146. Island of Lost Souls

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where this week Clay and Amanda set sail for one of the strangest, most influential horror films of the 1930s: Island of Lost Souls, the classic adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau. Starring Charles Laughton as the delightfully unsettling Doctor Moreau, the film tells the story of a remote tropical outpost where science has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Human-animal hybrids roam the jungle, strange laws govern the land, and civilization is hanging by the thinnest of threads. Clay and Amanda dig into the film's legacy, its pre-Code weirdness, and why it remains one of the most fascinating monster movies ever made.Now, before we go any further, I need to address something that's been bothering me. Is it really an island?Everyone keeps calling it an island. The title says it's an island. The characters say it's an island. But has anyone actually checked? What if it's a peninsula? Has anyone gotten out there with proper surveying equipment? Because if there's even a narrow strip of land connecting it to a larger landmass, then the whole thing falls apart. We'd have to call it Peninsula of Lost Souls, and frankly, that doesn't have the same ring to it.Think about it. People arrive by boat. That proves nothing. Plenty of people arrive at peninsulas by boat. The Florida Keys get boats all the time. Nobody's calling Miami an island.Meanwhile, Clay and Amanda are discussing horrifying beast-men, forbidden science, and Charles Laughton chewing scenery like it owes him money, while I'm stuck wondering about coastal geography. Is there a map? Have we seen satellite imagery? I know satellites didn't exist in 1932, but surely someone has checked by now.Anyway, whether it's an island, a peninsula, or some third category of landform science hasn't discovered yet, Island of Lost Souls remains a horror classic. Join Clay and Amanda as they explore one of cinema's earliest and strangest nightmares.And if anyone has a topographical survey of Moreau's property, please send it immediately.And don't forget to head over to patreon.com/thepenskyfile to check out this month's extra-special patreon episode recorded at the Stanley Hotel!