There’s a prologue in which a group of teenagers take the Green Blood Oath and drink green blood. If you saw the movie at the right movie theatre you too could be offered (fake) green blood to drink. It’s the sort of gimmick that would have appealed to William Castle.
The movie proper starts with the arrival of three people on a small island, reputed to be cursed. Dr Bill Foster (John Ashley) is a pathologist investigating reports of creatures that bleed green blood. Sheila Willard (Angelique Pettyjohn) wants to be re-united with her dad whom she hasn’t seen for twelve years. And there’s a young Filipino named Carlos who wants take his mother away from this evil island.
It soon becomes obvious that there really are green-blooded monsters on the island. Or at least there’s one green-blooded monster.
Dr Foster examines some of the green blood and confirms that it is indeed blood. Blood that contains chlorophyll which is certainly strange and unnatural.
There’s a mysterious doctor on the island, Dr Lorca, and we can’t help feeling a bit suspicious of him.
Carlos’s father died in 1961, but he finds a letter that was certainly written by him and it’s dated 1962. Carlos agrees to have his father’s grave opened and the coffin is empty.
There’s a strange girl named Marla who had some involvement with Carlos’s father.
People start getting killed with horrific brutality.
What Bill Foster needs to figure out is the link between the rampaging monster, the green blood, the mystery of Carlos’s father who may not be dead after all and Dr Lorca’s researches. He and Sheila and Sheila’s dad and Carlos slowly start fitting the pieces of the puzzle together but they’ll have to move fast or they might find themselves added to the list of victims.
Gerardo de Leon and Eddie Romero were the co-directors and they’d already worked together a lot. Gerardo de Leon has a total of 83 directing credits going back to 1938. Eddie Romero’s directing credits go back to 1947. These guys were veterans of the Filipino film industry and were highly respected figures within that industry. The four Blood Island movies were their first serious attempt to crack the American market, an attempt which proved to be fairly successful.
They were serious film-makers but with the Blood Island movies they were unapologetically working with the parameters of exploitation movies and they understood what was needed. A couple of minor American stars who were recognisable faces in the U.S., lots of mayhem and gore and a healthy helping of sex and nudity. The gore was pretty startling by the standards of 1968 as was the nudity.
One amusing technique they adopted was to start frantically zooming in and out whenever the monster is about to attack somebody. Not just for a few seconds. The zooming continues for the entire scene. It adds a nicely disorienting touch.
It’s a surprisingly well-made movie with some nice cinematography.
The monster makeup is quite effective and memorable.
There’s some unexpected subtlety in some of the characterisations. Marla is intriguing because we just don’t know where she fits in or what she’s going to do next.
And Dr Lorca is an interesting mad scientist. He’s a typical mad scientist in being a man who started out as an idealist wanting to do good but started venturing into dangerous and morally dubious areas of research. But he’s not mad. He’s completely sane and rational and calm. He has no doubts about the morality of his research.
Mad Doctor of Blood Island is unashamedly lurid and trashy and schlocky and that’s the charm of it. It’s a fun exploitation movie. Recommended.
Severin’s Blu-Ray release offers an excellent transfer with a few extras including an audio commentary.
No comments:
Post a Comment