Twilight People — Twilight People( DVD/ Blu Ray)

Eddie Romero is a Filipino film maker whose work within the field of horror cinema has become legendary due to his creative approach to low budget film making. He is to Filipino cinema what Roger Corman is to American cinema. In fact, Roger Corman was an uncredited executive producer on this particular feature, and the two share an aesthetic for creating low budget monster movies.

1972s Twilight People is Romero’s very loose adaption of the H. G Wells story “Island of Dr Moreau”, a story adapted numerous times over the years with varying degrees of success. Richard Stanley’s big budget adaption from 1996 was the last attempt to do the story justice however studio interference and the insanity of the whole project meant that what should have been a slick modern update of the story became a project that wrecked Stanley’s career albeit temporarily. This on the other hand is surprisingly one of the more enjoyable attempts to tell the story. It may be cheap hokey fun, but it never takes itself too seriously and sticks to creating a basic retelling of the story.

Matt Farrell - played by Filipino horror legend, and Romero muse John Ashley – is kidnapped whilst diving and taken to the lair of Dr. Gordon, a stereotypical mad scientist living on an island who plans to create a race of superbeings by hybridizing humans with other animals. These creatures are essentially humanoid in shape with various features of the animals with which they have been mixed. My personal favourites are the man bat, and the Panther woman. Interestingly the Panther Woman is played by blaxploitation legend Pam Grier, who Romero would go on to work with on the American movie Black Mama, White Mama the following year. The plot is suitably potty and the makeup effects are woeful but this all adds to the film’s charm. Twilight People has rightly become a cult classic in the truest sense of the word, and this new 2k remaster sees the film looking better than it ever has. It is certainly a million miles away from the old VHS tape I owned during the heady days of the 1980s. The picture is sharp and the colours are clear and bright during the daylight sequences, however the night time segments suffer in comparison. The use of Neil Richardson’s Approaching Menace on the soundtrack is somewhat distracting for me and probably will be for most Brits, as this particular piece of music is more famous as the theme from the BBC quiz show Mastermind.

This VCI set is a great presentation and features the movie in both bluray and DVD formats and features an informative commentary from cult American film maker David DeCoteau (Creepozoids & The Puppet Master series) and film journalist David Del Valle. There is also a truly fascinating interview with director Eddie Romero, featuring a host of great stories about this production and his career, as well as the usual trailers and TV spots.

Overall, this is a great set for a genuine underground Cult Classic. The print of the film is as good as it’s ever going to look and the extras - in particular the interview with Romero - are definitely worth a look. I would love to see VCI invest in further Romero titles on bluray, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a favourite that is overdue a bluray release.