The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 Box Office Flop)

The third episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features the year’s biggest flop, literary adaptation The Island of Dr. Moreau. Directed by John Frankenheimer from a script co-written by original director Richard Stanley and starring David Thewlis, Val Kilmer, Marlon Brando and Fairuza Balk, The Island of Dr. Moreau was beset by production and budget problems and considered one of the worst movies of the year.

The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Peter Stack in the San Francisco Chronicle (https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/FILM-REVIEW-Brando-s-Beastly-Island-of-Dr-2969817.php), Janet Maslin in the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/23/movies/brando-plays-a-madman-more-apocalyptically.html), and David Ansen in Newsweek (https://www.newsweek.com/brando-plays-god-177660).

Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1996 installment featuring the Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies.