Richard Stanley, the South African director responsible for the cult-horror classics Hardware and Dust Devil, still dreams of making the version of H. G. Wells’ The Island Of Dr. Moreau that has been in his head since he was a boy. As detailed in the documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island Of Dr. Moreau (which is currently touring the country in limited release), the director was kicked off the 1996 film, which starred Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, three days into shooting. Stanley then watched with horror (and a bit of schadenfreude) at the result, a disastrous production of nearly Man Of La Mancha-sized proportions.


But now Stanley says that interest in his vision has been rekindled as a result of the new documentary. In a new interview with L. A. Weekly, the director says that he’s been hired to pen a new scripted version of the movie—and that if he has his way, it’s not just going to be R-rated, it’s going to earn an X, because apparently no one has told Stanley that we switched to NC-17 a while back:

“Someone needs to get it right. I think part of that problem is the world’s still not used to the idea of an epic fantasy film for adults. They’ve always had the desire in the last adaptations to make it safe for the family. The script I’ve turned in now isn’t so much R-rated as X-rated. And then the wrangling can begin after that as to how it will be put on the screen.”




While fans of the director’s work are no doubt curious to see his original idea come to fruition, Stanley seems unaware that his comment also immediately triggers horrific visions of people in dog-hybrid costumes having extremely graphic sex. And although there’s undoubtedly Moreau-themed furry porn out there somewhere, right now it’s safely ensconced behind the barrier of a Google Safesearch setting. But you can comfortably watch the very SFW trailer for the Lost Soul documentary right here, and it looks extremely promising—crazy Val Kilmer stories never go out of style.