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Fished pretty much right out of the water during a diving trip,
adventurer Matt Farrell (John Ashley) is abducted to the island of Dr.
Gordon (Charles Macauly), who conducts experiments to adapt man better to
the changing conditions of life that over-population might pose - he
pretty much wants to create superhumans who're able to live under water,
in the air or even space. And how does he plan to achieve this? By
crossing humans with animals of course. But for these experiments he needs
the best examples of humankind as his test subjects - manly men like
Farrell for example. Now naturally, Farrell is less than pleased by the
prospect of being turned into a human animal, but he's hesitant to escape
as the premises are guarded by Steinman (Jan Merlin), a big game hunter
who'd love Farrell's head as trophy, and his men. And then there's
Gordon's beautiful daugher Neva (Pat Woodell), who soon enough falls for
Farrell, and he starts to care for her as well - and thus, the day before
Gordon wants to operate on Farrell, Neva breaks him free, and together
with Gordon's other animal creatures (Pam Grier, Ken Metcalfe, Tony
Gosalvez, Kim Ramos, Mona Morena), and with Farrell taking Gordon hostage,
they try to make it half across the island to the yacht, which is the only
means of transportation to the mainland. But there's still Steinman and
company to worry about ... Of course, at its heart, The
Twilight People is an uncredited bastardized version of H.G. Wells' The
Island of Dr. Moreau, strippint it of most of its message while
playing up its action aspects as well as macabre details - and turning a
bit silly in the process ... and that's of course what makes this movie
also charming: So no, it's no longer thoughtful and high brow sci-fi Wells
used to write but something more visceral, an exotic and simplistic tale
of heroes, bad guys and animal people (including a man-bat who gets a lot
of flying done towards the end) that might have seemed a little
old-fashioned even when it was made - but that's utterly charming for all
its simplicity from today's point of view, and definitely worth watching
for all grindhouse and drive-in enthusiasts with a soft spot for the
exotic out there!
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