Moreau remains a screenplay of nothing but empty gestures. Frankenheimer’s director’s cut proves this; there is just very little substance going on here. No big questions are asked; it’s a film of chaos and edited together in such a way that it merely fumbles through its story.
Frankenheimer, who also had little control over the actors, has made better films. The Manchurian Candidate and Ronin to name a few, but it is this film – featuring out of control performances from Brando and a bizarro Kilmer, who was just not in a good place at the time – that both fuel and derail any chance his film has at being salvageable. Frankenheimer’s ego just couldn’t control these two beasts and was outsmarted by their acting intuition time and time again.
And while it’s easy to blame the actors only, let’s admit that this was a production wrought with bad juju and then continue to blame Brando and Kilmer. Going through an ugly divorce at the time, Kilmer was a man with a mission: self-destruction. Original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley, who labored years to get the picture made, was canned by the studio because he could not control rage-monster Kilmer.
Even as the Director’s Cut suggests Thewlis’ character is the result of another, albeit more successful, creation, the film is simply slated for permanent residency on the cult shelves of cinema. Of special note, though, is Kilmer’s spot-on Brando impression. But, truly, it is Stan Winston’s creature designs and effects that remain the film’s only redeeming qualities. A bloated Brando, looking like the white Moby Dick of Melville’s imagination, is just terrifyingly bizarre.
With this blu-ray release, the unrated director’s cut of The Island of Dr. Moreau, Frankenheimer attempts – rather bravely – to make clear his vision of the film. Why would he still claim this? The unrated version is only slightly clearer in its purpose with the addition of these unrated four minutes.
In the era of genetic engineering and DNA discoveries, it should have been a hit. Instead, The Island of Dr. Moreau became a victim. It remains an amazing spectacle of bloated rage.
Collector's Edition
Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - May 21, 2024
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Video: MPEG-4 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
On a remote island in the South Pacific, Dr. Moreau uses the key of science to unlock the gates of Hell. Val Kilmer (Heat), David Thewlis (the Harry Potter films), Fairuza Balk (The Craft), and two-time Academy Award-winner Marlon Brando star in this fantastic sci-fi thriller based on the best-selling novel by H.G. Wells. Stan Winston's Creature Workshop (Jurassic Park) brought the frighteningly real special effects to life.
Video
This is a Shout Factory release, so it comes as no surprise the picture is outstanding. The AVC encoded source is taken from a new 4K scan of the original camera negatives and it’s a hell of an improvement at 1080p HD. I wish they had released the film in full 4K (and let’s face it, they probably will after a wait to double-dip) but this blu-ray is no slouch. There’s no sign of DNR, image quality is crisp. Hair on the creature designs takes on immense detail, as does clothing and the actor’s faces. There is natural film grain present but unobtrusive, leaving the filmic details pristine and beautiful. It’s been over twenty years since the DVD release and this BLU-RAY is a definitive upgrade if you love this movie.
Audio
We get a DTS-HD 5.1 mix here that more than shows off the many awesome sound elements in this mix, from the score by Gary Chang to the sub-rumbling growls of the killer creatures. Dialogue is concise and centered. Atmospherics, despite no purview for overheads, are richly delivered and make the track a very high-quality surround experience.
Supplements:
It’s pretty clear that few are willing to talk about this film anymore. We get a new interview from Shane Mahan, who worked with Stan Winston on the creature designs, but nothing else new.
Commentary:
- No one wants to own or talk about this hot mess of a film.
Special Features:
- Theatrical and Director’s Cuts Of The Film
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Interpositive For The Director’s Cut
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Stereo
- NEW Interview With Creature Makeup Effects Supervisor Shane Mahan
- “The Making Of The Island Of Dr. Moreau” Featurette
- Photo Gallery
- Trailers
| Movie |  |
|
| Video | |
|
| Audio | |
|
| Extras |  |
|
|
Composite Blu-ray Grade
|
||
MPAA Rating: PG-13.
Runtime: 96 mins
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: Richard Stanley; Ron Hutchinson
Cast: David Thewlis; Marlon Brando; Val Kilmer
Genre: Thriller | Horror | Sci-fi
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "To go on two legs is very hard. Perhaps four is better, anyway."
Theatrical Distributor: New Line Cinema
Official Site:
Release Date: August 23, 1996
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: May 21, 2024
Synopsis: After being rescued and brought to an island, a man discovers that its inhabitants are experimental animals being turned into strange-looking humans, all of it the work of a visionary doctor.
