B movie perennial John Ashley stars as Matt Farrell, a diver / "renaissance man" who is kidnapped by thugs and taken to an isolated tropical island. Said thugs represent a mad scientist named Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay), whose experiments have involved turning people into half-human / half-animal aberrations. Matt falls in lust with the doctors' sexy daughter Neva (Pat Woodell), who sympathizes with him and the doctors' other "subjects". So she helps them to escape.This escape takes up quite a bit of the rather brief running time of 81 minutes, but instead of ramping up the tension and sense of urgency, things start to meander too much. Obviously nobody is in a big hurry here, including the filmmakers.This was the second unofficial Filipino adaptation of "Island of Dr. Moreau", after the 1959 feature "Terror is a Man" (a.k.a. "The Blood Creature"). That fact becomes easy to understand very quickly, and the material still has a compelling nature, but the film is rather underwhelming, with a script (co-written by director Eddie Romero) that isn't all that hot. The creature makeup is adequate at best; we've seen better work in other, official versions of the H.G. Wells tale. The location shooting is fine, and the film does possess that great atmosphere common to other Filipino genre & exploitation features. While it is mostly played straight, there is some comedy relief from a "bat man" (Tony Gosalvez) who tries in vain to fly. There's even some "romance" between the "antelope man" (Ken Metcalfe) and "wolf woman" (Mona Morena). The score is a mixture of stock music and new compositions by Tito Arevalo & Ariston Avelino.The performances, much like the makeup, are very much adequate - no more - across the board. The main attraction for a number of people will undoubtedly be the prospect of Pam Grier playing one of the creatures, the feral "panther woman". One undeniable standout is the very amusing Jan Merlin as Steinman, Dr. Gordons' main henchman. Often seen smiling, he cheerfully encourages Farrell to escape, while having his own motivation for this attitude towards the prisoner.Watchable, but only really worth recommending to die hard devotees of Filipino B cinema.Six out of 10.

This film must be be seen before one is entitled to call any other film bad, it truly sets the baseline for bad films. Undoubtedly the worst film of all time (as of 24/01/2015) it makes all previous contenders for the title shine. The costumes are cruddy, the dialogue dreadful, the plot pathetic and the acting abysmal. When we sat down to watch this film we were genuinely appalled, it was so bad we were even unable to find it comically bad.Seeing a film this bad has given me a better appreciation of other films to which I had previously given insufficient credit. So before you dare to slate any film you must first see this one. It ought to be obligatory viewing for any critic before they are allowed to criticise anything about any other filmAs a teenager, talking with a film buff friend, I once declared a film we watched to be utter rubbish, he defended the film declaring that I had not seen enough films to know a bad one when I saw it; now I have.

To his Family, and Fans: I met Mr. Ashley in Hollywood 1971-72, not sure. I was totally impressed with him. A beautiful man and gentleman. I thoroughly enjoyed my meeting with him. He introduced me to Robert Conrad and I was blown away. Talk about beautiful men in my company.Just want to say after after 40 years my heart still remembers John in a positive way. He, to me was a wonderful actor/person/father. I treasure my memories of him.I just wish we could have met again, just for old times (whatever that means), I hear that phrase all the time so thought it was appropriate, excuse me for being so dramatic! The shock came when I learned he passed in 1997 on the set of Scared City in New York. I was devastated . . . John was to live forever.All good things do come to an end, and this was definitely one of those good things. John was the epitome of success, talent, and fortitude. He was brilliant as an actor, and stunning as an individual.To his family: Bless you for being a part of this wonderful human being: Entertainer, Singer, Actor, Husband, Father. Truly a God Send to all of us to learn from.Your Friend, Rita

There are movies whose sole saving grace (if it can even be called that- see MARK OF THE DEVIL to find out what I mean) is a single scene (or, in this case, a couple of short sequences). For me, the highlights of THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE are the shots where the bat man takes flight. They're brief, but they're there: the guy swoops down out of a tree, flapping his arms for all he's worth, and glides past overhead; arms still flapping, he comes sailing along a trail in a sequence that's actually surprisingly well done; and, the camera ostensibly mounted on his back, gives chase to a group of men on foot who're hoofing it for all they're worth (their heads twisted around to stare up in horror at him even as they run). These scenes made the film (for me, as a kid) worth seeing. Sort of. Like INVASION OF THE BAT PEOPLE- which had but a single close-up of the sole bat person (and one bat person does not an invasion make, if you follow me drift). If you're one of those die-hards who needs to see it all just so you can say you did, or one of those of us who wades through the dreck to find the single, solitary rose, check out THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE.