Overrated and overhyped

Excellent, a Must See

Crappy film

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

A scientist named Paul Henderson (Kent Taylor), his hot-to-trot young wife Carla (Beverly Powers), and a young representative of the Peace Corps, Jim Farrell (John Ashley), travel to an exotic Asian locale. Among the items on the mission are to investigate possible effects of atomic fallout. Well, there's an effect, all right: a pulpy humanoid monster dubbed "The Evil One" by a peaceable tribe is on the loose, and the tribe tries to appease it by regularly sacrificing young beauties.Preceded by previous Filipino horror-exploitation pictures "Terror is a Man" and "The Blood Drinkers", "Brides of Blood" was the first in a trilogy of genre pictures to use this "Blood Island" setting. It was also the first film in a string of B movies Ashley would headline from this part of the world.Directed by Gerardo de Leon and Eddie Romero, familiar names to any lover of Filipino exploitation, this is pretty crude, overall, and it's also quite slowly paced most of the time, but it still holds a certain fascination. It's undeniable how much brooding atmosphere de Leon & Romero are able to milk from their native land. It does feature the requisite blood and nudity of the genre, and is on occasion creepy. (The monster announces its presence with some overwhelming vocalizations.) Of course, it's impossible not to bust a gut laughing when the monster shows up. It's an awfully clunky looking thing, in the best man-in-a-costume tradition. At first, this viewer thought that the film could have used a little more monster action, but upon reflection, realized that the monster gets JUST enough screen time. There is a "twist" in the story, but it's not difficult to predict it.The acting is sincere from the cast; it's not particularly lively acting, but it gets the job done. The Filipino supporting players include Eva Darren as lovely native gal Alma, Andres Centenera as her dad, Mario Montenegro as solicitous local character Esteban Powers, and Bruno Punzalan as his thuggish associate Goro.Complete with reasonably amusing makeup effects and some very hungry killer trees, this provides a solid dose of fun for prospective viewers.Followed by "Mad Doctor of Blood Island" and "Beast of Blood".Seven out of 10.

Radioactive fallout on a remote tropical island causes the plants and animals to mutate into dangerous and hideously malformed monsters. The scared natives regularly sacrifice fair maidens to an especially vile and ferocious beast known as the Evil One. Noble Peace corps volunteer Jim Farrell (a likable performance by Filipino exploitation cinema mainstay John Ashley) tries to get the locals to stand up to the foul subhuman fiend. Directors Gerardo de Leon and Eddie Romero relate the cheerfully ridiculous story at a steady pace, do a solid job of creating and sustaining a gloomy brooding atmosphere, offer a flavorsome evocation of the exotic setting, deliver a satisfying smattering of tasty female nudity and lovably cheesy gore, and stage the rousing fiery conclusion with a reasonable amount of brio. This film further benefits from acceptable acting by a competent cast: Kent Taylor as stoic, no-nonsense scientist Dr. Paul Henderson, Mario Montenegro as suave rich guy Esteban Powers, Bruno Punzalan as Esteban's loyal servant Goro, and Andres Centenera as wise tribal elder Arcadio. Moreover, we get some delicious distaff eye candy courtesy of buxom blonde Beverly Powers as Henderson's horny, sarcastic wife Carla and sultry brunette Eva Darren as sweet local girl Alma. Better still, there's an infectiously sincere and enthusiastic go-for-it pulpy sensibility evident throughout that's endearing and entertaining in equal measure. The rough, unpolished cinematography gives the picture a suitably gritty look. The throbbing tribal score likewise hits the shuddery spot. The heavy-breathing lumpy'n'rubbery humanoid creature is a total tacky riot. A good deal of blithely low-grade fun that's not to be taken seriously.

This is the second of the Blood Island films after Terror is a Man. Its not related to that film, only loosely to the two films that follow, Mad Doctor of Blood Island and Beast of Blood. All the films are nominally set on a remote island in the Pacific where strange experiments happen.Here a research team arrives at Blood Island to find that the natives have begun to return to their old superstitions. The reason is that the far off atomic testing has mutated some of the plants animals and people into killing machines. They have taken it so far that the natives sacrifice two virgins every night to the man beast that wanders the woods.Edgy and atmospheric this is a monster movie in the grand tradition. You have weird things going on, sexual tension between the cast members, and monsters running amok, what more could you ask for? This movie was a drive-in staple for years and its easy to see why since it gives you everything that a drive-in crowd would want sex blood and breasts. Its also lots of run, creepy and just a bit scary.The only place the movie falls down is the man beast. Its really silly. It looks like a drippy Michelin man with a stupid grin Until you get a really good long look at it towards the end of the movie it holds some ,ystery and fear, but once we see its face its all over. If you can get past that, knowing its gonna look dumb helps, you'll have a grand time with this movie. Lots of mindless fun.7 out of 10(FYI- This was the film picked by Cinematic Titanic, what Joel and friends are doing post MST3K, for their 2010 tour under the title Danger on Tiki Island)

I first watched this film in a drive-in theatre, when I was just out of high school. I must say it scared the begeebers out of me. And, that was doing something! I was already a dyed in the wool fan of Horror, and Sci-Fi movies. Even though it was filmed with a lot of night scenes, and there-fore hard at times to make out what you were seeing on a drive-in screen, and the special effects were not what they can do by todays standards, I still found it a very disturbing, and frightening film. If anyone else has seen it, please let me know what you thought at the time of it's release.