''The Twilight People'' is a 1972 Filipino-American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Eddie Romero Edgar Sinco Romero, (July 7, 1924 – May 28, 2013), commonly known as Eddie Romero, was a Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter. Early life Romero was born on July 7, 1924. His father was José E. Romero, the first Philipp ...

. It was produced by Romero and John Ashley, and written by Romero and Jerome Small. It stars Ashley and features, in an early film appearance,

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star (although, there are some who dispute that claim and believe Cheng Pei-pei actually holds that distin ...

in a supporting role.

Plot

While diving, Matt Farrell (Ashley) is kidnapped by Neva Gordon (

Pat Woodell Patricia Joy Woodell (July 12, 1944 – September 29, 2015) was an American actress and singer, best known for her television role as Bobbie Jo Bradley from 1963 to 1965 on ''Petticoat Junction''. Career Woodell was born July 12, 1944, in Win ...

) and Steinman (

Jan Merlin Jan Merlin (born Jan Wasylewski, April 3, 1925 – September 20, 2019) was an American character actor, television writer, and author. Early years Born Jan Wasylewski and reared in New York City, Merlin was of Polish ancestry. He attended th ...

) and taken to an island where Neva's father Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay) is experimenting, trying to make a "super race" by combining humans and animals. Dr. Gordon wants Farrell to be one of his upcoming experiments, but Neva begins to doubt her fathers' work following a botched experiment on another test subject and falling in love with Farrell. She decides to help Farrell and the animal people escape. Steinman and his men hunt them down.

Cast

* John Ashley as Matt Farrell *

as Neva Gordon *

as Steinman *Charles Macaulay as Dr. Gordon *

as Ayesa the Panther Woman *Ken Metcalf as Kuzma the Antelope Man *Tony Gosalvez as Darmo the Bat Man *Kim Ramos as Primo the Ape Man *Mona Morena as Lupa the Wolf Woman *

Eddie Garcia Eduardo Verchez Garcia (; May 2, 1929 – June 20, 2019), known colloquially as Manoy, was a Filipino actor, television personality, film director and producer. With almost 600 film and television roles and a career spanning seven decades, he ...

as Juan Pereira *Angel Buenaventura as Angel

Production

Director Romero had previously produced 1959's ''

Terror Is a Man ''Terror Is a Man'' (also known as ''Blood Creature'', ''Creature from Blood Island'', ''The Gory Creatures'', ''Island of Terror'' and ''Gore Creature'') is a 1959Warren, Bill (1986). ''Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2''. McFarland & Co., Inc. ...

'', closely based on

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Island of Doctor Moreau ''The Island of Doctor Moreau'' is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells (1866–1946). The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick who is a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the islan ...

'', and returned to the same subject matter with ''The Twilight People'', although neither film acknowledged their source material.Thompson, Nathanie
"The Twilight People (1972)"

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

The film, which is also known as ''Island of the Twilight People'', was originally made for

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...

, then run by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

and Lawrence Woolner. Corman, Wollner and actor/producer Ashley had previously worked together on ''

Beast of the Yellow Night ''Beast of the Yellow Night'' is a 1971 Filipino/American horror film, directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, who co-produced the film with Romero. It was the first release for Roger Corman's distribution company New World Pictures. ...

'', ''

The Big Doll House ''The Big Doll House'' is a 1971 American women-in-prison film starring Pam Grier, Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Brooke Mills, and Pat Woodell. The film follows six female inmates through daily life in a gritty, unidentified tropical prison. Late ...

'' and ''

The Woman Hunt ''The Woman Hunt'' is a 1972 film directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, Pat Woodell, and Sid Haig. It was the last of several films Romero made for Roger Corman's New World Pictures and is an unofficial remake of Richard Connell' ...

''. They came up the idea of making a new modern-day version of the Wells classic over lunch one day. Ashley said that they wrote the script and started filming one month after the initial lunch. When Corman and Woolner decided to dissolve their partnership, Woolner took ''Twilight People'' to his new distribution company, Dimension Pictures. The film's budget was .Weaver (1988). pp.43-44 The Philippines-based production company, Four Star Associates, Ltd., was owned by Romero. The film was shot by Fredy Conde and edited by Ben Barcelon; Ariston Avelino and

Tito Arevalo Tito may refer to: People Mononyms * Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman *Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journa ...

handled the score. Make-up was created by Tony Arteida. "It was not time consuming," recalled Ashley. "We never seemed to be waiting for the makeup to be put on. And I remember when I first saw the film, I thought, jeez it worked better than I thought when we were doing it." Merlin, who played one of the villains, said Ashley asked him to dye his head blonde to differentiate him from Ashley, who had brown hair. Filming took place at a studio in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and on location in

Teresa Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or re ...

. Ashley considered the film to be one of his favorites, saying, "It was a lot of fun to do and there weren't a lot of problems on it."

Release

''The Twilight People'' was released in April 1972 at a runtime of 84 minutes.

Reception

Playing double- and triple-bills at

drive-in movie theaters A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movie ...

, ''The Twilight People'' was a popular film. The film "did real well real quick," said Ashley.

References

Notes Bibliography *Weaver, Tom (1988) "Interview with John Ashley" in ''Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup'', McFarland.

External links

* * * *
''The Twilight People''
at Grindhouse Database
Trailer
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twilight People 1972 films 1972 horror films American science fiction horror films Films directed by Eddie Romero Films set on islands Films shot in the Philippines Mad scientist films Philippine science fiction horror films Dimension Pictures films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films