Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

“Knowing that the odds were stacked against me, I resorted to witchcraft.” 29 June 2021

As the title indicates, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (I’ll just shorten that to Lost Soul for the rest of this) is the story behind the making of 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau.  Much of this film focuses on Richard Stanley’s involvement with the film and how the production descended into chaos.  Stanley was the driving force behind getting the project off the ground, only to be replaced as director before he could finish the film.  

The Island of Dr. Moreau was a colossal flop - both financially and critically.  While there are aspects of the film I enjoy (and I admit I enjoy a lot of it for the wrong reasons), there’s no denying the movie is pretty much a complete train wreck.  One of the more interesting aspects of Lost Soul is the recounting of events that led to the disaster.  It was a perfect storm - a studio with no faith in a director; a director in over his head; a constantly growing budget; isolated locations; monsoon like weather; actors in open rebellion;- anything that could go wrong did.  

Equally amazing to me is how many of the people involved in the film agreed to be interviewed for Lost Soul.  From Stanley to studio head Bob Shaye to several of the actors involved to production and technical staff - you get to hear the stories of the doomed production from all sides.  It’s fascinating stuff.

7/10