Beast of the Yellow Night

After recently finding a copy of this on DVD, I brought it home and was amazed to find this was everything I was looking for and a whole lot more. Filmed in the Philippines and directed by Eddie Romero, I was horrified/enlightened by its blasphemous blend of cannibalism, comedy, and deals with the devil gone bad. John Ashley is excellent as one of the most frightening, gruesome, and demented-looking monsters I've ever seen. Entertaining as can be. For me, the only thing scarier than this movie is the fact that I almost never got to see it! Great flick!

First off, the summary is inaccurate. Satan doesn't save the man's life, the man becomes a spirit of evil that inhabits people and awake the latent evil in those around him.

Second, having seen this movie and all of the episodes of SCTV with Mary Charlotte Wilcox, it is obvious these are two different actresses. Shape of the face, eyes, their voices, everything is different. Also, no one else but Mary Charlotte Wilcox could be Idela Voudrey and that includes this Mary Wilcox.

I like this movie for some reason. It tends to get a little slow but it actually has a nice sort of message at the end when Langdon finally meets his fate, something he longed to experience for decades as a spirit of evil.

John Ashley stars and he seems like he is doing a kind of Elvis impersonation at least with the hair when he isn't the beast. Satan transforms him into a murderous creature put of punishment because of his desire to be an individual again. A temptation that strikes him when the devil allows him to inhabit this man with his own face. The change causes him to lose focus on ruining the people around him to trying to spare them that pain. It could have been more than just a monster movie but it tries....

Beast of the Yellow Night features a hideous man-monster that tears its victims to shreds, but the real horror is a semi-naked Vic Diaz. The rotund Filipino actor appears at the beginning of the film as Satan wearing nothing but a loincloth (my eyes!), promising dying army deserter Joseph Langdon (John Ashley) immortality if he agrees to become a servant of evil. Unperturbed by Vic's lack of clothing, Joseph agrees and is 'reborn' in several bodies over the years, his mission to awaken the evil in the people that he meets. Langdon's latest guise is that of facially disfigured accident victim Philip Rogers, who, having been pronounced dead, amazes everyone by coming back to life with a brand new face (his doctor is so shocked that he promptly has a heart attack).

Phil's sexy blonde wife Julia (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) takes her hubby home but notices that he now behaves rather strangely. But it's not just his personality that has changed: from time to time, Phil/Langdon physically transforms into a horrible bloodthirsty creature with rubber claws and great big jaws.

The first of producer Roger Corman's movies to be shot in the Philippines during the '70s, this clunker from director Eddie Romero is frequently confusing (what Satan has to gain from turning his servant into a killer beast is never explained) and pretty dull for the most part, even when Ashley is in monster mode. There are a couple of brief gory moments (a disembowelment and some slashed faces), and Wilcox sheds her clothes (or her body double does--it's hard to tell), but for the most part the film is painfully slow, especially when the creature is given refuge by an old, blind bandit (an idea lifted from Frankenstein?). The ending sees the monster and the blind man trapped by the army in a burning field of grass, Phil/Langdon finally shot and killed even though he was bullet-proof only moments earlier.

Vic Diaz as the almost comedic Satan lends this Filippino horror film an eccentric flavour that saves it from total oblivion. Ashley isn't bad either as a damned murderer, inhabiting the body of an American businessman, forced by Satan to endure of life of evil, but when guilt gets the better of him, Satan resorts to dirty tricks in order to compel him to serve. The transformation he undergoes to that of a hairy beast with super-human strength causes the local police to suspect they have something out of the ordinary with which to contend.

Ashley plays the tortured soul well enough for the film's limited scope, and he's ably assisted by the statuesque beauty Mary Wilcox as his neglected, but loyal wife. Wilcox has a few risqué scenes in modest attire (although sometimes also clad in a zebra outfit), but it's debatable as to whether that's indeed her in the bizarrely photographed love-making scene. Fans will also recognise the prolific Eddie Garcia as a detective (he also directed), and American Ken Metcalfe ("Up From the Depths") in a minor supporting role playing Ashley's concerned brother.

There's not much horror, and what there is can often be too dark to discern, but the film does improve after a slow start at least achieving mediocre status, including the witty banter of Diaz's omnipotence, and equally, moronic dialogue from the sultry Wilcox. There's a couple of twists (e.g. the banished blind man with whom Ashley forms an alliance) that generate some interest and the climax in the tall grass lends some sympathy to Ashley's condemned character, but don't expect too much for your time.

This movie begins in Southeast Asia immediately after World War 2 with soldiers searching in the jungle for someone (or something) who has killed a couple of innocent villagers. As it turns out, an American deserter named "Joseph Langdon" (John Ashley) is also in the vicinity and due to his desperate situation makes a deal with the devil (played by Vic Diaz) to escape from the situation he has found himself in. It's at this point that the movie fast-forwards to the present with the body of Langdon being buried but his soul transported into a man named "Philip Rogers" (also played by John Ashley) who has just been declared dead by a surgeon in a hospital. Needless to say, his wife "Julia" (Mary Wilcox ) is overjoyed when Philip comes back to life. However, the new version of Philip isn't the same and immediately makes decisions that hurt all those around him by sowing evil among them--and that especially applies to Julia and his brother "Earl" (Ken Metcalfe). But then one night something very unexpected happens and Philip is transformed into a kind of werewolf--which creates even more problems for everyone involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a standard low-budget film characteristic of movies produced in the Philippines during this particular time. Yet, even though the acting was adequate it was the makeup and special effects which really doomed this film-especially on the part of the supposed werewolf. It was really bad. That said, I have rated the film accordingly. Below average.