This is How Movies Should Be Made

A-maz-ing

There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is one of those little gems that used to show up late at night on Fright Night with John Carradine as host and other venues on t.v. during the late 70's and early 80's. This movie was so heavily edited that I didn't realize how good it was until I found it on DVD about seven years ago. There was a lot of gore and nudity taken out of the t.v. prints that were thankfully restored on the DVD version. Cant have a "drive-in" classic without those elements now can you? The chlorophyll monster was downright original and appalling at the same time. I loved this Phillipino horror film classic for it's atmosphere and campiness though it is evident that the producers of this flick took their job seriously. Second in the Blood Island series and one of the best. 1970's Beast of Blood is also worth a look . Kudos to that other Romero horrormeister.

Other than an opportunity to watch a bad film, the other reason to see MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND is a chance to see Angelique Pettyjohn. Miss Pettyjohn gained some measure of fame among sci-fi geeks for appearing as the silver-haired Shanna in the original STAR TREK (in "The Gamesters of Triskelion"). While not a great actress, her striking looks and assets are hard to miss.The film is about a strange island where people have green blood and a freaky monster that looks like Man-Bear-Pig (or is it the stinky cheese man?) lives. An agent from the government and a missing doctor's daughter arrive on the island to investigate. But, to their surprise, the island is a killing ground for the stupid looking creature. Who it is and why it behaves in such a nasty fashion is what the film is all about...if you particularly care (which I did not).MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND is clearly an ultra-cheesy low-budget film that has an extremely low production values--as evidenced by the silly script, occasionally bad acting and headache-inducing zoom. Let me explain the 'zoom'. To heighten the horror (i.e., to cover up the fact it was all so dull), the film maker decided to have the camera zoom in and out again and again any time the monster appeared. It was very unpleasant but tended to hide the stupidity of the monster makeup. Plus, it let the dumber members of the audience know when to be afraid (though it may just make you nauseous). Surprisingly, for a low budget film, it has intense gore that actually is amazingly realistic and gross--so people who love looking at guts from a butcher shop will enjoy the film (and at least half the $219.87 budget went for animal guts and realistic blood). In addition, there is a bit of not particularly enticing gratuitous nudity in the film--pretty hot stuff for 1968, but not very explicit (or sexy) by today's standards--and not enough to encourage the perverts out there to seek out the film.Overall, this is the sort of film you might actually want to see...if you are having friends over and want to do your own home version of "Mystery Science Theater". Otherwise, it's just too dull and stupid to recommend. The only reason it gets a 2 is that the guts were reasonably realistic--and much of them were real guts.Oh, and for all the Star Trek fans, if you DO want to see the film just to see Miss Pettyjohn naked, don't bother. Although she's an amazingly beautiful woman, she keeps her clothes on for most of the film--and there's not that much of her to see when she does. If you INSIST on seeing Pettyjohn naked, then by all means jump ahead to about the 76 minute mark to see the naughty bits. However, her finally taking off her clothes made no sense at all, as the Stinky Cheese Man/Man-Bear-Pig or whatever it is was still roaming the island killing. Talk about a BAD time to get naked!! And, for that matter, I STILL don't think this makes it worth seeing this dull flick.

The first conclusion you spontaneously make while watching "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island" is that there are some sick-minded individuals walking this planet! I'm one of them, of course, since I voluntarily purchased the DVD and am proud of owning it now. But the real insanity-credit goes to people like Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon for actually unleashing a tale like this upon the world. I mean…green-blooded monsters? A mad doctor that looks like a bad Elvis-impersonator? Bad cases of leukemia side effects? This film qualifies as pure drive-in exploitation, meaning that your expectations should be at their lowest and then you still get less! We're talking ridiculous dialogue, no plotting whatsoever and not even an attempt to build up tension. All these aspects, which determine the quality of a horror film, are replaced by filthy grotesque gore and sleaze. There's no point in summarizing the plot for you as it's – surprise surprise – very inept and rather stupid. It's great entertainment, though, as long as you've got beer and a lot of perseverance. The only real disadvantage is the total lack of talent of everyone involved. Every cast member could have used a couple thousand more acting lessons and the cinematographer obviously doesn't know that rough camera movements are irritating instead of suspenseful. No matter how I much I love Z-grade horror, I simply can't give this one a positive rating. Nonetheless, I'd like to recommend it to cult-fanatics and admirers of off-category cinema. Good times!

Forget all the critics (though much of their criticism is technically on target). Watch this film with an open mind and revel in the sheer audaciousness of it all. Gruesome monsters. Trashy, gorgeous heroines. Square jawed men of action. Let the bizarre ennui envelope you. Enjoy the sheer inanity of the whole thing. I saw this as a teen and was utterly captivated by it and the crude power remains intact. On location shooting (in the Philippines) and cast of unknowns adds enormously. It's a wonderful piece of trash film making -- a classic of the sort.