Terror Is a Man

It's yet another version of H.G. Wells' THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU, shot as a Phillippine-American co-production. Francis Lederer is the mad doctor who is trying to evolve animals faster than nature can; Greta Thyssen is his hot blonde wife, because when a mad scientist marries, it's always a hot chick, so that the rugged hero, here Richard Derr, can tempt her. That is, I suppose, because people don't care what happens to animals unless it involves gene-splicing, but the hot wife considering cheating on her husband with a hunky stranger.... yowza!

Although the 'monster' here is a transmuted panther, who winds up looking like a buff furry in mummy wrappings, isn't given much screen time, but there is an air of humanism in the story, a sense that animals should be treated better, and that's a good thing. Also, the photography is excellent, barring a mismatched day-for-night sequence near the end. Credit Emmanuel I. Rojas, who worked in a lot of Phillippine co-productions from 1951 through his death at age 57 in 1968.

Just discovered this Philippine(My parents' native country)-made horror movie here on IMDb as linked from Hulu. Despite the bland romantic trappings between the triangle of Francis Lederer, Richard Derr, and the buxom blonde from Denmark named Greta Thyssen, this was a pretty effective chiller during the last 30 minutes as effectively visualized by Gerardo de Leon with I'm sure help from producer Eddie Romero. There's also some nice work from the natives like Oscar Keesee as the villain, his son Peyton as the innocent boy, and stunning Lilia Duran as the other hired help. And then there's the creature played by Flory Carlos who spends most of the movie wrapped in bandages. His mummy-like performance gets effective treatment due to the music by Ariston Avelino. May be most effective to maybe to those 12 and under who haven't seen anything gory yet. Certainly the "buzzer" that warns of a 15-second "surgery" scene was nothing that shocked my senses! So on that note, Terror Is a Man is worth a look for fans of old-fashioned Drive-In fare.

This is the film that practically started the influx of Filipino exploitation that exploded in the 70s. It's a slow but mediocre version of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU with a cat creature experiment that gets loose and kills a few secondary characters among scientific jabber about the experiment being for the benefit of mankind rather than personal vanity. This is lackluster stuff and is too Americanized. The Blood Island trilogy and women's prison flicks that would come ten years later is the kind of delirious entertainment that Filipino exploitation is remembered for. Worth a look but hardly memorable.

Apparently there are scientists around who want to turn animals into men. This is the story of one of them. Of course, the signature story is that of "The Island of Dr. Moreau." Here, a man traps black leopards and evolves them (?) into bipeds that have great strength. He is messing where he shouldn't be messing. A castaway comes along and gets in the way (by being moral in one sense but messing with the pretty wife in the other sense). Anyway, there is a nasty sidekick who hits the animal/man with a two by four and catman becomes violent when he sees this guy. Anyway, other than a kind of oppressive jungle setting, there is little new ground here.

The lone survivor of the sinking of the "Pedro Queen," William Fitzgerald (Derr) washes ashore on a remote Pacific island one thousand miles off the coast of Peru. He is taken in by Dr. Girard (Lederer) and his wife, Frances (Thyssen). Fitzgerald soon learns that the doctor is conducting unusual medical experiments the island, assisted by his wife, who is a nurse, and a few servants. Shortly after Fitzgerald's arrival, he learns that a "panther" is loose on the island and has even killed people. He is puzzled when he learns that the native villagers have fled the island, allegedly because they fear what the doctor might be doing. The mystery deepens when Fitzgerald starts investigating the mystery of the doctor and the creature he is working on.

"Terror is a Man" is an uncredited adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau." Whereas the classic 1932 version "Island of Lost Souls" and the 1977 version "The Island of Dr. Moreau" both feature large numbers of "manimals," this film has only one. By excising these creatures, the film loses the interesting cultural aspects of the manimal society and lacks, among other things, the key character known as the Sayer of the Law. The creature in this one is the tormented victim of doctor and is abused by the servant Walter (Oscar Keesee). Despite the differences between this version and the two better known adaptations mentioned above, this film is reasonably well made though somewhat slow-paced. Dedicated horror film fans should probably give this one a chance.