An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.
Laughton, as he managed to do in Devil and the Deep and The Sign of the Cross, gives the role of the villain a peculiarly horrifying quality by humanizing it far beyond the demands of the script.
– ,
TIME Magazine,
17 Oct 2011
fresh:
Although the attempt to horrify is not accomplished with any marked degree of subtlety, there is no denying that some of the scenes are ingenously fashioned and are, therefore, interesting.
– Mordaunt Hall,
New York Times,
28 Jan 2006
fresh:
Not a great success at the time, probably because its horror is more intellectual than graphic, this adaptation of HG Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau is nevertheless a remarkably powerful film.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
It's a grand, hokey chiller, dripping with sex and sadism and photographed in dense, Sternbergian shadows by the great cinematographer Karl Struss.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
17 Oct 2011
fresh:
While the action is not designed to appeal to other than the credulous, there are undoubtedly some horror sequences which are unrivaled.