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.

Back in the 70s director Eddie Romero made a number of horror films in his native country of the Philippines. They had a few things in common other than the location they were shot. They were all incredibly low budget movies. Almost all of them starred John Ashley as their leading man. Most played on double bills at drive-ins across the country. And some of them were actually pretty good.One of those movies was TWILIGHT PEOPLE. I can remember the first time I saw this movie. It was the opening film at the drive-in nearby that showed before the main feature THE DEVIL'S RAIN back in 1975. For some reason I either didn't have my license yet or a car and my friend, his mom and his aunt and I all went to see these two. I remember thinking it wasn't a bad movie. Since then I've had the chance to watch it, more often than not on some obscure Roku channel and not in the best shape. So when I heard VCI was going to release the film on blu-ray I was excited to hear it.Heavy duty plots were never the greatest in these films. This time around adventurer Matt Farrell (Ashley) is taken captive on the high seas by a group of henchmen led by Steinman (Jan Merlin), a pure blooded Nazi Aryan if there ever was one. In charge of kidnapping is Neva Gordon (Pat Woodell).Farrell is taken to a remote island in the Pacific where Steinman and Gordon march him to a castle while a watchful unseen presence keeps an eye on them from the jungle. Farrell is now the "guest" of mad scientist Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay), the father of Neva. He has plans for Farrell which can't be good but he doesn't provide details, merely talking about how he will make history and that he is the perfect specimen. Steinman would rather Farrell attempt an escape so he could hunt him down, his favorite past time.Farrell begins to investigate what's happening on the island and soon discovers that Dr. Gordon is creating a new species of man, a hybrid crossing various animals with human beings. An equal opportunist Dr. Gordon has transformed men and women both. On a side note and of particular interest is the fact that Ayesa the Panther Woman is played by none other than Pam Grier who later went on to fame in a number of higher profile films as well as several Blaxploitation films.It doesn't take long for Neva to fall in love with Farrell and attempt to stop her father from his plans to use him in his experiments. She drugs Steinman, releases Farrell from the cage he was placed in as well as the other hybrids and they head out to escape. When Steinman wakes he's glad for the opportunity he wanted all along, to track down and kill a worthy opponent.Made in 1972 the movie didn't have access to the CGI created monsters it would have had today. Instead it relies on practical effects and full on special effects make-up for each creature. Doing so on a miniscule budget you would think the end results would reek but in fact they're actually pretty good. Some are better than others. The standout is that of the bat-man hybrid, a full grown man with wings attached between his arms and body. He's shown flying towards the end of the film and it actually looks fairly decent.As I said before the script was never the biggest item worked on with these films. That being said they don't fall over the Ed Wood cliff and at least sound like conversations real people might actually have. Ashley does a fine job here though most of his role is to simply play the part of a handsome hero. Woodell is attractive and makes her part believable as well. And Merlin as Steinman is particularly villainous as he threatens Ashley.The movie was made for just $150,000 and there is little doubt that it made its cost back and more. It played on double and triple bills at drive-ins for years. The fact I saw it my first time three years after it was released shows that. But the film really doesn't have as low budget a feel about it as you would expect. Yes it's a bit cheezy at times but it's a fun movie as well.VCI has released the film before but this is the first time I've seen it released in blu-ray format. They're known for these forgotten treasures of the past and they've done well with this one. The picture is the cleanest I've seen and the sound well maintained. This version has been remastered to a 2K version from the original 35mm negative in widescreen. They're including several nice extras as well here with a full commentary track with film historian Toby Roan, a near hour long interview with director Eddie Romero and the original theatrical trailer.This is not the cream of the crop in horror movies but it never claims to be. What it does claim to be is a nice little horror film, a PG rated romp with a little bit of blood and a lot of ingenuity. For me after all these years I found it to still be an entertaining movie that I know I'll probably go back and watch again. Leave your expectations at the door and my guess is you'll have fun with it as well.

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.

Plan 9 From Outer Space is generally considered to be the worst film of all time. I contend that the people voting have not seen Twilight People. It's basically The Island of Dr Moreau without a budget. In this version of the story, I believe the Doctor is doing his genetic engineering for the Third Reich, as he and his assistant/security guy are Nazis. The half man/half animal creatures are bizarre. There is a bat man, an antelope man, and even a mole woman. I had nightmares about this flick for years (not because it was scary) until I found it on video and re-lived the horror of one of the most awful films of all time. The acting is bad. The writing is bad. The costumes are bad. This is a bad movie.