The Twilight People

From director Eddie Romero (AKA Enrique Moreno), the Filipino exploitation filmmaker behind jungle classics like "Black Mama White Mama" and "Savage Sisters" comes this very silly, but very entertaining ripoff of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau." A scuba diver is snatched out of the water and and finds himself on an island where a mad scientist has created monstrous half-man/half-animal creatures. The Moreau figure rules over his beasts with an iron fist, and as you'd expect, they rebel against him in a violent bloody fashion. It's all amateurishly made and certainly made on the cheap, but it is entertaining. To add to the enjoyment level of this nonsense is Pam Grier in a before-she-was-famous role as the "Panther Woman." Certainly not a good film, but I was entertained.

In case you haven't gotten your fill of bad "Island Of Lost Soul" remakes, there is this beauty. Producer writer John Ashley, a long way from Frankie, Annette, and the rest of the gang, is the hero who is kidnapped and taken to an Island where a mad doctor does mutation experiments; with a little "most dangerous game" rip off thrown in.

This must have been enough to make him miss Eric Von Zipper. Pat Codell, from Pennycoat Junction, shows some real charm in rolling with the punches, the poor thing quit the biz soon afterwards. And you get an early appearance of Pam Grier, and a flying batman livens things up a bit. Mostly however, this is for hard core bad movie fans only.

From the supra-genius mind of Director Eddie Romero comes THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE! Once again, mad science is being perpetrated in the Philippines. This time, diving enthusiast / adventurer, Matt Farrell (John Ashley) is captured by the ne'er-do-well cronies of Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay) and taken to a secret fortress. There, Gordon carries out the requisite experiments, causing hideous human / animal hybrids.

Romero fuses THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU with JAMES BOND (THE ISLAND OF DR. NO?), making the worst of both. The sci-fi elements are preposterous -the "antelope man"- and the Bond-ish stuff is equally absurd, featuring Ashley in the mega-spy role, looking more like a bloated Elvis Presley in search of a snack! He is aided by none other than Pat Woodell as Dr. Gordon''s daughter. As usual, the action is... less than exciting.

Lovers of cinematic abominations will drool over this sewer sausage! Watch for the incredible Pam Grier as Ayesa, the "panther woman"! In spite of the dime store makeup, she still manages to look hot!

One can only imagine what must have gone through Ms. Grier's mind while she traipsed around with the likes of the "bat man", who resembles someone who fell into a bonfire while wrapped in a shower curtain! Said flying rodent nearly steals the show during his attempted flight sequence! However, the true highlight is Ayesa's deadly rampage!

This movie must be seen by all sentient beings...

Now for any Brits watching this absurd drivel the most memorable thing - and that really is saying something - will be the frequent repetition of the "Mastermind" theme tune. Otherwise, this is a completely forgettable piece of nonsense that sees a diver (John Ashley) kidnapped and taken to an island populated by creatures that would not look out of place in Madame Tussauds so that he can be experimented on by the evil "Dr. Gordon" (No, not the one from "Black Beauty"!). The results of his failed efforts are all over the place - indeed, the island actually has a real life "Mr. Tumness" and a sort of bat-man creature - oh, and don't forget "panther girl". It is preposterous at every level; the make up has been way too close to the big lights; the dialogue written in haste on the back of a stamp and the performances - especially from a very, very wooden Jan Merlin leave me wondering if Eddie Romero ever actually watched the scenes as he directed them...

B movie perennial John Ashley stars as Matt Farrell, a diver / "renaissance man" who is kidnapped by thugs and taken to an isolated tropical island. Said thugs represent a mad scientist named Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay), whose experiments have involved turning people into half-human / half-animal aberrations. Matt falls in lust with the doctors' sexy daughter Neva (Pat Woodell), who sympathizes with him and the doctors' other "subjects". So she helps them to escape.

This escape takes up quite a bit of the rather brief running time of 81 minutes, but instead of ramping up the tension and sense of urgency, things start to meander too much. Obviously nobody is in a big hurry here, including the filmmakers.

This was the second unofficial Filipino adaptation of "Island of Dr. Moreau", after the 1959 feature "Terror is a Man" (a.k.a. "The Blood Creature"). That fact becomes easy to understand very quickly, and the material still has a compelling nature, but the film is rather underwhelming, with a script (co-written by director Eddie Romero) that isn't all that hot. The creature makeup is adequate at best; we've seen better work in other, official versions of the H.G. Wells tale. The location shooting is fine, and the film does possess that great atmosphere common to other Filipino genre & exploitation features. While it is mostly played straight, there is some comedy relief from a "bat man" (Tony Gosalvez) who tries in vain to fly. There's even some "romance" between the "antelope man" (Ken Metcalfe) and "wolf woman" (Mona Morena). The score is a mixture of stock music and new compositions by Tito Arevalo & Ariston Avelino.

The performances, much like the makeup, are very much adequate - no more - across the board. The main attraction for a number of people will undoubtedly be the prospect of Pam Grier playing one of the creatures, the feral "panther woman". One undeniable standout is the very amusing Jan Merlin as Steinman, Dr. Gordons' main henchman. Often seen smiling, he cheerfully encourages Farrell to escape, while having his own motivation for this attitude towards the prisoner.

Watchable, but only really worth recommending to die hard devotees of Filipino B cinema.

Six out of 10.