In 1840, a samurai comes home to find his wife in bed with another man, so he kills them both and then himself. Flash-forward to the present day, and an American family of three moves into this since-abandoned house and starts to experience incidents of haunting and possession.

本片根据艾德加·赖斯·巴勒斯的小说改编而成。讲述的是第一次世界大战期间，一艘德国潜艇在撞沉一艘英国人的船以后，救起了幸存者。但是这艘潜艇开错了方向，将这些幸存者带到了一片未知的土地上。那里，栖息着大量的恐龙和穴居人。他们能顺利地重返家园吗？

以阿拉伯为背景的中古童话故事《天方夜谭》数次被搬上银幕，英国出品的本片是规模较大的老片新拍。故事并没有多少改变，主要还是描写恶宰相依权无恶不作，人民意图反抗却力不从心。另一个国家的王子为了娶该国公主，前往荒岛取回法力无边的黄玫瑰，后来凭黄玫瑰的法力相助，率民众打败了恶宰相，成为巴格达城的新国王。不过在小枝节上，本片还是力求创新的，如把魔瓶中走出来的巨人塑造成在空中摇来摇去的“气体人"，映像效果相当特别。导演利用新的科幻片技法，在不少场面制造了不同往片的新鲜热闹娱乐效果，观来并不使人有老套之感。

Two hundred years after Mary Shelley's novel the brilliant but mad Doctor (Thomas Kretschmann) has sustained his creature and himself over two centuries through genetic experimentation. In present-day America Detective O'Connor (Parker Posey) is investigating a series of horrific murders which leads her to the doctor and his creature. What she uncovers reveals the strange evolution the doctor and his creation undergo over the course of two centuries and the divergent paths creator and monster take in pursuing good or evil. 　　在玛丽·雪莱的小说两百年后，才华横溢但疯狂的医生使他自己和他的怪物从两个世纪前的当初的实验一直幸存下来。如今，美国探员 O'Connor 在调查系列谋杀案时，被引向了医生和他的怪物，并揭露出在长达两个多世纪的漫长岁月中，医生和他作品间的奇特演变和他们踏上善与恶的不同道路。