[Dr Kain]

We have finished watching all three versions of Island of Dr Moreau and they seemed to get worse as they went along. The original version, Island of Lost Souls, started out fairly accurate to the book and then kind of went off rails as it went on. However, the acting was fantastic, it was atmospheric, and for the most part, captured the heart of what makes a good horror film with the novel. Plus, Charles Laughton was incredible as a creepy Dr Moreau.

The 70s version cuts out the beginning to get the main character to the island as quickly as possible (and I'm calling him the main character because they gave him a different name in each iteration even though he was named Prendick in the book), once again followed a bit of the book and then turned every on its head in its second half. Dr Moreau himself is pretty boring in this one.

And then there is the 96 version that was like 10% book and 90% whatever the fuck that was. There were sequences that made no bloody sense at all like one where the main character is suddenly on a ship and is being attacked by CGI rats, one jumps at him, and it's in the middle of the day with Moreau trying to find out which beastman broke the law. And then there are awkward moments where it's channeling Austin Powers as Dr Moreau is more like Dr Evil with Mini-Me. For some reason Val Kilmer was in this movie and I can't figure out why because he was just doing random nonsense the entire movie, even down to a Godfather impersonation sequence.

Apparently, HG Wells hated Island of Lost Souls, so I bet he would have lost his mind had he lived long enough to see his book tarnished even further, especially with the third version. I don't get why it is so hard for someone to properly adapt such a simple premise nor make it better than a film that is over 90 years old.

The only thing I will say that was consistent throughout all three movies was its make-up work. The Beastmen look fantastic across the board.