Title: Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Runtime: 70 minutes
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It’s hard to believe that Island of Lost Souls wasn’t made by Universal, but is rather a response to those classic monster movies. Lost Souls does a great job setting the atmosphere of this mysterious island of Dr. Moreau, but it’s still lacks a heavy punch overall.
Though there is a lot to like about the movie – foremost, the make-up effects are excellent – I still find it difficult to stay awake, even with its short runtime. I chock that up to slow pacing, and though it doesn’t kill the film, it does hurt it. It would be nice to simply have more going on during
It’s crazy to know that this film was banned in England when it was released because there is virtually nothing in it that most of us would deem “violent” or “graphic”. It’s fun to see how far we’ve come as a society of film lovers since the 1930s.
Island of Lost Souls is an above average film that I enjoyed more than Frankenstein – it has more depth and sincerity – but not quite as much as The Wolf Man, or Bride of Frankenstein.
Branden has been a film fan since he was young, roaming the halls of Blockbuster Video, trying to find the grossest, scariest looking VHS covers to rent and watch alone in the basement. It wasn’t until recently, though, that Branden started seeking out the classics of cinema, and began to develop his true passion for the art form. Branden approaches each film with the unique perspective of having studied the art from the inside, having both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in acting. He has been a film critic since 2010, and has previously written for Inside Pulse Movies, We Love Cult, and Diehard Gamefan. His biggest achievement as a film critic, to date, has been founding Cinefessions and turning it from a personal blog to a true film website, housing hundreds of film and television reviews, and dozens of podcasts.
