The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) is a Great Horror Premise with Amazing Body Horror

 

Credit to The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) — IMDb

I was told over and over by multiple family members, that this film was pretty disgusting, and that I had to watch it. My curiosity eventually got the better of me, once I was finally able to watch the movie for free on Tubi. The body horror in this movie is definitely in the disgusting radar, and I also felt so bad for the people who became these animal-like creatures. 

While this movie did have a pretty bad pacing issue when it came to the events that take place, the movie’s plot was still entertaining, and the body horror was way too impressive to stop watching the film. I honestly enjoyed the characters so much in this film, the actors did their characters justice, and I felt pretty sad once the movie ended. 

It’s crazy what some people are willing to do to somehow sustain some form of power over others, these people who were forced to become animals never deserved their awful fates. 

The movie begins with a man named Edward Douglas, stranded in the ocean, who is rescued by a man named Montgomery. 

Credit to The Island of Dr. Moreau Blu-ray (Director’s Cut)

Edward Douglas goes through a plane crash, and he is stuck on a raft with two other people, who attempt to kill each other over the last canteen of water. Edward is able to survive the encounter, fighting off the two attackers, and he is left all alone on the raft, waiting to die. He is spotted and saved by people on a boat, and a doctor named Montgomery saves his life. He is taken to a private island, where he is promised that they will call for someone to come and pick him up. 

He meets a young woman named Aissa, that he instantly takes a liking to. She is the daughter of this Dr. Moreau, who owns the island. Edward is aware of this doctor, who was kicked out of his studies, due to being a bit too inhumane. Edward then is locked in his room by Montgomery, and he escapes, confused with why he wasn’t allowed to leave the island. He starts to find out the real horrors of the island, when he sees a half human and half animal giving birth. He panics, and runs into Aissa, who helps him escape from the other human animal hybrids. 

They run to a small village of these hybrids, where they meet Sayer the Law, who helps keeps the hybrids together in a sort of peaceful light. They are found by Dr. Moreau, and he gives Edward a gun, as a way to control and keep him at peace on the island. A lion hybrid attempts to kill the doctor, but he is controlled with a staff that Dr. Moreau owns, that zaps any animal into submission. They were each given an implant within their bodies to keep the danger of the animals at bay. 

Edward is taken back to the house of Dr. Moreau, where he meets all of his children, who are all catlike people, except for Aissa. Edward questions the doctor’s evil with turning people into animals, and Montgomery decides to play a prank on the dinner guests. Dr. Moreau gets pissed off when he sees one of his sons is serving a dead rabbit, since the animals are not allowed to kill living things. 

Things get worse once one of his sons kills the lion hybrid, leading to a several of the animals turning against him. 

Credit to The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) — IMDb

A hyena hybrid was quite close with the lion, and once he finds his body, he decides to remove the implant inside of his body, so that he will no longer experience control ever again by his master. He leads a group of animals against Dr. Moreau, and they savagely kill their master in a fit of rage. The doctor is given a proper burial by his children and Montgomery, as Edward watches in exhaustion. 

Edward always looks so done in this movie, and I thought it was a little funny in some parts. 

The revolution of the animals continues to build, and they go after the rest of the island, the hyena hybrid wanting to let everyone know he is now in charge. We get a crazy reveal by Aissa, who tells Edward that she is transforming slowly, and she will become a cat person like her siblings. Edward confronts Montgomery, who is going insane. He tells Edward that he had destroyed the serum to cure Aissa, and Edward runs to the lab to somehow help her. 

We get a heartfelt scene between Edward and Aissa, and he tells her that perhaps Dr. Moreau wasn’t that evil, because he was trying to use Edward’s blood to cure Aissa. 

Perhaps she was his favorite child, and he wanted to prevent his evil from taking over her own body. This was my favorite scene in the movie, the friendship between Edward and Aissa was executed so well by both actors. 

Montgomery is killed by the hyena’s group, and then Edward and Aissa are confronted by the hyena next, and they escape, trying to help the other animals from the village escape. Aissa is unfortunately killed by the hyena’s reign, and poor Edward witnesses her death. This part pissed me off so much. I really did like their friendship!

Edward is captured by the hyena’s group, and he gets the idea to convince him to turn against his own group, to win the battle. 

Credit to The Island of Dr. Moreau | Tell them that i am god

In a scene that is one of the best parts of the movie, the hyena gets in Edward’s face, asking him to convince every animal that he is their new God. Edward doesn’t give in, telling him that in order for him to be seen as their new leader, he must dispose of the other competition. The hyena laughs and growls in Edward’s face, that kind of scared me. He was the best actor in his animal form, and he played the perfect monster!

The hyena kills his competition, and he is heavily injured during the attack. One of the remaining sons of Dr. Moreau who truly had a good heart, burns down the doctor’s house, to kill the hyena. They all watch him burn, and the reign is now over. Edward builds a raft, and promises to return to the island, to help cure the other animals. Sayer the Law tells him to not bring any scientists, because it’s best if they all just remain a mystery from the world, and they now must remain animals this way forever. 

Edward expresses emotion over this realization, and he leaves on his raft, thinking that even humans are like animals, that brings him a sense of fear for humanity. 

I feel that the only issue with this film was the pacing. The story was going way too fast, and I felt there wasn’t really a proper buildup for the events that take place. Luckily, the story and the characters was written so well, and along with the body horror, the film definitely works!

I would love another remake to this film. It’s a great story with excellent body horror effects that needs another proper re — telling!