Dr. Moreau's House of Pain (2004)

A Masterpiece!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

You know, I had a dream a while back in which I opined the paucity of movies featuring bare breasts and half human, half pig hybrids. "Why oh why oh why," I cried, "Can we not see more breasts and pig men?" Well, fear not my fellow brutarians, Dr Moreau is here to answer all of our prayers.Directed by Charles Band, he of low budget horror legend status, unhealthy obsessed by killer doll movies (Blood Dolls, Puppet Master, Dollman vs. Demonic Toys) here he takes a stab at the film noir genre, bringing us a tale of human / animal experimentation in Prohibition era America.All the noir trappings are there: smoky streets, illuminated only by atmospheric streetlamps, wiseguys in brimmed hats, broads in fur coats and shawls with cigarette holders stuck between their well rouged lips, and automobiles relevant to the period and, it must be stressed, for a low budget movie he does a remarkable job of 'placing' the movie.Whilst the plot is a fairly silly one, involving a young man searching for his brother who went to Dr. Moreau for treatment and was transformed into half man, half big cat, the trappings surrounding it work very well.Whilst hardly Orwellian, the script is nevertheless effective enough, and the acting more than passable.So, if you, like me, find yourself yearning for those hybrids anytime soon, you could do worse than check this out

If your goal is to rent something bad and critique it then go find a TROMA film and have at it! If, on the other hand you like being pleasantly surprised at what can be done on a low budget then this film is an excellent example.Charles Band is- an inconsistent director. Some of the films he's done are crap but others are Brilliant and explain his high status in the industry. Dr. Moraeu's House of Pancakes is a very watchable very enjoyable film with better than average Make-up fx and NO CG! not any to speak of anyway. The Make-up effects while conceived by old favorite John Buechler are fleshy and visceral and more than competently done by Veteran Bruce Barlow considering the budget and shooting schedule. Sets and art direction are key to what make this such a fun watchable movie and Mac Ahlberg's lighting and photography bring this to the caliber of many of it's bigger budgeted rivals. Judge for yourself!

you know a movie is bad when the beginning credits are made using Windows Movie Maker software. The make up was horrible the acting was worse. My girlfriend bought it used so i wasn't too upset besides i like watching semi-bad horror movies so that i can have a little laugh, but this movie was so bad that it became frustrating. I think the movie was supposed to take place in the 30's but for some reason you really cant even tell. They should make murderers and rapist watch this movie everyday in prison as a punishment. Well at least they have stores that let you trade movies. Im just surprised that they would even give me store credit for this crap.

Director Charles Band has pulled off a terrific bit of sleight of hand in Dr. Moreau's House of Pain. Yes there are Pig People, guts and gore, lots of nudity etc., etc., but what makes this little film special is that Band has made a terrific homage to the film noir films of the forties. Color, (did he use technicolor? the color is perfect), costumes, hair styles and dialogue are all out of 1947, and the actors play their parts as though they were Alan Ladd, Gail Russell and Lizabeth Scott! The premise is silly in this the what, fourth go-round of a Dr.Moreau film, but the execution, (no pun intended), is really top notch and on a par with much more expensive films.Congrats Charles Band and all who worked on this film. Not to sound too 1940's, but you all did a "swell" job!