Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Leofwine_draca LOST SOUL is a documentary exploring the making of an infamous film, namely 1996's THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU which was begun by cult director Richard Stanley and ended up being completed by Hollywood veteran John Frankenheimer. It feels a little like the behind-the-scenes craziness you see chronicling the relationship of Herzog and Kinski in cinema, for example. Stanley himself is the overriding figure here, extensively interviewed as he talks about his vision for the movie and the chaos that ensued. He's obviously an erudite figure who knows his stuff, which makes the disasters that ensued the more puzzling. I would have preferred more behind-the-scenes footage from the film itself, but the interviews and clips we do see are well assembled. I find it a pity that Ron Perlman and David Thewlis don't feature and aren't made mention of, but the stuff we learn about Brando and Kilmer's behaviour is priceless and Fairuza Balk is a good sport.

room102 A documentary about the making of the abomination known as "The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)". Great stuff about the absolute chaos of production of the movie. From actors with huge egos (Val Kilmer, Marlon Brando) through problematic location and people getting fired, to absolute crazy behavior that is like taken from a mad house movie.If you liked documentaries like "Lost in La Mancha (2002)" and "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)" which tell the story of some crazy movie productions, you're going to love this one. Incidentally, there are quite a few more connections between "Dr. Moreau" and "Apocalypse Now", which are mentioned in this documentary.

ThatMOVIENut The 1996 adaptation of one of my favourite H.G. Wells story, starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, was not well received to put it politely, and its production even less rosey. Well, 18 years later, a documentary goes behind the scenes to unravel how a young indie filmmaker got his shot at Hollywood big time, and what was a dream project became every filmmaker and studio's worst nightmare.A sort of surreal affair, 'Lost Soul' mixes brand new interviews (the big draw being the notoriously elusive Stanley), archive footage and photos/concept art to tell of how this young British talent tried to fulfill a lifelong dream to adapt and update Wells' tale of science gone awry, and damn is it engrossing. There are no holds barred and spades are called spades as the cast (and many different crew, from ADs to managers to even extras) recall just how much of a hell things were, even in pre-production, as well as the pain that was Brando, replacement director Frankenheimer, and especially Kilmer. Stanley himself, with his deep voice and unusual appearance, a sort of hybrid of Indiana Jones and a voodoo shaman, is fascinating to watch as tells his misadventure with a slight hint of bitterness but also a sort of sage wisdom about it.Of course, director David Gregory is smart enough to not let this turn into just one big slog of talking heads. He regularly breaks it up with an assortment of visual treats, including the magnificently disturbing concept art and storyboards for Stanley's original vision, archive footage of the shoot and the grotesque makeup effects of the beast people, even new material recorded at the now overgrown location. The whole thing is underscored by a sinister soundtrack that adds to the nightmarish feel as you journey on and more and more goes wrong, even on occasion referencing witchcraft and unusual phenomena.In terms of complaints, I don't really have many, save for maybe the lack of remastering of some archive footage, the soundtrack can sometimes go a little over the tip, and the film does taper off towards the end and doesn't dwell on the film's reception and legacy as much as I would've liked. However, it is firmly Stanley's story, and a great watch for fans of film and filmmakers.

kosmasp Maybe one of the things I'm missing, are sound bits from a few more players (actors), like Ron Pearlman, who also was in the original movie. You were expecting Val Kilmer not to take part in this (although he was asked of course). But those things are not really that important, especially considering how great the movie is built and edited. The mayhem that ensued seems to have been inevitable in some sense, but is still very gripping.There is faults on more than one set of shoulders and maybe the other movie might not have been a better "Island of Dr. Mureau" movie than the one we finally got. But it most definitely would have been crazier (yes it's possible) and might have given a very creative guy some power to fulfill his other visions. A man suffice to say that sort of was not ready for that big a project of course.And this duality and all the gray areas (plus all those great anecdotes, hoping there will be a few more on a future disc release without them having to cut anything out of the movie we had the pleasure watching at Frightfest) in the movie, make it great. Fun and light and over before you know it ...