Monday 5 November 2007

DR. MOREAU'S HOUSE OF PAIN (2003)

A sequel to H.G.Wells' oft filmed THE ISLAND OF DR.MOREAU, this straight to video movie by Charles Band holds some pleasant surprises. First, one is surprised by the rather classy credits showing vintage clips of Los Angeles (including Boris Karloff and C.Aubrey Smith at a film premiere) and the fact that the film is set uring the 1940's. The story has Dr.Moreau being held captive by his own manimals in an old sanitarium near Los Angeles. Into this wanders our hero, a young boxer, looking for his missing brother (the film has the odd feeling of starting halfway through the plot) with the aide af his girlfriend and a female reporter. Band livens things up a bit with odd camera angles and some, maybe unintentionally, funny dialogue. There's a bit of sex, hints of bestiality, some mild gore and some alarming lapses of continuity. Throw in some awful makeup and non-existent acting and a relatively short running time. None of these elements really add up to much but in all honesty I was never bored. Rating *

1 comment:

Cerpts said...

Ha! Charles Band?!? Is this one of those "Full Moon" movies?!? I admit, like you, to being entertained by Full Moon in the past regardless of their general lack of merit. Ah yes, the Demonic Toys, Dr. Mordrid, those Seedpeople. . .mindless fun from the 90's. I remember it well.