Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau

2015 • 98 minutes

About this movie

The filming of the ill-fated 1996 version of H. G. Welles’ The Island of Dr. Moreau is the stuff of legend. For the first time since he was unceremoniously escorted off his longtime dream project, Richard Stanley reveals in detail his spectacular original vision and how it was all ripped apart at the seams. Cast members including Fairuza Balk, Marco Hofschneider and Rob Morrow, executives and producers Robert Shaye, Edward R. Pressman and Tim Zinnemann, concept artist Graham Humphreys, members of the Stan Winston Makeup Effects team as well as a host of cast and crew members recall the stories first hand of colossal egos run amok, a production way out of control, and how the original filmmaker was banished from the set but wouldn't let go. Directed by David Gregory, this is the sensational story of what could have been a science fiction masterpiece which became a huge creative and financial disaster; the story of the outsider artist versus Hollywood machine.

Ratings and reviews

This is a well rounded documentary detailing the rise and fall of 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau. Critically and commercially panned, the '96 version was an absolute mess that suffered from a number of rewrites, disagreeable actors and a multitude of other problems. The film itself has been considered so bad that it's wrapped back around to being "cool". The first half of the film brings you Richard Stanley and his original vision of the film leading up to his dismissal. The latter half presents all of the on-set problems during the bulk of the filming when John Frankenheimer took over as director. I'll spare all of the tiny details and just say that if you've ever wondered what makes a genuinely bad movie bad, then you will want to give this a watch. You'll get to peer inside the ill chemistry between the production staff and the actors as well as the ill chemistry between the actors themselves. To document a high budget film's downfall is, in many ways, just as entertaining as the film itself. I highly recommend this documentary but only if you've seen the actual film. They are best viewed in tandem.

I never knew how crazy Marlon Brando was.

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