Rob Zombie Loves This Disturbing and “Demented” Chiller: “This is not fun.”
Rob Zombie is an outspoken fan of vintage horror cinema. In fact, when he sat down to list his five favorite films for Rotten Tomatoes, all of his picks were pre-code classics. Among the macabre director’s top picks is Island of the Lost Souls.
The musician-turned-director favors the film for being shocking and disturbing nearly a century on from release. Zombie spoke to his fondness for the film, saying: “Yeah, and The Island of Lost Souls is amazing, from 1932 with Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau. That movie is amazing. That movie’s dark. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the extras — I mean, even now you watch like, this is really disturbing.
The extras are supposed to be the half-man/half-animal people. You can tell they got really bizarre-looking extras before they did the makeup. Again, Lugosi plays the leader of the beast men. He’s not in it a lot, but of course, he has the line that everybody remembers about the House of Pain: ‘He who breaks the law goes back to the House of Pain.’ He’s in the movie for five minutes and steals the movie. Charles Laughton is incredible. But it’s demented again. The basic premise is a crazy one. They have the beast men and they’re being operated on and just screaming. It’s like, ‘This is not fun.’ You have little kids running out of the theater in tears, or adults. It’s amazing. Still amazing. The cinematography’s amazing. Everything about it is just incredible.”
*The above quote has been condensed for brevity*
The setup is as follows: In this adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is shipwrecked on a remote island presided over by the mysterious Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton). Edward discovers his host is conducting genetic experiments, and presiding over a race of half-human, half-animal hybrids, including the alluring Panther Woman and the sage Sayer of the Law (Bela Lugosi). The island has become its own society, with Moreau as its god.
That’s all we’ve got for the time being. Stay tuned to the site for more recommendations from controversial filmmakers as we learn them. And be sure to follow @DreadCentral on Twitter so you never miss an update.
Categorized:News
