Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

DVD REVIEW: DEVIL SURVIVOR 2 / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: SEIJI KISHI / SCREENPLAY: MAKOTO UEZU / STARRING: HIROSHI KAMIYA, NOHUBHIKO OKAMOTO, AYA UCHIDA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The follow-up to 2009’s tactical role player Devil Survivor capitalised on its predecessor’s inventive gameplay and storytelling with gusto. Spawning a 3-volume manga, it was inevitable that the series would get the anime treatment.

Like the manga, the 13-part series was penned by Makoto Uezu, but translating a game praised for its combat systems was always running the risk of diluting the source material. While Ueza and director Seiji Kishi put a decent enough series together, Devil Survivor 2 falls into the honey trap of genre clichés, long-winded storytelling, and syrupy resolution.

Set in a modern day Tokyo, 18-year-old students Hibiki and Daichi sign up to a secret mobile app called Dead Face which predicts your friends’ deaths and conveniently sends you the footage. Witnessing their own deaths in the subway station, where they also meet honours student Io Nitta, each are killed in the predicted train accident. Accepting a second life, a demon summoning app is forcibly downloaded onto their phones which gives the user the ability to, you guessed it, summon demons. An apocalyptic seven day wave of demon activity encompasses the city. Following their first demon encounter, the trio are enlisted into the Japan Meteorological Agency (JPs). Over the next seven days the city and the summoners are pitched against a menagerie of demons. As it edges towards the conclusion, the plot buckles under its own silly intricacies.

While the anime kicks off with plenty of potential to explore society’s dependence on technology, particularly young folks on smart phones, it doesn’t follow through, like the hack series did with online gaming. Leaving the game aside, the series really only upcycles genre concepts you’ve seen before. Maybe it’s time to revisit Digimon anyway…

The animation is, by and large, pretty decent, though the flourishes of farcical emoticon are unnecessary. Given the roster of characters, it’s disappointing there’s only a few worth rooting for. 19-year-old chef Jungo isn’t given nearly enough screen time, with Alcor’s campy appearances worth watching out for. But like many of its contemporaries, there’s plenty of impossibly (and insultingly) busty women, with Hinako, a scantily clad dancer-cum-summoner, who could make Bayonetta blush.

The fight scenes are typically brash and colourful, slowed down only by flashbacks and cheesy exposition, culminating in morals of fate, cause and effect, choice and, like so many others in the genre, the power of friendship. It’s not without its moments of wonder, but Devil Survivor 2 is one better left for the fledgling fan; seasoned viewers will want to look elsewhere.

Special Features: None

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE KILLING SEASONS 1 – 3 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY:  VARIOUS / STARRING: MIREILLE ENOS, JOEL KINNAMAN, BILLY CAMPBELL, KRISTIN LEHMAN, BRENT SEXTON, MICHELLE FORBES, PETER SARSGAARD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Killing is the American remake of the Danish show Forbrydelsen (The Crime, but also known as The Killing). Season One sees Homicide detective Sarah Linden (Enos) about to leave Seattle for a new life in California when local teenager Rosie Larsen (Katie Findlay) is found brutally murdered. She teams up with her replacement, rookie detective Stephen Holder (Kinnaman), to work the case.  As the case gets more complicated, more people become involved and secrets are unravelled.

Rosie’s parents Stan (Sexton) and Mitch (Forbes) struggle to come to terms with what has happened and deal with their grief in different ways, revealing the Larsen family’s dark secrets. Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Darren Richmond (Campbell) is indirectly linked to the murder, causing problems for his campaign team (Lehman and Eric Ladin). As the detectives further explore the case, their list of suspects grows.

The Killing’s bleak atmosphere and vast array of interconnected characters evoke memories of Twin Peaks and The Wire, although it isn’t quite as good as either. However, the show’s strength lies in the exploration of the characters and how they react to the murder, their grief and their problems. It also contains enough twists and turns to keep you wanting more, leading up to a dramatic finale at the end of Season One.

Unfortunately, Season Two disappoints, introducing new evidence and characters that were barely acknowledged in Season One and an ineffective corruption sub-plot. The tone is just as depressing but with less audience engagement. By the time the Larsen storyline is concluded, you almost no longer care.

After surviving a cancellation, The Killing’s third season returns strongly; arguably being as good, if not better than the first. This time round, the show concentrates on the city’s streets and the desperation and poverty the more vulnerable characters face.

A year after the Larsen case, Linden has quit the police force and is attempting a new start with a ‘normal 9 to 5 job’ and a new boyfriend. When a teenage girl goes missing, Holden seeks Linden’s help. Linden soon realises the case is similar to a murder case that drove her insane years before, and that a serial killer may still on the loose. With the help of her former partner James Skinner (Elias Koteas), Linden and Holden try to catch the killer and prove the possible innocence of Ray Seward (Sarsgaard), a death row convict charged with the previous murders.

Overall, The Killing is very watchable but really suits only one series per storyline. Despite the depressing tone of the show, it often leaves you wanting more at the end of each episode, keeping you guessing as to who the bad guys are.
 

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: WILLIAM SACHS / SCREENPLAY: WILLIAM SACHS / STARRING: ALEX REBAR, BURR DEBENNING, MYRON HEALEY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

It’s 1977 and horror fans and small boys are thrilled by just one scene in William Sachs’ The Incredible Melting Man – the infamous sequence where the decapitated head of one of the unfortunate victims of dissolving astronaut Steve West drifts lazily downriver before falling over a waterfall and smashing open on the rocks below.

It’s a silly and ludicrous scene but, thirty-seven years on, The Incredible Melting Man is exposed as a silly and ludicrous film. Writer/director Sachs intended his movie, a Quatermass Experiment for the 1970s (hapless American astronaut returns from a space mission infected by some cosmic lurgi which causes him to… well, melt) as a cheerful parody of cheesy 1950s exploitation horrors. But the studio thought otherwise and Sachs was forced to try to make something inherently utterly ridiculous into a full-scale gross-out horror film. Poorly-received at the time and memorable only for that scene, The Incredible Melting Man isn’t only wilfully stupid, it’s also achingly inept; its grisly body horror now more laughable than horrific and the moments of comedy which survived studio interference sit awkwardly with the po-faced idiocy of the unfolding dribbling drama.

Returning from a stock footage space exploration mission which kills his colleagues, Steve West (Rebar) escapes from hospital when his body starts to dissolve. He sets off on a killing spree, consuming human flesh to slow down his physical decay. Unfortunately, despite make-up guru Rick Baker’s best efforts, Melty looks like a man with a very bad head cold with a pizza stuck to his face, and the guffaws come loud and proud when his ear falls away and is found hanging from the branch of a tree. The uniformly bad acting (Burr DeBenning’s ‘hero’ Dr Nelson is spectacularly stilted) is perfectly complemented by Sachs’ witless script and ham-fisted direction, which squanders its moments of tension, and the ‘comedy’ interlude involving a pair of geriatrics meeting a grisly end is as misjudged and incongruous as it’s unfunny.

But despite its cack-handedness, there are a couple of moments which just about make The Incredible Melting Man worthwhile. The ending is suitably bleak and low-key, as an unsuspecting janitor arrives on the scene and reluctantly starts to mop up Melty’s gloopy remains and a voiceover announces another space mission suggesting – yikes! – that it could all happen again. Fortunately The Incredible Melting Man spawned no sequels (although, knowing Hollywood’s current frame of mind, we’d bet good money that someone out there is thinking about a remake) and remains a clumsy curio whose reputation is briskly brutalised by this crisp new Blu-ray transfer courtesy of Arrow.

Special Features: Souvenir booklet / William Sachs, Rick Baker, Greg Cannom interviews / Director commentary

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

DVD REVIEW: APPLESEED ALPHA / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: SHINJI ARAMAKI / SCREENPLAY: MARIANNE KRAWCZYK, MASAMUNE SHIROW / STARRING: LUCI CHRISTIAN, DAVID MATRANGA, ELIZABETH BUNCH, WENDEL CALVERT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 27TH

Masamune Shirow is best known for two sci-fi works; Ghost in The Shell and Appleseed. Whereas Ghost in the Shell, with its obvious techno-thriller hooks and strong female lead is perhaps the better known, Appleseed has always been the series of choice for action junkies. Appleseed Alpha is a prequel to the main Appleseed series, serving as an easily accessible way in for those who may have been turned off previously by Appleseed’s lengthy back-catalogue and detailed world.

Appleseed Alpha introduces us to the Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos; two mercenaries trying to make ends meet in a world ruined by apocalyptic warfare.  We first meet the pair in the thick of the action, having just completed a job for crime boss Two Horns. The first five minutes sets up the world pretty quickly; the world is a mess, Deunan and Briareos are badasses and no one gets an even break. Events conspire to pair the two with agents from an allegedly utopian city called Olympus, and inevitably the two mercenaries become embroiled in an adventure to save what’s left of New York City from the power-mad and evil.

This particular production is done in CGI, and that animation style truly works here. CGI does both shiny and gritty really well and, given that this is a high-tech war drama, it fits.  The main character models are particularly well designed, especially when you consider that Masamune Shirow has a tendency to draw women in an unrealistic way.  The limitations of CGI neatly solve this problem, and the story is better for it. Of particular note is the way the cyborg Two Horns laughs; it’s very cleverly done and also happens to let the viewer buy into this strange futuristic world.

Mostly, Appleseed Alpha is about the action. We have cyborgs punching each other, people firing huge weapons at impossibly large things, tank warfare and many, many explosions. The individual fight scenes are well directed and though the entire affair has a slight video game feel to it, it’s rather fun all the way through. Appleseed Alpha is a beautifully-produced and action-packed piece of post-apocalyptic sci-fi and fans of Ghosts in the Shell and military sci-fi will get a real kick out of it.

Special Features: Filmmakers’ commentary / 11-part ‘making of’ documentary

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

DVD REVIEW: BLOOD WIDOW / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JEREMIAH BUCKHALT / SCREENPLAY: CHAD COUP, IAN H. DAVIS / STARRING: DANIELLE LILLEY, BRANDON KYLE PETERS, CHRISTOPHER DE PAUDA, GABRIELLE ANN HENRY / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 10TH

In a genre often dominated by deranged males, Blood Widow looks to introduce an unhinged female killer into the fold. The basic premise centres on a couple, Hugh (Peters) and Laurie (Lilley), who buy a large isolated house in the country. To make things interesting, there happens to be an abandoned boarding school near to the property. When some friends come to visit Hugh and Laurie, they decide to snoop around the old school. Unknown to them, they awake the vicious Blood Widow (Henry).

Blood Widow may sound like a slasher film straight from the ’80s or ’90s, but large parts of it work. To start with, and something that is key to any film of this ilk, the movie has a suitably impressive-looking villain. The film’s initial pacing is well handled, the tone is decent, and the core group of characters are made up of various stereotypes that we’ve seen in plenty of horrors before. The only thing is, a lot of the characters are annoying, including the majority of the females on show. In a film that gives its ‘big bad’ nod to a badass-looking female, the rest of the ladies on show are instantly unlikeable and with fairly few redeeming features between them.

And that’s where some of Blood Widow’s problems lie: in its characters and in its dialogue. Often the dialogue just seems forced and inappropriately positioned in order to lend itself to plot points, and the delivery from certain actors, particularly Hugh’s friend Kenneth (de Pauda), takes away any sincerity or believability. Peters, looking eerily like Robin Van Persie, is the clear standout, whilst Lilley, as his other half, has a permanent scowl etched on her face as she plays the more adult of the duo. In fairness to Lilley, she does get better as the film goes on, although she also gets fewer lines as the film progresses.

On to the titular Blood Widow. When parts of her backstory are revealed, she gets positioned as a sympathetic character, but her brutal actions reveal her to be no more than an emotionally- damaged, sadistic killer. The film puts itself in a pickle as it makes its victims unlikeable but doesn’t give you enough of the Blood Widow to cheer her on either. Just as the action and terror starts to get interesting, including a vile leg break, the film comes to an abrupt halt at 1 hour 20 minutes and delivers a hugely underwhelming ending.

Blood Widow has some good moments, particularly in its final third, plus a stylish, twisted killer at its core, but the film comes across as rushed and as if the writers just ran out of ideas for its finale, which is a massive shame.

Special Features: Audio Commentary / Blooper Reel / Trailer

 

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE EXORCIST (40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN / SCREENPLAY: WILLIAM PETER BLATTY / STARRING: ELLEN BURSTYN, MAX VON SYDOW, LINDA BLAIR, JASON MILLER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Writing a synopsis for The Exorcist is a bit like trying to decipher one point of view from another. Is it a story about a young girl who becomes possessed by the devil, or is it about two Jesuit priests who fight a battle against demons both personal and physical? Or is it, as writer Blatty suggests during one interview, a love story of a priest giving his life for a young girl who he never really met?

In truth, it is all of these things and more depending on your individual point of view. An incredibly rare example of a motion picture that completely ignores genre, The Exorcist continues to provoke debate even 40 years on. Despite the marketing to the contrary, it is far from a horror film, neither is it a thriller, drama or even a comedy. It is, instead, a gateway to something far more important – incredible filmmaking.

Amongst The Exorcist’s more provoking scenes (including the oft-mentioned pea-soup projecting, head spinning and crucifix masturbation) are moments of unparalleled bravery and subtlety. Director William Friedkin may have been an arrogant lunatic on set, but it was just that self-belief which created something that nobody else had faith in at the time. Yes, marketing created the lines around the block and made it a success, but the genius of Friedkin and Blatty’s creation have ensured that this remains a classic piece of filmmaking 40 years on.

But what’s in this version to make it worth buying (again)? Well, for a start this edition contains both versions of the film (original theatrical and the extended director’s cut) each with their own commentary tracks – making this a must-have purchase before you even get to the other extras. What follows are a plethora of assembled documentaries that bulk out this impressive three-disc set, although at times you do find some of the interviews regurgitated a little.

Dotted among the immersive sketches, storyboards, TV spots and radio and movie trailers is some great new content. Disc one boasts Raising Hell, featuring never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage shot during the making of the film. While there is always an argument for this kind of content hammering through the fourth wall, you can’t escape the wonderment of seeing effects shots from behind the lens, or Linda Blair in full make-up grinning with joy and sticking her tongue out. Faces of Evil breaks down the reasoning behind the more recent director’s cut while Georgetown Then and Now does exactly what you expect it to.

This wouldn’t be a complete Exorcist experience without Mark Kermode, and to that end it’s great to see him pop up in the 1998 documentary The Fear of God on disc two.  Some un-edited interviews from the doc are also included along with the intended original ending (with bad sound intact).

Disc three holds the most intimate additions to the Exorcist story. Beyond Comprehension takes Blatty back to the guest house where he wrote the novel over four decades ago as well as the infamous steps in Georgetown, and retraces the torturous history of his story’s inception. He also manages a pretty good plug for the new edition of the book that he was pleased to be able to produce a new draft for. Finally, Talk of the Devil shows some incredible footage of Father Eugene Gallagher (the priest who had mentioned a case of possession to Blatty’s class while the budding writer was attending Georgetown University) discussing his former pupil and Exorcism in general. He goes on a bit (the interviewer checks his watch three times), but it is nevertheless a fascinating addition to The Exorcist’s story. As they surmise towards the end of the interview, had Gallagher not mentioned the exorcism in class, there may never have been a book or a movie.

Some might argue that if you are a horror fan, you shouldn’t be without this in your collection, and while that might be true it certainly isn’t the whole story. Fans of cinema, storytelling and filmmaking should also count this release as a must-buy. Come on, the power of Blu-ray compels you!

BLU-RAY REVIEW: SHIVERS / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: DAVID CRONENBERG / SCREENPLAY: DAVID CRONENBERG / STARRING: PAUL HAMPTON, LYNN LOWRY, ALLAN KOLMAN, BARBARA STEELE, JOE SILVER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

In terms of making a mark in the genre, Shivers is seen as an iconic movie that launched the career of the uniquely-talented David Cronenberg. Whereas the Canadian director would go on to make the likes of Rabid, Scanners, The Brood, Videodrome, The Fly and A History of Violence, it was with Shivers where it all really began for this master of the horror genre. And what a beginning it was.

Set in the remote, idyllic luxury apartment complex of Starliner Island, a medical experiment based on organ replacement goes array and results in a parasite taking over the inhabitants of the plush locale. With their sexual aggression and violent tendencies amped up to 11, the residents of Starliner are out to tear each limb from limb, well when they’re not trying to seduce each other and bump uglies, that is. At the centre of all of this is Dr. Roger St. Luc (Hampton), doing his best to fathom what is going on around him and trying to avoid contamination. Assisting St. Luc is assistant and girlfriend Nurse Forsythe (Lowry), plus aide from the more scientifically-minded Rollo (Silver).

Shivers is a film that immediately grabs your attention with its violent opening then refuses to let go, throwing shocking moments at the audience at a rapid pace as the Starliner Island complex becomes overrun by horned-up, raging bodies, playing out like an extreme version of a post-last orders kebab house visit – everyone’s eyeing some action of some sort and it generally isn’t going to end well. Even to this day, after having seen the film a multitude of times over the years, there’s still a sharp, guttural uneasiness to Cronenberg’s breakout film; there are still moments that pull at your stomach and have you wincing in disgust. Whilst a lot of this has to do with the almost turd-like parasite at the heart of all of the chaos, Cronenberg wonderfully constructs a film so bleak, so visceral and so powerful that it will stay with you long after the end credits come to a halt.

Performance-wise, Paul Hampton and his stylish sideburns hold the film together with a gruff, likeable turn as the lead of the piece, whilst the likes of Joe Silver and genre-vets Lynn Lowry and Barbara Steele all deliver well when leaned upon. Whilst they’re all supposedly looking at ways of containing this epidemic, Allan Kolman is put through the ringer as one of the infected, with a lot of the film’s grimmer moments landing at his door.

As ever with these recent Arrow releases of classic and cult films of yesteryear, this steelbook Blu-ray edition of Shivers is full of insightful, engaging extras that long-time fans of the film will lap up, particularly the lengthy featurettes looking at the film both at its release and now in hindsight. Then there’s the impressive new transfer of the film, supposedly overseen by Cronenberg himself, which sees Shivers’ grimy, violent charm never look so good. All in all, this is a fantastic release of a classic of the genre, brimming with the same sick, twisted enjoyment that made it so special all those years ago.

Special Features: Thee featurettes – ‘Parasite Memories: The Making of Shivers,’ ‘On Screen!,’ From Stereo to Video’ / Original theatrical trailer / Collector’s booklet

 

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

DVD REVIEW: DAMN SEA VAMPIRES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DON E. FAUNTLEROY / SCREENPLAY: BROOK DURHAM / STARRING: CASSIE SCERBO, BRANDON BEEMER, JONATHAN LIPNICKI, JACQUELINE FLEMING / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

When two architects of low-budget monster movies unite in search of Sharknado-esque fame and fortune, the results are usually disappointing. The pursuit of the elusive so-bad-it’s-good cinematic loophole that leads to success and cult notoriety is a troubled one, so it is hardly surprising that Damn Sea Vampires from Active Entertainment and Syfy is so bad, it’s just, well…bad.

As the confused story of not-so-deep sea dredging and the search for gold unfolds, Donna (Scerbo) seeks to honour her father’s memory by completing his final job with the help of her irritating brother Joe (Lipnicki; yes, that kid from Jerry Maguire) and brooding stranger with a heart, Owen (Beemer). Perhaps intended as a weak environmental message or maybe as it was the next thing out of the random monster generator (they must have one!), their mission is thwarted by the arrival of huge underwater bloodsuckers, strange beings resembling giant stingrays dressed up as Batman – if Batman wore a suit fashioned from bin liners, that is. Can they defeat these nautical nasties and find the gold? Who cares?!

The issue is that deep down Damn Sea Vampires is a film with a darkly cynical soul. There is absolutely no way anyone with an inkling of creative pride could have signed-off on the monsters themselves; they are the worst CGI you will possibly ever see and are so comical as to not be funny at all. The acting is worryingly woeful, with repetitive dialogue that smacks of additional lines having been added in post-production in an attempt to make the dreary script more acceptable. And as for the direction, it is best summed up by the realisation that one shot appears at least three times!

This all leaves you wondering what everyone involved were thinking. If this is now what some filmmakers consider acceptable for release then we are in a very dark place cinematically. There always has and always will be a production line of these low cost creature-features but there has to be a basic standard, an understanding that some level of competence must be demonstrated. The serious point here is that it feels like the audience is being taken for a ride, that producers believe there will always be genre fans that will pay for and put up with anything. This is as alarmingly misanthropic as it is deeply offensive.

Whether or not the conveyor belt in the monster B-movie factory will begin to slow is hard to say. One thing is certain though, if the most appalling production standards continue to be accepted then films as bad as Damn Sea Vampires will continue to be produced, and that surely cannot be a good thing.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB:

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DON TAYLOR / SCREENPLAY: AL RAMRUS, JOHN HERMAN SHANER / STARRING: BURT LANCASTER, MICHAEL YORK, NIGEL DAVENPORT, BARBARA CARRERA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

You may be more familiar with John Frankenheimer’s disastrously weird version of the H.G. Wells classic, but The Island of Dr. Moreau has actually been adapted for cinema three times – the Brando-starring flop was preceded by 1932’s Island of Lost Souls and by Don Taylor’s 1977 adaptation, now available on Blu-ray.

Mariner Andrew Braddock (York) survives a shipwreck only to end up on stranded on the remote island of exiled scientist Doctor Moreau (Lancaster) and his peculiarly grotesque servants. As Braddock becomes suspicious of the servants’ behaviour, he comes to realise that Moreau has been experimenting on the islands’ animals, turning them into humanoid creatures with the ability to walk and talk just like us. Moreau rules over these ‘humanimals’ like a god, but, of course, they’re not going to stick to his laws forever.

Compared to the Frankenheimer version, which brought the story into the modern day and added some unusual ideas to the mix, this is a relatively faithful adaptation, and Wells’ story remains a powerful warning against abuse of animals in the name of science, very relevant in the 1970s in which the film was released and, sadly, still relevant now. It explores man’s arrogant imposition of god-like control over the natural world, and does so with some rather horrific imagery.

Lancaster is a great Moreau, if more genial than the Brando and Charles Laughton incarnations, while York is a strong lead as Braddock. The film’s also successful in lending depth to its human-animal hybrids, rather than treating them as mere ghastly brutes. The more problematic characters are the two that don’t originate in the source novel. Injured shipmate Charlie comes to the island with Braddock and is almost immediately kidnapped by the creatures, then is never mentioned again. Which is a bit weird. Worse is Maria, a conveniently attractive young woman living with Moreau. Despite the fact that Maria repeatedly says she’d rather stay on the island, Braddock decides she’s wrong and needs to escape with him. She follows along unquestionably and does absolutely nothing to affect the plot. Sigh.

Another problem is that the make-up work hasn’t aged well – the bear-man looks more like a particularly hairy human. Nevertheless, Moreau’s lab does hold some actual tigers and lions, which provide a nice action scene when the inevitable break-out occurs, and the unflashy overall look of the island works well – it feels more like the isolated natural hideout of Wells’ writing rather than the over-the-top dystopia of the 1996 film.

A couple of unnecessary narrative additions aside, The Island of Doctor Moreau is a well-made adaptation of an important sci-fi novel. Hiding its low budget reasonably well, it’s no blockbuster but a solid piece of Sunday afternoon viewing.