The Twilight People

From the supra-genius mind of Director Eddie Romero comes THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE! Once again, mad science is being perpetrated in the Philippines. This time, diving enthusiast / adventurer, Matt Farrell (John Ashley) is captured by the ne'er-do-well cronies of Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay) and taken to a secret fortress. There, Gordon carries out the requisite experiments, causing hideous human / animal hybrids.

Romero fuses THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU with JAMES BOND (THE ISLAND OF DR. NO?), making the worst of both. The sci-fi elements are preposterous -the "antelope man"- and the Bond-ish stuff is equally absurd, featuring Ashley in the mega-spy role, looking more like a bloated Elvis Presley in search of a snack! He is aided by none other than Pat Woodell as Dr. Gordon''s daughter. As usual, the action is... less than exciting.

Lovers of cinematic abominations will drool over this sewer sausage! Watch for the incredible Pam Grier as Ayesa, the "panther woman"! In spite of the dime store makeup, she still manages to look hot!

One can only imagine what must have gone through Ms. Grier's mind while she traipsed around with the likes of the "bat man", who resembles someone who fell into a bonfire while wrapped in a shower curtain! Said flying rodent nearly steals the show during his attempted flight sequence! However, the true highlight is Ayesa's deadly rampage!

This movie must be seen by all sentient beings...

It's hard to imagine a world where all the stations you could watch would 'end their broadcast day' if you're too young to have lived it. That's the world where this movie was great as a late-night treat that aired very rarely. I only saw it the one time and forget the story completely but its images remain in my memory. I knew it was a cheap, bad movie when I was watching but my reaction ranged from bored to bemused to fascinated. Additionslly, there was invoked a sweet nostalgia from seeing John Ashley headlining a movie. I'd watched that guy battle mostly black and white monsters since I was 8 years old. I saw this movie when I was 26.

It's a new world now and there's no reason to recommend this movie anymore. But I liked it and would sit through it again.

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.

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.

Pretty damn boring, if this movie is any indication! The only reasons to see this movie are the goofy bat-man (in a memorable flying sequence) and the goddess herself, Pam Grier, as a laughable panther-woman. Otherwise, avoid at all costs!