Produced and distributed by Paramount Productions, it is based on H. G. Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, and stars Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, and Kathleen Burke.

Several writers, including Joseph Moncure March, Cyril Hume, Garrett Fort, and Philip Wylie, worked on scripts for the film.

Shipwrecked traveler Edward Parker is rescued by a freighter delivering animals to an isolated South Seas island owned by Dr. Moreau.

Moreau observes Lota weeping and showing human emotions; his hopes are raised and he screams he will "burn out" the remaining animal in her in the House of Pain.

[4] On June 1, 1931, Paramount paid $15,000 (equivalent to $300,500 in 2023) for the rights to H. G. Wells' novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) and sent a copy of the novel to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of America (MPPDA).

[5] Several writers attempted to work on the film's screenplay; these included Joseph Moncure March, who wrote the novel-length poem The Wild Party and the screenplay for Hell's Angels (1930);[5] Cyril Hume, the screenwriter of Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and later Forbidden Planet (1956); Garrett Fort, whose credits included work on Dracula and Frankenstein; and Philip Wylie, whose 1930 novel Gladiator was one of the main inspirations for the Superman comics.

[13] The judges of the contest's final were Cecil B. DeMille, Rouben Mamoulian, Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Stuart Walker, and Erle C. Kenton.

[17] On July 31, Los Angeles Times wrote that Nancy Carroll and Randolph Scott, who were both under contract to Paramount, were to portray Ruth and Edward Parker, respectively; these roles later went to Richard Arlen and Leila Hyams.

[17] On September 20, 11 days before production on the film was set to begin, Variety wrote that Paramount was "having trouble injecting comedy into Island of Lost Souls" and had Taurog replaced by Erle C.

[27] It was announced Burke was going on a promotional tour for Island of Lost Souls after production, to which she responded to in her diary: "I'm going to be scared to death—trip over carpets, fall into the footlights or the bass drum or something.

[31] On October 17, Lugosi declared bankruptcy,[32] having lost most of his money to friends after achieving popularity in Dracula, and signed on to the film for a salary of $875 (equivalent to $19,540 in 2023).

[39] The film was banned in several countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, India, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.

[27] In 1935, Paramount wanted to reissue Island of Lost Souls but was denied a re-release by Joseph Breen's Hays Code due to the film's excessive horror.

[44] In 1941, Paramount attempted a second re-release, which led to a response stating: [T]he blasphemous suggestion of the character, played by Charles Laughton, wherein he presumes to create human beings out of animals; the obnoxious suggestion of the attempt of these animals to mate with human beings, and the ... excessive gruesomeness and horror ... all these tend to make the picture quite definitely repulsive and not suitable for screen entertainment before mixed audiences.

[47] From pre-release screenings of Island of Lost Souls, an unnamed critic for The Hollywood Filmograph said on December 10, 1932, "All that can be done in the way of horror pictures has now definitely been done", and that the film "tops all the rest.

It out-Frankensteins Frankenstein, and relegates all other thrillers to the class of children's bedtime stories …"[37] The reviewer praised the acting of Laughton and Burke, and Kenton's directing.

[37] At the film's premiere in Chicago, Mae Tanee stated Burke "hasn't much to do other than crouch and run and open her eyes wide, but she is agile and uncamera-conscious and very well-suited to the part she plays".

[37] Philip K. Scheuer of Los Angeles Times called the film "extraordinarily bristly work", and noted its "suffocating atmosphere" and the performance of Laughton as Dr.

[48] The reviewer called the film a "genuine shocker" that is "hard to shake off afterward" and concluded: "As art, it begins and ends with Charles Laughton".

[49] Martin Dickstein of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle recommended Island of Lost Souls to horror fans, stating it is "as horrifying as anything the screens have offered in months", and calling it "immensely thrilling, in a few spots, you will probably find it a terrible bore in others" and concluding, "personally, it left us cold".

[51] Mordaunt Hall reviewed the film for The New York Times, saying that "the attempt to horrify is not accomplished with any marked degree of subtlety, there is no denying that some of the scenes are ingeniously fashioned and are, therefore, interesting".

[53] William K. Everson, in his book Classics of the Horror Film (1974), said Island of Lost Souls suffers from being "like the Hammer chillers of the 1950s and 1960s, it has all the ingredients but little of the mood required.

[54] A review in Phil Hardy's book Science Fiction (1984) said the film is "a superior adaptation" of Wells' novel, praising Laughton and Struss's cinematography.

[56][57] Bloch earlier commented in the book The Horror People (1976): "Against the context of its time, [Island of Lost Souls] was a most unusual and daring film".

[60] Kim Newman reviewed the film in Empire in 2007, praising Laughton's performance and saying though it was "often imitated, this exercise in surreal dementia has never been matched" and "remains a neatly disturbing horror with a definitive ending".

[61] In the June 2012 issue of Sight & Sound, Michael Atkinson said Island of Lost Souls is "arguably the most disquieting and subtextually exploring of the 1930s Hollywood glut of horror adaptations", and that "no bigger compliment can be made to it than to say that the thematic ickiness of the film is intensified by its early-talkie mood and aura".

Its consensus reads: "Led by a note-perfect performance from Charles Laughton, Island of Lost Souls remains the definitive film adaptation of its classic source material".

[63] Following his work on Island of Lost Souls, Laughton returned to England[64] and starred in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

[67] Gail Patrick later spoke about the contest; she stated not winning was "[t]he best thing that ever happened to me", and that the "Panther Woman" character "came to haunt [Burke], and ruin her chances at better roles".

[68] Some films that followed Island of Lost Souls also featured a mad scientist creating human-animal hybrids; these include Terror Is a Man (1959) and The Twilight People (1972).