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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Island of the Damned
If you saw this as a kid, you always thought it was a classic. Although it doesn't hold up when one is an adult so much, it is still a decent flick to watch if you sprained your ankle and can't get out of the house. The plot concerns a stranded engineer (York) of a freighter that lands on a remote island that is inhabited by strange creatures. Lancaster is superb as the ingenious Dr Monreau who is a gifted geneticist and biologist who wants to merge animals with man to get the perfect creation that only science can manufacture. He is obviously a disciple of Nietzsche and Spencer. There is a creepiness about the island that the film manages to sustain throughout. The make-up is excellent and the beast men are rather frightening (not recommended for children under 7). Basheart plays the sayer of the law, who as an aged and wisdom filled creature whom attempts to dissuade complete anarchy amongst the beast men. Not a bad production.
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Of men and beasts
Such an excellent parable about humankind and its pretense of being above its animal instincts! Better than the book (which is excellent itself.)
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Crocodile
It is the older version of Crocodile. Set in China or Asia.
The picture was boring, because you could not see the movie plainly. It was too dark. Daytime looked like almost night all the way through the movie. If it wasn't such a waste of money I would toss it in the garbage. Just like Day of The animals. My friend has one of these. And you can see it just fine. Wish I could return both of them.
Rating: -
His Is the Hand!
Samuel Z. Arkoff, venerable producer of B sci-fi/horror flicks, presents this straightforward version of the H. G. Wells story. The best thing this flick has going for it is Burt Lancaster as Moreau. Moreau conducts forbidden experiments in vivisection, tampering with the genetics of animals. Moreau soon converts to evil action after shipwrecked Braddock (Michael York) stumbles into Moreau's bizarre island kingdom. The results of Moreau's failed experiments are horrific half-human/half-animal creatures that walk upright as men and howl in the distance. The best scene unfolds when Braddock finds the cave of the animal-men, and is threatened with violence. Moreau shows up tall and god-like on a convenient ledge. He commands the Sayer of the Law (Richard Basehart) to articulate the island code, "What is the Law?" The spitting wolf-man replies, "Not to go on all fours. Not to shed blood. etc." Each part of the jungle litany is answered by the refrain, "Are we not men?" Moreau has found through his work that the savage beast stubbornly reasserts itself. The creatures are on the brink of devolution. Worse yet, shedding blood would evoke the call of the wild on the island. "His is the House of Pain, His the Hand that Hurts," is the spoken warning that keeps the manimals in line. Moreau, it seems, wields the knife to surgically correct backward evolution, but also as punishment. Increasing beastiality leads to inevitable death, violence, and decimation on the island. Delectable eye-candy, Barbara Carrera, is around for romantic interludes. There is some mild nudity. Great fun for B movie sci-fi fans. Sensible viewers beware. ;-)
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Philosophical Tale Well Told
This version of the classic H.G. Wells tale is infinitely superior to the '96 remake. It sustains its reputation because, like all enduring films, it is character driven. In no way do the the creature effects, which are adequately effective, take precedence over the actors' abilities.
The scene where Braddock (Michael York), confined to a cage, struggles to assert his willpower in recounting his childhood memories, remains a truly convincing piece of cinematic acting.
The DVD version, however, is supposedly in widescreen. That's W--I--D--E--S--C--R--E--E--N, ladies and gentlemen. The peripheral view here has been simply narrowed, with the black bars at the top and bottom serving no other purpose than to further restrict a viewer's access to more of the original picture. Is it to censor out the fleeting exposure of Barbara Carrera's nipple? (Nah, can't be... that'd be ridiculous.)
Perhaps the persons at MGM responsible for this DVD transfer should be sent on a retraining course to better understand the concept of widescreen format. Use of the term "widescreen" with regards to this DVD version is basically misrepresentation. The VHS Full Screen version actually provides more picture acreage.
Regardless, the film itself succeeds well in its conveyance of the dangers of amoral scientific advancement, the subjugation of perceived inferiors, and the inhumane versus the humane, all in an entertaining manner.
