Terror Is a Man (1959)

I love this movie so much

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The beginning of this film is rather boring - not enough action and horror. It took an hour to get really capture my interest - and I usually enjoy this type of film from start to finish. The beginning is OK - it just needed to get to "the good stuff" earlier in the film - it's SLOW - not wait an hour before it got good. The last 25-30 minutes of the movie is a fun horror to watch... I enjoyed it.I really wanted to like this film better - it looked so good but it was a disappointment to me. Good ending - slow beginning. I'm sorry but the first hour of the film felt like 3 hours to me while the last 30 minutes of it seemed to pass by very fast.4/10

TERROR IS A MAN, with Greta Thyssen (--now that's a great name for a porno starlet, if you take my meaning--), directed by Gerry De Leon, is an ancient mystery/ horror flick in the mad scientist sub-genre about a mysterious creature on an island quite far from the Latin—American (Peruvian) shore. The Sci—Fi 'ideas' involved are quite murky; 'Fitzgerald' seems a bit contrary; at first he holds that the beast is human, then that it's not human. What does the turning of a feline into a human has to do with the creating of a superman? The mad scientist talks a lot about improving the man, but as a matter of fact he tries to turn a feline into a human.My faithful readers know that I review here good movies, B movies (--like this one--), old movies (--including silent ones--) and TV series. I recently wrote about a Robertson chiller, DOMINIQUE, and that was an interesting B movie; TERROR IS A MAN begins well but it sinks. A conventionally intriguing plot, a handsome lead, a blonde sexpot; she's an overly delicious classical curvy blonde of the Marilyn type, the lead, 'Fitzgerald', is of the Mature type. But the movie is silly and ridiculous.

Fitzgerald is the only survivor of a shipwreck and he finds himself washed up on an luscious Pacific island, which is inhabited by a close-minded doctor, his unsatisfied wife and edgy assistant. That night they found Fitzgerald, the doctor's experimental subject; a panther got loose and killed some natives. But they manage to get hold of it again. Not too long Fitzgerald learns what the doctor is trying to do, but he questions the ethical nature of his experiments. When Fitzgerald comes face to face with Dr. Girard's test subject it's something his eyes can't believe.Like other users have already mentioned, this cheap b-grade flick is influenced by H.G. Wells novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau." You might call it a poor man's version of the story. But to my surprise this feature was incredibly well-made and mildly effective, it's just too bad that the print of the film is all scratched up and jumpy in parts. The low-budget production is well set-up with fine execution in the direction, thunderously high-strung score and solid camera-work in achieving a very heavy mood in the jarringly, grim atmosphere. The isolated island (which was filmed in the Philippines) and the doctor's house (especially his laboratory) have a dauntingly, unsteady feel. Slow-building terror is squeezed tight by a snail-like opening hour involving many stoppages and meandering about. The third-act though, is where things really get going with some nice doses of suspense and plenty of interesting moments occurring with the mystery of the doctor's work coming out of the dark. These sparks are few and far between, but the sub-due plot is strong enough to carry the film, even though it does have its wishy-washy details and understated ending. The routine script is filled with a lot of mumbo jumbo, maybe a little too much of it and a bit forced. Thrown in are ponderous theories about evolution and morality about interfering with nature's course and so on. Also the dramatic interplay between the characters have a variety of frictions that plays on their slowly decaying mentality. Though, the token romance link between Fitzgerald and Frances Girard was unconvincing and it felt overly padded for me. The performances were exceptional enough, with some buoyant acting at times. Francis Lederer, as Dr. Girard, Richard Derr as Fitzgerald and Oscar Keesee Jr. as Perrera were terrific in their roles. The beautiful Greta Thyssen as Frances Girard; I was 50/50 on, sometimes she was rather leaden, but still she has an awe that's hard dismiss. The make-up effects for our feline (and there's only one) was way above-average, even though it was kept in bandages and looking more like a mummy. But when we see glimpses of its face it was rather well-done up, though I found the creature's growling unintentionally amusing.There's nothing great or particularly unfamiliar about it, but with what they had to work with, it's commendably done.Side-note: I'm just glad that I didn't have to sit through the warning bell gimmick, which would destroy the whole purpose in you wanting suspense and surprises from this film. The idea just escapes me, especially since you'll know what you're getting yourself into.

This is the film that practically started the influx of Filipino exploitation that exploded in the 70s. It's a slow but mediocre version of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU with a cat creature experiment that gets loose and kills a few secondary characters among scientific jabber about the experiment being for the benefit of mankind rather than personal vanity. This is lackluster stuff and is too Americanized. The Blood Island trilogy and women's prison flicks that would come ten years later is the kind of delirious entertainment that Filipino exploitation is remembered for. Worth a look but hardly memorable.