Richard Stanley was a very promising up and coming movie director in the 1990s with the cult films HARDWARE and DUST DEVIL.  THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU was going to be his third movie as a director and things started going wrong from the casting (which finally set upon the troublesome Marlon Brando and acting diva Val Kilmer) to a disinterested studio (New Line Cinema) to being fired a week into filming his adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel (after unexpected bad weather conditions hit the filming locations (and no Brando in sight) to the unraveling of the movie under replacement director/ tyrant John Frankenheimer.   LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is the story of what happened as it is an entertaining and fascinating look behind-the-scenes of what could have been another interesting Richard Stanley movie instead of the disjointed mess that was made and released.   This behind-the-scenes documentary reveals the whole story of egos clashing, a director that could have been over-his-head, witchcraft, a director-for-hire who was hated by the crew, and chaos which lead to one of the worst movies ever. Marlon Brando’s bizarre on-set behavior is talked about in addition to him and Val Kilmer not getting along with each other.  Director David Gregory has put together a fascinating look at the unraveling of the movie which has interviews with actors Fairuza Balk, Marco Hofschneider, Rob Morrow in addition to the producers on the movie, and Richard Stanley himself.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

DISC 1-

Interview outtakes with Richard Stanley (who has 45 minutes of extra material) and others including Marco Hofscheider and Graham Humphreys)

Graham Humphreys’ concept art gallery with Richard Stanley audio commentary

 

Archival interview of director john Frankenheimer who lays the blame on why Richard Stanley was fired

THE BEAST OF MORBIDO- see director Richard Stanely be transformed into a beast and go out on the streets to promote the LOST SOUL documentary before and after the screening of it

BOAR MAN DIARY which is a boring fetaurette of one of the actors reading from their diary of experiences on set

Audio interview with actress Barbara Steele as she recalls working on the movie in a scene that Richard Stanley directed her in (which shows up nowhere in the final movie)

 

THE HUNT FOR THE COMPOUND- going out in search of the location used for Dr. Moreau’s compound in the movie

Theatrical trailer

 

DISC 2 (DVD)-

INSEL DER VERSCHOLLENEN (THE ISLAND OF THE LOST- a recently discovered 1921 German silent film adaptation of the Island of Dr. Moreau

 

H.G. WELLS ON FILM- expert Sylvia Hardy gives an incomplete look at the various film adaptations of H.G. WELLS novels (with the two most recent adaptations of WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE TIME MACHINE not even being mentioned)

RICHARD STANLEY ON WELLS- Richard Stanley talking the author and the Island of Dr. Moreau  (while holding a well worn edition of the book)

 

DISC 3 (CD-ROM)-

New audiobook recording of H.G. Wells’ “THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU” Unexpurgated- read by Richard Stanley

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: It is going to tough to top LOST SOUL as a great behind-the-scenes documentary as I say this fascinating tale is one of the best behind-the-scenes documentaries released to blu-ray in 2015.  If you are interested in what could have been, what went wrong, or you are a fan of Richard Stanley, this documentary is a must-have to own and watch.

 

This review is ©8-13-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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