This is another of those bottom of a double bill $1.50 exploitation trifles that was given a fun title to match its (usually far superior) main attraction.In any case Joseph Langdon(John Ashley) is a career criminal, who finds himself dying in the jungle. A mysterious stranger offers to save his rotten life, in exchange for unquestioned servitude. Some marble mouthed whining and a bag of rotten meat later, the deal is sealed.Langdon comes to as formerly injured businessman Philip Rogers, with a whole new life, a thriving business empire and a buxom blonde wife, Julia (Mary Charlotte Wilcox).Seems like a pretty sweet deal, until Phillip woodenly marches to the (correct) conclusion that his benefactor is Satan himself (Vic Diaz) and his new eternal mission is to awaken the latent evil in the folks he comes across. Philip can be harmed, but cannot die in the process.The thing is, Philip/Joseph royally sucks at it. While he's making stroke victim face and spouting platitudes that would make a college kid who just discovered the writing of Dylan Thomas blush, he not only fails at any actual evil.....but makes poor Julia fall in love with him again (perhaps she has a fetish for monotones).The Devil is indeed in the details, so hydrogenated Satan adds a bonus to the deal. Since his protégé sucks at evil in human form, Philip becomes a mauling monster at night, with a face that looks like it was made out of a Vogon's armpit putty. The silly putty changes color randomly throughout the film from brown, to gray, to green-ish. I'm assuming it depends on which classic movie monster the barely gore producing killings and mannerisms are being stolen from in that instance.In any case, there's lots of boring speechifying about good and evil, one really awkwardly shot sex scene, and a random as can be blind man who tries to help our tortured "hero" out of the various predicaments a demonic Silly Putty monster can get into on a day to day basis.Said random blind man then tries to help mush mouth find a place to hide until he can break the Devil's pact, Julia nearly gets murdered, and the kind sightless stranger gets killed for his trouble by police looking for Joseph/Phillip.However, since monster mash and his monstrous alter ego are still capable of feeling expressionlessly sad over the kind helper's death magically breaks the vow.....and finally our protagonist takes a bullet. Joseph can finally die in peace, and pieces.Some more psychobabble, and roll end credits.Director Eddie Romero has produced some enjoyably trashy romps,had obviously had a good handle on the genre given the length of his career, and why he thought an exploitation film was an excellent platform for half baked philosophical and ethical lessons is beyond me.One star for Vic Diaz being his delightful self and scenery chewing through Satan's silly dialog with wickedly smarmy abandon and half open shirts. Fast forward to his scenes, as they are the best part of the film.One star for a slightly past her prime Mary Wilcox being quite attractive, pending the degree of camera angle.The rest is dull as dishwater.

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.

During the 10-year period 1968-'77, Filipino director Eddie Romero collaborated with American actor John Ashley on no less than 10 motion pictures. First up was the little-seen "Manila, Open City," to be quickly followed by the so-called Blood Island trilogy ("Brides of Blood," "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island" and "Beast of Blood"), and then the film in question here, "The Beast of the Yellow Night" (AND, later on still, films with such titles as "The Twilight People," "The Woman Hunt," "Beyond Atlantis," "Savage Sisters" and "Sudden Death"). Nowhere near as pulpy or as fun as the Blood Island trilogy, "TBOTYN" is something of a labor to sit through, sports a confused and confusing story line, and never adequately answers a good number of questions that the film itself raises. In it, Ashley plays a U.S. Army deserter named Joseph Langdon, who, when we first encounter him in the jungles of southeast Asia in 1946, is fleeing from his pursuers and near death. He is saved by a portly, acerbic sort of fellow, who the viewer soon divines to be no less a figure than Satan himself (amusingly portrayed by the great Filipino mainstay Vic Diaz), and gives up his eternal soul in return for his salvation. Flash forward 25 years, and we find Langdon's soul inhabiting the body of wealthy industrialist Philip Rogers, who, after a disfiguring accident, awakens with Langdon's precise facial features (at least, this is what I THINK happens here). Langdon's mission: to bring out the latent evil in the man he is inhabiting. The problem: Rogers' hotty wife, Julia (well played by yummy Mary Wilcox, whose work I had recently enjoyed is such psychotronic winners as the woefully underrated "Love Me Deadly" and the shlocky thrill ride ""Psychic Killer"), whom he becomes understandably attracted to. The even bigger problem: Langdon/Rogers' tendency to morph into a hideous-looking, gut-ripping, indestructible monster at the most inopportune moments....Regarding those monstrous transformations, screenwriter/director Romero leaves it pretty unclear WHY Langdon/Rogers is being punished by Satan in this manner...unless it has something to do with the character going near a church, or making love to a woman, or feeling any sort of decent, human emotions. Who knows? Again, why is the monster made suddenly vulnerable to bullets at the film's end, after being invincible up till that point? Just because he said a prayer for a dying blind man? Who can say? And while I'm posing some imponderables, what's up with the film's title, anyway? The only "yellow" on display in this film are the ocher-colored vapor swirls that sometimes surround Satan when he manifests himself. Could that be it? Anybody's guess. Besides these instances of fuzzy writing, "TBOTYN" gives us the usually likable Ashley in a fairly wooden performance, some unimaginative lensing by Romero, and few if any scares or even moments of suspense, even though there are, surprisingly, numerous scenes involving blood and guts on display. On the plus side, these Filipino horror pictures always feature interesting-looking, exotic locales, and this one is no exception, although it might have been nice if Romero had managed to squeeze in a few more gorgeous Filipino women as additional eye candy (as he did, for example, in my favorite picture of his, 1973's "Black Mama, White Mama," a distaff "Defiant Ones" starring Pam Grier). The film gives us one excellent performance, at least: Leopoldo Salcedo as Inspector Santos, the head cop trying to hunt down the maniacal killer; Salcedo underplays nicely and invests his cop with a good deal of dignity and smarts. Another plus: the memorable and at times lovely score by Nestor Robles; how strange to find such a nice piece of music in this film, of all films! And as for this DVD itself, from the fine folks at RetroMedia, it sports a decent-looking (though far from pristine) print of the film, and comes with a number of interesting "extras." In the one called "Remembering John Ashley," Ashley's widow, Jan, as well as director Fred Olen Ray and some of Ashley's other friends, reminisce about the man and his work; this "extra" is, I hate to admit, far more interesting than the film itself. "The Beast of the Yellow Night" is not quite (as they would say in Tagalog) "walang kwenta," but it sure does come close!

Definitely this film won't win any awards but it's not boring.**SPOILERS** The plot is different than you may have heard: A criminal (Langdon) is shot down and dies, but his spirit is reincarnated into the body of a business tycoon (Philip)who has died in the hospital. Satan has done this in exchange for Langdon's soul, and the devil expects Langdon to tempt more humans to evil. Meanwhile, Langdon/Philip changes into a flesh-eating monster when he gets stressed.Eddie Romero has written a doozy. Philip's wife, who was previously disaffected with her husband, now adores the "new" Philip. Langdon, however, tries to pawn off his wife onto his brother, to keep her far from his deal with Satan and the monster side also. The monster stalks through the city several times and there is lots of pummeling, blood, and entrail-eating.The monster can be hurt but not killed, and it wanders into an open store one night after sustaining injury from police, on the alert from previous attacks. A blind man meets the monster and hides him overnight, then tends to Langdon. Interestingly, the blind man is a famous criminal from Langdon's era, and the two form a bond both man-to-man and man-monster (imitating the Frankenstein connection somewhat).The dialogue is bad quite a lot, but some of it is very philosophical, especially in explaining Langdon's dilemma: he wants to die but Satan won't let him. The dialogue between Philip and his wife is better, though the acting is pathetic there.Monster fans will enjoy this. The makeup isn't the greatest but is effective. The chase scenes are not long drawn-out affairs, and there are enough twists to keep it going.