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Mad Doctor Of Blood Island
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1969; color
Directed by Eddie Romero
Starring: John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn, Ronald REmy, Alicia Alonzo & Alfonso Carvajal
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Following it's predecessor in the "Blood Island" series, Brides Of Blood, pretty much in theory only (except in terms of the names listed in the credit roll) Mad Doctor Of Blood Island is a classic example of low budget Filipino film making at it's finest. (Read: cheesiest and most exploitative.) In case you're not familiar with low budget Filipino film making at it's finest, or worst, and wonder what that means, if you are expecting the green blooded monster who haunts almost every twist and turn in this oh so twisty turn-y nonsensical plot to be scary in any way shape or form, you are watching the wrong movie. On the other hand, if you prefer to your monsters to be laughable and covered in green paint; your gore effects poorly done; your female natives horny and topless; and your farm animals ritually sacrificed - this is right up your alley. Truthfully, I covered my eyes during the part where I think they were slaughtering two goats in an orgiastic frenzy but despite this fact, and the fact I kind of had a hard time following the plot and was continuously asking the Kommandant to explain what was going on, I enjoyed it. As our film opens (after, of course, the appropriately William Castle-esque "green blood" sequence where the audience is encouraged to drink, obviously, green colored water ostensibly provided by the theater in order to ward off potential contamination from the mere sight of the green blooded monster) we are greeted by a seemingly somewhat tranquil tropical setting, complete with a waterfall and nubile naked woman maneuvering her way through the woods. Naturally this tranquillity lasts for all of a minute before we realize she's not so much engaging in exercise as she is running from a hairy beast in tattered pants. Naturally he catches her quickly, popping up in front of her even though she thought he was behind her in a Jason Vorhees fashion. Then he kills her even more quickly. But not so quickly we don't get a few glances of the green blood and disjointed shots of the monster. After the credits we start to get into the meat of the story, so to speak, when we are introduced to three of our main protagonists - a pretty young woman who has recently lost her mother and is searching for her estranged father; a handsome young man also looking to reconnect with a parent, his mother (he was actually raised on the island and wants to take mom back to the mainland); and AIP beach party movie regular John Ashley. He plays a doctor who's trying to get into the blond's pants... uh, I mean investigate the island's curious activities. Once the other main human characters are introduced - the blond's drunken father, the handsome guy's beautiful mother and the creepy doctor she's shacked up with - the groundwork is laid for yet more killing, bad dialogue, worse "special effects," great outfits and plenty of gratuitous nudity. What more could you ask for? Well, whether you asked for it or not, there is a third entry in the series, Beast Of Blood. From what I understand it actually picks up where this leaves off so we'll have to track that down for future review.
—Bunny
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