Prendick, a naturalist, is shipwrecked on the island retreat of notorious vivisector Dr Moreau. In a laboratory called the House of Pain, Moreau manufactures 'humanised' animals known as the Beast People, whom he controls through fear - until the terrifying day when one of his degraded victims destroys him. Prendick is then alone with the bloodthirsty survivors. A sombre fantasy in which Wells issues a resonant warning against scientific obsession and the pursuit of evolutionary control.