The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) on Netflix
PG-1319961h 36mHorrorSci-FiThriller
Rescued at sea and put ashore on a private island, a lawyer finds that its doctor has been mixing human and animal.
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- Netflix1.8/5
- IMDb4.6/1038,366 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes24%
Trailer
Plot summary
Set in 2010, the story begins with a survivor of a plane crash picked up from the water and brought to a remote island. Douglas finds a compound run by Dr Moreau, a scientist of genuine brilliance, and a population of creatures that look almost human and are not.
Moreau has succeeded in combining human and animal DNA, and he governs what he has made through a law of his own devising. The arrangement is less stable than it looks, and once it starts to give way Douglas has to find a way off the island before the experiment runs its course.
John Frankenheimer and Richard Stanley are both credited as directors on this 96 minute version of the H.G. Wells novel, scripted by Stanley and Ron Hutchinson for New Line Cinema. Marlon Brando plays Moreau, Val Kilmer plays Montgomery and David Thewlis plays Douglas, with Fairuza Balk as Aissa, Ron Perlman as the Sayer of the Law and Temuera Morrison as Azazello. Originally rated R, it was cut for a wider audience and carries a PG-13.
Cast
- Daniel Rigneyas Hyena-Swine
- Nelson de la Rosaas Majai
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Production staff confirmed in the documentary Lost Soul that Stanley secretly came back to the set over several days with their help, disguised in full costume as one of the dog-men, and performed as an extra on the film he had originally been hired to direct.
- Fairuza Balk stormed off the set after a heated exchange with New Line executives and had a production assistant drive her from Cairns to Sydney, some 2,500 km, in a rented limousine. Her agent warned she would never work in films again if she broke her contract, so she returned.
- A film version had been a long-standing dream of director Richard Stanley, who spent four years developing it. He had envisaged Jürgen Prochnow in the lead, but New Line secured Marlon Brando, and later Stanley learned the studio had gone behind his back and offered the movie to Roman Polanski.
- Val Kilmer replaced Willis and then, to Stanley's dismay, demanded a 40% reduction in the days he was required on set, so Stanley switched him from the protagonist to the smaller part of Montgomery, which meant Woods had to leave the production.
- Mike Myers has acknowledged that Mini-Me, the miniature version of the villain Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films, was directly inspired by the character of Majai in this film.
- Frankenheimer and Kilmer had an on-set argument that reportedly got so heated that Frankenheimer said afterwards: "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again."
- Bruce Willis was originally hired to play Edward Prendick but allegedly dropped out of the film as he started divorce proceedings from Demi Moore.
