So-so entry in the Filipino "Blood Island" horror film series. Dedicated doctor Bill Foster (John Ashley) travels to a small island to investigate strange goings-on, accompanied by young woman Sheila Willard (Angelique Pettyjohn), who herself intends to find out the fate of her father (Tony Edmunds). Running around loose on the island is a green blooded monster.If nothing else, "Mad Doctor of Blood Island" is notable for its audience participation factor, with the audience given doses of "green blood" to drink and protect themselves from harm. As directed by Filipino exploitation icons Gerry De Leon and Eddie Romero, the movie does have a lot of entertaining and effective ambiance. It does have the appeal of a drive-in feature, but it has a fundamental problem in that it's often too dull to work that well. There's more talk than action. There's also some highly annoying camera-work. The gore is decent (and there's also a fair bit of bare female flesh), but the makeup on the monster is awfully tacky.The acting in this one is pretty stiff, right across the board. Jut jawed hero Ashley lacks personality, and the same goes for Ronaldo Valdez, who plays Carlos Lopez. He has some rather amusing scenes with his hottie mom (played by Tita Munoz). The ladies are beautiful, with Pettyjohn an especially fetching leading lady. Fans of exploitation flicks from this part of the world may enjoy appearances by such familiar faces as Ronald Remy, as the evil Dr. Lorca, Bruno Punzalan, as his henchman Razak, and Alfonso Carvajal as Ramu.Unfortunately, this never has much of a momentum, and even the climax isn't that exciting. Still, it has its moments.Five out of 10.

The second in the "Blood Island" series ups the ante with even more explicit sex and violence, recycling much from "Brides of Blood", including John Ashley. I didn't notice any other holdovers from the previous film, but the director hired actors who looked just like them anyway. There are carbon copies of Arcadio, Goro, Esteban Powers, and Alma, as well as the lovely Angelique Pettyjohn standing in for Beverly Hills.The plot is even wilder than before. This time, Ashley and damsel-in-distress-to-be Pettyjohn travel to Blood Island to locate her estranged father. No, the island is not called Matool. Anyway, what they discover is that the island is being stalked by a rampaging green humanoid monster, the result of a mad doctor's botched experiment involving chlorophyll used as a means of transforming human beings. Or something like that, right? Do we really care? There's a monster and it's killing people, and the protagonists don't have the sense to leave.Fans of naked ladies have plenty to look at, as the film literally opens with a nude woman being chased through the jungle by the creature. The gore in the film is gratuitous and ever-present, with the monster clawing people to death, ripping out their guts, and in one especially angry moment, attacking a young couple making out in the jungle. It rips off the man's arm (or was it a leg?) and efficiently removes the woman's head, tossing it in the air. What a cranky monster! It's also worth mentioning that the movie contains a very disturbing sequence where real animals are violently slaughtered on camera--a "native ritual" concludes with the natives rushing at some bound goats and pigs, stabbing them to death with knives, which was a genuine shock for me.Yet personally, I prefer "Brides of Blood" over this one, for one major reason. The director has attempted to disguise the ridiculous monster by using a pulsating zoom lens effect every time it's on screen. It's a gimmick that you'll either love or hate, and it's much more pronounced than the shakycam shenanigans of "The Blair Witch Project" or similar hand-held horror films. On a big screen, this effect would have been absolutely nauseating to me.Still, I'd recommend this movie to anybody who liked the first one, or anybody who digs grade-Z drive-in trash just like I do. The horror exotica settings do a lot to make the film interesting, and believe it or not, the ridiculous dialog exists alongside scenes that actually are well-written and memorable. Who expected THAT?

A native woman is chased through the jungle on Blood Island by a mutant green monster, the result of a failed experiment. When it catches her, it kills her. Three people are sailing toward Blood Island. Sheila Willard (Angelique Pettyjohn) is looking for her father who lives on the island. Carlos Lopez (Ronaldo Valdez) who was born on the island and is returning to see his mother after hearing of his father's death. And finally the hero, Dr. Bill Foster (John Ashley) who has been sent from the mainland to investigate an incident that happened on this very same boat where a man was rescued from the sea and killed a member of the crew, and when shot had green blood. Upon arrival they are greeted by the Chief, Ramu (Alfonso Carvajal) and his people. Sheila finds her father (Tony Edmunds) who is a drunk, Carlos finds his old friend Marla (Alicia Alonzo) and his mother (Tita Munoz) at her mansion but she doesn't want to leave as all she has left is memories and also claims there is nothing for her on the mainland. Staying at the mansion with her is the crazy scientist Dr. Lorca (Ronaldo Remy) and his henchman Razak (Bruno Punzalan). Soon after arriving Sheila is attacked by a green monster, a native tries to help her only for the monster to kill him instead, Sheila sees her opportunity and escapes. As Foster investigates the island it becomes clear that all is not well. More people are brutally murdered, and Foster discovers that Dr. Lorca has been experimenting on the natives and Carlos's father Don Ramon that has turned him into a chlorophyll-contaminated, living, walking half plant half man monster who savagely mutilates anyone in his path! It's up to Foster to save the day.Jointly directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon on location in the Philippines, I thought it was pretty good fun. The script by Rueben Canoy moves along at a fair pace and remains interesting throughout, there is even a couple of nice lines in there, after meeting Foster for the first time Sheila's father says "he's dealt with wino's more than you and he's a shrewd judge of character, I hate him already!". Technically the films nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, photography, music, acting, sets and special effects while not brilliant, are perfectly acceptable. The monster itself looks decent, except it's cut out eyes so the actor underneath can see, you can see his eyelids. There is a surprising and pleasing amount of blood and gore, again while not brilliant it is effective. Severed limbs and heads, and mutilated corpses with their intestines hanging out look good, there is a bit of animal cruelty in here to, so beware. One thing I really disliked about this film was whenever the monster attacks or is on screen someone made the decision to have the camera constantly zoom-in zoom-out that becomes very annoying, very quickly. The jungle locations gives the film a nice lush green look to it. It's obvious that most of the night scenes were filmed in the day and are far too bright considering that we are supposed to be in the middle of a jungle with no natural light except the moon and stars, but the up side to this is that at least we can actually see whats supposed to be happening. A solid horror exploitation film thats worth a watch at least. Good fun.

Forget all the critics (though much of their criticism is technically on target). Watch this film with an open mind and revel in the sheer audaciousness of it all. Gruesome monsters. Trashy, gorgeous heroines. Square jawed men of action. Let the bizarre ennui envelope you. Enjoy the sheer inanity of the whole thing. I saw this as a teen and was utterly captivated by it and the crude power remains intact. On location shooting (in the Philippines) and cast of unknowns adds enormously. It's a wonderful piece of trash film making -- a classic of the sort.