Terror is a Man
Entry updated 27 November 2018. Tagged: Film.
Philippine/US film (1959; vt Blood Creature). Lynn-Romero Productions/Premiere Productions. Produced by Kane W Lynn and Eddie Romero (credited as Edgar F Romero). Directed by Gerardo de Leon (credited as Gerry de Leon). Written by Paul Harber, based without credit on H G Wells's The Island of Dr Moreau (1896; vt [with textual omissions] The Island of Dr Moreau: A Possibility 1896). Cast includes Flory Carlos, Richard Derr, Francis Lederer and Greta Thyssen. 89 minutes. Black and white.
Shipwrecked sailor William Fitzgerald (Derr) washes up on a remote Island on which the secretive Scientist Dr Charles Girard (Lederer) is conducting odd experiments. It soon proves that Girard is trying to transform or Uplift animals into humans by surgical means, with some success. It also becomes clear that Girard's beautiful but unhappy wife Frances (Thyssen) is strongly attracted to the handsome Fitzgerald. The Beast-Man (Carlos) escapes from the laboratory and slays some local villagers before finally killing Dr Girard, then in turn being killed by Fitzgerald. The ending strongly indicates that Frances will be departing the island with Fitzgerald for a happier life.
This poor film is the second adaption of the H G Wells novel, following the vastly superior The Island of Lost Souls (1933). It seems to be Eddie Romero's first Horror in SF movie. Romero was later to produce a number of similar low-budget horror films, especially during the 1970s, often starring ageing US actors such as John Ashley. [GSt]
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