![]() Retitled and rereleased multiple times to cash in on the film's drive-in success, Brides Of Blood is a pretty enjoyable monster movie. If that weren't bad enough, there are mutant insects and giant crabs and worst of all a monstrous slimy green beast that ever so primitive natives refer to as The Evil One.Įventually, after some snooping around, Jim learns that the natives of the island worship this monster as a god and in order to keep it satiated provide it with female sacrifices! Understandably appalled and upset by this practice, Jim tries to gather up enough likeminded individuals to prevent the next sacrifice before it's too late! Something has gotten into Mother Nature and the jungles seem alive with plants that sport branches and roots that grab people and hold them in place. After mingling with the natives, they soon discover that this remote island is not quite all that it seems. Paul Henderson (Kent Taylor) and his gorgeous if philander of a wife, Carla (Beverly Powers) who, along with a Peace Corps volunteer named Jim Farrell (John Ashley) arrive by boat on Blood Island. Directed by the great Eddie Romero and shot entirely on location fast and cheap in the Philippines, it's a great mix of sex, gore and exotic locations with a memorable monster and some great set pieces. The first installment of the formal 'Blood Island' trilogy was this shocker from 1968, that was, like its predecessor, unleashed upon an unsuspecting North American audience by Hemisphere Pictures. MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND DE LEON MOVIEYou've got to love any movie that opens with a text warning from 'The Management' that states “"We suggest the squeamish and faint-hearted close their eyes at the sound of the bell and reopen them when the bell rings again.†This one doesn't get talked about as much as the others in the set, but make sure you take the time to check it out, it's quite effective. Sure, you'll have no trouble figuring out where it's all going but this is good stuff. Francis Lederer, from The Return Of Dracula, is a kick as the film's mad doctor and gorgeous Greta Thyssen, of Journey To The Seventh Planet, quite striking as his bride. He's pretty macho, tough and noble and out to do the right thing. MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND DE LEON TVRichard Derr, an actor who kept busy with a lot of TV work but who also had decent roles in When Worlds Collide and Firefox, makes for a good leading man. The score works quite well, and the movie is pretty quick in its pacing once we get past the slower first reel of the film. The cinematography in the film is definitely better than you might expect. There's some nice, shadowy atmosphere that helps us look past the fact that the picture was obviously made fast and cheap. The effects used to create the panther man are memorably goofy, he kind of looks like 'The Fiend' in Science Crazed, but somehow it manages to work. Moreau but that doesn't dampen the entertainment value that this picture offers. Yeah, this one 'borrows' just a little bit from H.G. What was it that Girard was up to that led to the locals taking off? Well, like another Doctor who lived on a remote island, his work involved trying to create beings that are half animal, half man - he's even started his work, resulting in a 'panther man' (a guy with bandages, whiskers and pointy cat ears) that roams the area causing trouble… Now he and Greta, along with his assistant, their servant Selene (Lilia Duran) and her son basically have the place to themselves. Girard is unusually hospital to the island's newest inhabitant, explaining to him that those who once called this island home left only because of their irrational fear of the scientific work he was conducting. While at first the island appears to have been abandoned, he soon learns that it is in fact inhabited by doctor named Charles Girard (Francis Lederer) and his lovely wife Frances (Greta Thyssen). The first film in the set, co-directed by Gerardo de Leon and Eddie Romero and released in 1959, Terror Is A man tells the story of one William Fitzgerald (Richard Derr), an unfortunately soul who winds up shipwrecked on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. Severin Films offers up a quartet of Filipino horror trash film classics on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere! The Blood Island Collection - Movie Review: Cast: Richard Derr, Francis Lederer, Greta Thyssen, Kent Taylor, Beverly Hills, John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn, Celeste Yarnall ![]()
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