A lot of fun.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

Successful adventurer Matt Farrell (John Ashley) is kidnapped whilst on a dive by sadistic hunter Steinman (Jan Merlin), who takes him to a mysterious island dominated by the insane Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay). Gordon has been doing experiments on the native locals and cross-bred them with certain animals in an attempt to create a great army, and sees Farrell as a suitable addition to his grisly bunch. After escaping with Gordon's daughter Neva (Pat Woodell) and all the human-animal hybrids, Steinman pursues them in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.As far as re-makes/re-imaginings of the hugely influential Island of Lost Souls (1932) go, The Twilight People certainly isn't the worst. Choked with massive budget limitations that naturally leads to terrible acting and worse make-up, this Grindhouse effort certainly has it's charms. It is, of course, f*****g awful, but there is a bit of spirit amongst the cast, and plenty of laugh-at-the-s**t-make-up moments. The creatures, which include an Antelope Man, an Ape Man, a Wolf Woman, and most hilariously, a Bat Man, are so ridiculous looking that I could scarcely believe that the actors behind them managed to keep a straight face throughout the film. It does, however, have Pam Grier as the Panther Woman (made famous by Kathleen Burke from the 1932 original), and seeing her rip her way through a number of Gordon's henchman is certainly worth your time.But the on-the-run second half of the film repeatedly stalls and ultimately bores, as the film seems to be wind down the proceedings in order to sustain an acceptable running time. It is also quite tame as far as low-budget monster movies go, but I have to admit that it added to it's almost innocent charm. The ending, which doesn't really wrap anything up, ends abruptly when I was expecting and almost hoping for five minutes more. To summarise then, certainly worth a watch if you like your movies trashy, cheap, and easy to watch, but a meandering and ridiculous film overall. Though I would recommend a watch simply for the Bat Man, paper wings and all.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

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.

For all fans of late-night TV and drive-in movies, "Twilight People" is a real joy to behold. It's the kind of movie you remember watching on an independent local TV station at 11pm (when 11pm was really late to be awake). Or else maybe you caught movies like "Twilight People" at the drive-in, probably playing second on the bill, and were amused by its low-budget Halloween-costume charms. Anybody else is going to think this movie sucks.Technically it does, on every level of imagination. The script is as bad as a script about half human-half animal mutations can get. As previously mentioned by another reviewer, this movie passes itself off as a cross between "Island of Lost Souls" and "The Most Dangerous Game". Actually it's more like a low-rent version of "Island of Dr. Moreau", although that film wasn't made until several years after this one (and with similarly laughable results, as well). But for all its shortcomings, "Twilight People" has a real sense of fun. I think anyone who was waiting for some believeable special effects was in the wrong place to being with. What the movie has going for it is an authentic feel of bonafide 70s drive-in delirium.Our hero is John Ashley, veteran of classic drive-in trash like the "Blood Island" movies. Here he plays Matt Farrell, not to be confused with the 'Jim Farrell' character from "Brides of Blood". Matt Farrell is apparently a noted adventurer who attracts the attention of our resident mad doctor, Dr. Gordon. Farrell is kidnapped and taken to Gordon's secluded isla, where he is to be used as a brain-transplant donor for Gordon's quintet of genetic freaks. The 'monsters' include a Bat Man, Antelope Man, Wolf Woman, Ape Man, and none other than Pam Grier as the "Panther Woman".Of course what would a trashy 70s flick be without sex, and there is plenty of sexual tension on this island, in the most surprising places. The doctor's daughter (who is conveniently beautiful in a 70s kind of way) is ripe for the picking, and Farrell is just the kind of stud to show her what a real man is. But Steinman, the Doc's hired goon, has designs of his own...he wants Farrell for himself! No kidding. Neva and Steinman even have a catfight over Farrell in one of the movie's best scenes. OK, Steinman wants Farrell so he can hunt him down and KILL him...but there's a definite undercurrent of lust in his lines with Farrell, from the minute they snatch him from his skin dive in the movie's opening scene.But no matter. Farrell only has eyes for Neva, and fortunately she chooses the moment of Farrell's arrival to turn against her father and run off with the freaks. It's at this point where the movie starts to veer off into the truly bizarre. We have a romance that develops between Antelope Man and Wolf Woman. We get to see Pam Grier rolling around on the ground and purring after a meal. And wow...that Bat Man is not to be missed. After a few failed attempts at flight, he really gets going by the time the movie's climax rolls around. And that's not even mentioning the 'surprise' mutation that crops up during the finale (if you can't figure it out ahead of time, you weren't really paying attention).I especially loved the sequence where the Panther Woman takes out a few of Gordon's henchmen, then suddenly turns on her own kind and tries to kill Antelope Man for no apparent reason. The animal people are mostly identifiable by the familiar animal-sounds on the soundtrack (the Wolf Woman's canine utterings are priceless), although I have to admit the Ape Man was more than a little disappointing (not to mention confusing), especially when he tries to rape the suddenly good-hearted Neva.The movie's big finish is also a little bit of a letdown, especially the unresolved tension between Steinman and Farrell. I was just a bit confused about their final scene---you'll know what I mean if you're adventurous enough to actually watch "Twilight People".Technically everything is done on the cheap, but since there was obviously such a low budget, I'm impressed that they managed to pull off the nice touches of the movie. I liked the sets they used for the interiors of Gordon's mansion, especially the dungeon and the prerequisite "secret passageway". I've never seen a more blatant disregard for continuity in regards to day-for-night filming, except maybe in "The Eye Creatures" (which, ironically, also featured John Ashley). Obviously sunny days are the background for scenes that are supposed to be taking place in the dead of night, like Farrell's escape from the mansion.There's also some amusing comic-book lighting going on here. Much of the interior scenes are tinged with red and green lights, and a few scenes in the laboratory feature a multi-domed contraption that houses orange brains underneath yellow plastic.The makeup of the animal people is so hokey that you can't help but be amused by it, and the performances are alternately zombified and deliciously over-the-top. Although it's obvious that nobody thought they were making great art with "Twilight People", they may have been aiming for B-movie greatness, and this movie has drive-in appeal in spades.