THE HOUSE of PAIN
"The natives, they have a curious ceremony. Mr. Parker has witnessed it. "
Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) performs hideous experiments upon animals on a dank, remote island; one of his creations, Lota (Kathleen Burke) is a gorgeous woman Moreau has fashioned from a panther. When a shipwrecked fellow (Richard Arlen) becomes an unwilling guest, Moreau seizes the opportunity to see if his panther-woman can seduce a human male. “How that scene spurs the scientific imagination onward,” Moreau muses as he observes Lota and the man in full embrace.
Later, Moreau crows, “Do you know what it is to feel like God?” But he’s a cruel, inept God, and when his tormented “manimals” rise up in revolt and spirit their creator off to his laboratory--the House of Pain--to exact an awful revenge, your skin crawls. This is a highly disturbing film; darkly shot and carefully edited. Interestingly, there is no musical score, so although the film’s tension is not underscored, neither is it relieved.
