Are we not men?” and finally “not to spill blood. Moreau again asks, “what is the law?” to which Sayer responds, “not to eat meat. Are we not men?” To which the congregated beast-men respond, “Are we not men?” in slurred, grunting, and above all submissive tones. He announces, “what is the law?” receiving the response from Lugosi’s Sayer, “Not to run on all fours. The scene plays like a religious ritual, with Sayer as the priest, and Moreau the object of worship. It features a large horde of beast-men gathered below a towering, Luciferian-looking Moreau in his white suit, perfectly trimmed goatee, holding the bullwhip he uses to keep order. The scene in which the law is spoken is one of the film’s best. The Sayer of the Law is not a large role but is one of the most memorable in the film. Whatever his reasons for taking it, Lugosi never gave less than his all to a performance, no matter the studio, budget, or size of role. According to film historian Gregory Mank, the reason Lugosi took the role may well have been out of necessity as he, generous to a fault who often helped needy friends financially, filed for bankruptcy during the filming of Island of Lost Souls. It is believed that Lugosi took the role to dispel a rumor that he would not work in makeup, which started because he turned down the role of the monster in Frankenstein. Helping to control the beast-men of the island is The Sayer of the Law, played in heavy makeup by Bela Lugosi. Laughton’s portrayal of Moreau is layered and nuanced, however, making him more than a mad megalomaniac. Unlike Clive’s Frankenstein, Laughton’s Moreau does not think better of his actions later, but continues to make more beast-men, and one panther woman, through mysterious and apparently cruel means in his “House of Pain.” He rules over his creations as a dictator, exploiting them for labor through the threat of punishment and torture. “Do you know what it means to feel like God?” Moreau asks Edward Parker ( Richard Arlen), a castaway from a shipwreck that arrives at the island via a supply ship that discovers him in a life raft. Like Frankenstein, Moreau comments on the godlike powers he possesses in creating the beast men that inhabit his island. Frankenstein, but far less empathetic than Colin Clive’s version of that character from Universal’s film of the previous year. Moreau, who is in many ways reminiscent of Dr. Moreau into Island of Lost Souls (1932), which remains an important and effective example of early science fiction/horror. The studio decided to return to the well of literature for its follow-up, adapting H.G. Hyde (1931) had been a financial and critical success, winning its star Frederic March an Academy Award for his dual role.
Besides Universal, the studio with one of the strongest track records in the genre during this time was Paramount.
As has continued to be the case even to this day, horror films were the prime candidate. With the early thirties being the depths of the Great Depression, these studios were eager to make films on low budgets that could turn large profits. After the success of Dracula in early 1931, several studios large and small rushed into production on their own macabre features.