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.

***SPOILERS*** Being the soul survivor of the freighter "Pedro Queen" that sank in a typhoon in the South Pacific William Fitzgerald, Richard Derr, finds himself stranded on the island of Isla De Sangre where he's rescued by the local natives and brought to. Dr. Charles Girard's, Francis Lederer, seaside home to be nursed back to health. It's there that Fitzgerald finds out that the doc's wife the stunningly beautiful blond Frances, the former Miss. Denmark Greta Thyssen,is bored as hell in her obsessed husband's experiments in jump starting the evolution of the species! Who was more turned on and interested in his mad experiments then in her. What Dr. Girard is trying to create is the perfect man and do it by speeding up the evolutionary process by a few months then the usual thousand or millions of years that evolution takes to do it.There's also Dr. Girard's assistant Walter, Oscar Kesse, who's got his eyes more on Frances then the Doc's experiments. It's the horny Walter who want's to experiment, if you know what I mean, with her more then with the creatures that the Doc is working on. What Dr. Girard is trying to create is what looks like a cat-man in a mummy costume that will, in his deranged mind, advance the human race some thousands of years into the future in both intelligence and creativity! What a nut job!***SPOILERS*** As it turns out it's the hero of the movie William Fitzgerald who sees through Dr. Girard's insanity who secretly plans to escape from the island and take Frances along with him who had since fallen heads over heels in love with him. It's when the cat-man escapes and kills a number of people, including Walter, on the island Dr. Girard thinking that he's his friend and won't hurt him, here kitty kitty kitty, ends up getting clawed and thrown to his death by it who's by now sick and tired, now being a free man or cat, of being experimented on by him.***MAJOR SPOILER*** Now free to leave the island Fitzgerald and Frances are shocked to find out that the only boat to escape left on the island was commandeered by the cat-man himself despite having been shot a number of times. At the conclusion of the film we see cat-man sailing into the sunset leaving the two behind to meet the fate that awaits them!

"Terror is a Man" is a very, very low-budget film but despite this it's still a pretty good version of the classic H.G. Wells story "The Island of Lost Souls". So, despite being made in the Philippines, having a MOSTLY unknown cast and a relatively cheesy creature, the film was deftly made and featured a nice appearance by Francis Lederer as the mad doctor.The film begins with a man in a lifeboat washing up on the shores of a mostly deserted island in the Pacific. He soon learns that only about a half dozen people live there and they all work for a weirdo doctor who is doing weird experiments. What, exactly, this experiment is doesn't become apparent until later, when you learn the crazy guy is trying to 'evolve' creatures into human form. What this really means are 50 or more surgeries that cause excruciating pain for the poor creature--all in the name of 'science'.Unlike the original tale, there is only the one creature and there's a romance tossed in to boot. But, good suspense, acting and a credible explanation for why you don't see much of the creature all work to make a spooky and worthy horror film.By the way, I did have one question that I thought of while watching the film. If the folks have been on this island for two years, how does the Doctor's wife have a perm?!

Fitzgerald is the only survivor of a shipwreck and he finds himself washed up on an luscious Pacific island, which is inhabited by a close-minded doctor, his unsatisfied wife and edgy assistant. That night they found Fitzgerald, the doctor's experimental subject; a panther got loose and killed some natives. But they manage to get hold of it again. Not too long Fitzgerald learns what the doctor is trying to do, but he questions the ethical nature of his experiments. When Fitzgerald comes face to face with Dr. Girard's test subject it's something his eyes can't believe.Like other users have already mentioned, this cheap b-grade flick is influenced by H.G. Wells novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau." You might call it a poor man's version of the story. But to my surprise this feature was incredibly well-made and mildly effective, it's just too bad that the print of the film is all scratched up and jumpy in parts. The low-budget production is well set-up with fine execution in the direction, thunderously high-strung score and solid camera-work in achieving a very heavy mood in the jarringly, grim atmosphere. The isolated island (which was filmed in the Philippines) and the doctor's house (especially his laboratory) have a dauntingly, unsteady feel. Slow-building terror is squeezed tight by a snail-like opening hour involving many stoppages and meandering about. The third-act though, is where things really get going with some nice doses of suspense and plenty of interesting moments occurring with the mystery of the doctor's work coming out of the dark. These sparks are few and far between, but the sub-due plot is strong enough to carry the film, even though it does have its wishy-washy details and understated ending. The routine script is filled with a lot of mumbo jumbo, maybe a little too much of it and a bit forced. Thrown in are ponderous theories about evolution and morality about interfering with nature's course and so on. Also the dramatic interplay between the characters have a variety of frictions that plays on their slowly decaying mentality. Though, the token romance link between Fitzgerald and Frances Girard was unconvincing and it felt overly padded for me. The performances were exceptional enough, with some buoyant acting at times. Francis Lederer, as Dr. Girard, Richard Derr as Fitzgerald and Oscar Keesee Jr. as Perrera were terrific in their roles. The beautiful Greta Thyssen as Frances Girard; I was 50/50 on, sometimes she was rather leaden, but still she has an awe that's hard dismiss. The make-up effects for our feline (and there's only one) was way above-average, even though it was kept in bandages and looking more like a mummy. But when we see glimpses of its face it was rather well-done up, though I found the creature's growling unintentionally amusing.There's nothing great or particularly unfamiliar about it, but with what they had to work with, it's commendably done.Side-note: I'm just glad that I didn't have to sit through the warning bell gimmick, which would destroy the whole purpose in you wanting suspense and surprises from this film. The idea just escapes me, especially since you'll know what you're getting yourself into.