Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) Online

Vic Diaz as the almost comedic Satan lends this Filippino horror film an eccentric flavour that saves it from total oblivion. Ashley isn't bad either as a damned murderer, inhabiting the body of an American businessman, forced by Satan to endure of life of evil, but when guilt gets the better of him, Satan resorts to dirty tricks in order to compel him to serve. The transformation he undergoes to that of a hairy beast with super-human strength causes the local police to suspect they have something out of the ordinary with which to contend.

Ashley plays the tortured soul well enough for the film's limited scope, and he's ably assisted by the statuesque beauty Mary Wilcox as his neglected, but loyal wife. Wilcox has a few risqué scenes in modest attire (although sometimes also clad in a zebra outfit), but it's debatable as to whether that's indeed her in the bizarrely photographed love-making scene. Fans will also recognise the prolific Eddie Garcia as a detective (he also directed), and American Ken Metcalfe ("Up From the Depths") in a minor supporting role playing Ashley's concerned brother.

There's not much horror, and what there is can often be too dark to discern, but the film does improve after a slow start at least achieving mediocre status, including the witty banter of Diaz's omnipotence, and equally, moronic dialogue from the sultry Wilcox. There's a couple of twists (e.g. the banished blind man with whom Ashley forms an alliance) that generate some interest and the climax in the tall grass lends some sympathy to Ashley's condemned character, but don't expect too much for your time.

"A man is saved from certain death by selling his soul to the devil, who charges him with recruiting others to his evil cause. As part of his terms for relinquishing control of his soul to Satan, the man is cursed to endure transformation into a hideous creature and stalk his victims by night. The local authorities want to find and destroy this murderous creature before it can take another victim, while the man looks to find a way to end his cursed existence," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Filmed in the Philippines, with director Eddie Romero. It's difficult to completely understand the story; approximately, it's Faust becoming the Werewolf with a touch of Frankenstein, after a time warp.

It's more interesting, at this point, to assess the career of star John Ashley. When he mysteriously appears in the present, doctors remove bandages from Mr. Ashley's said to be horribly disfigured face. Instead, a bearded Ashley looks better in 1971 than ever (in films since the 1950s). Ashley's characterization (as Joseph Langdon aka Philip Rogers) isn't terrific, but it's valiant; probably, his career lacked worth material. Vic Diaz (as Death aka Satan) is entertaining, in the tastiest role. And, Mary Wilcox (as Julia Rogers) is the blonde dish Ashley samples.

After recently finding a copy of this on DVD, I brought it home and was amazed to find this was everything I was looking for and a whole lot more. Filmed in the Philippines and directed by Eddie Romero, I was horrified/enlightened by its blasphemous blend of cannibalism, comedy, and deals with the devil gone bad. John Ashley is excellent as one of the most frightening, gruesome, and demented-looking monsters I've ever seen. Entertaining as can be. For me, the only thing scarier than this movie is the fact that I almost never got to see it! Great flick!

I remember seeing this title on the marquee at my home drive-in as a child. Watched it and finds it an interesting film, but curious as to why it's not in the Mad Doc series...or is it? The acting isn't bad at all, especially compared to original Mad Doc. I noted that the first scene of the monster's arms look like they were re-used from the Mad Doc flix. The Filipino back-drop of this film, as well as the Mad Doc films, provides something a little different and interesting that stands alone from movies that we're accustomed to viewing. The mono sound with the atmosphere, particularly in the opening scenes, gives the filmgoer the creeps. I do wish I could've talked my parents into taking me to see it way back then!

Definitely this film won't win any awards but it's not boring.

**SPOILERS** The plot is different than you may have heard: A criminal (Langdon) is shot down and dies, but his spirit is reincarnated into the body of a business tycoon (Philip)who has died in the hospital. Satan has done this in exchange for Langdon's soul, and the devil expects Langdon to tempt more humans to evil. Meanwhile, Langdon/Philip changes into a flesh-eating monster when he gets stressed.

Eddie Romero has written a doozy. Philip's wife, who was previously disaffected with her husband, now adores the "new" Philip. Langdon, however, tries to pawn off his wife onto his brother, to keep her far from his deal with Satan and the monster side also. The monster stalks through the city several times and there is lots of pummeling, blood, and entrail-eating.

The monster can be hurt but not killed, and it wanders into an open store one night after sustaining injury from police, on the alert from previous attacks. A blind man meets the monster and hides him overnight, then tends to Langdon. Interestingly, the blind man is a famous criminal from Langdon's era, and the two form a bond both man-to-man and man-monster (imitating the Frankenstein connection somewhat).

The dialogue is bad quite a lot, but some of it is very philosophical, especially in explaining Langdon's dilemma: he wants to die but Satan won't let him. The dialogue between Philip and his wife is better, though the acting is pathetic there.

Monster fans will enjoy this. The makeup isn't the greatest but is effective. The chase scenes are not long drawn-out affairs, and there are enough twists to keep it going.

"The Beast of the Yellow Night" is nothing more then your average shape-shifter film. Barrowing ideas from classic werewolf style movies, A man is staring death in the face, but has an opportunity to live once again. He has a visit from Satan himself, and makes a deal to sell him his soul for life. Now the Devil's slave he must find new followers for his new master. Unfortunately this is done by transforming into a hairy green beast. (who reminds me of the aliens in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) As he returns to his normal life he begins the well known inner struggle with his alter form. But unlike most films that do this there is very little struggle, he sort of goes into this depression where he just wants to die, and doesn't care about his life. Such as when he awakens from a transformation and simply walks around town with a blood stained shirt. I found this idea interesting as I've never noticed this element so vividly put in a film like this. The acting is of course poor, but what really upsets is the transformation. There's only one, at the very end of the movie, which is done in such an outdated fashion, that was done better in the 40s. Lighting problems occurred often and it was difficult to see characters faces, this helped with the beast's imagery, but fails when applying it to normal characters. The representation of Satan though in my opinion is decently done. He doesn't necessarily have a solid state he stays in the whole film. He alters from a man, to a sort of brown mist form. The mist forms around animals and such in some scenes, applying Satan is every where, and him no necessarily be the snake or lion we think him to be. With absolutely no sub-plots or anything close and holes in the story, the film is really affected. 3/10

This DVD started out promisingly, with movie director Fred Olen Ray in his van at the Drive-In, talking about the essentials for enjoying the Drive-In experience. His girlfriend, the beautiful Miss Kim, emerged from the back seat, and REALLY started enjoying the popcorn she was eating! Then the feature film started. Filmed in the Philippines, the movie was a muddled mess. I kept looking for a yellow moon in the film to account for the movie's title, but I never saw it. The late John Ashley did a credible job of playing the main character Joseph Langdon, alias Philip Rogers. As for his acting career, it was a really long road for John from Bikini Beach, with Frankie and Annette, to the Philippines, with Vic Diaz playing Satan. Despite its shortcomings, the movie didn't commit the unforgivable sin of being boring. In addition, I found a bit of dialog, spoken by John Ashley's character, to be quite profound. "There's no such thing as a dead end. You can always get out the way you came." As you go through life, that's certainly something to keep in mind. There's nothing like a great movie, and this was nothing like a great movie!

A bad man makes a deal with the devil to stay alive. His reward a pile of rotten meat and existence. The devil has plans for him. The man must occasionally turn into a beast and reek havoc on the surrounding area. There is another part of the plot, his relationship with his min- skirt wearing wife. He has not treated her well, but because she loves him, she puts up with his inconsistencies, including coming back from the dead in a hospital. He knows that there is no good end, but he has been made invulnerable, so he must carry out the wishes of his master. The problem lies with what the desired end is. When dealing with he devil, we must recognize his powers and, since we don't know how extensive they are, our hero (anti-hero) has no real free will. That's the rub. He meets a snarly old blind man who has a checkered past and philosophizes constantly. The central character would like to die. The interesting thing is that after his resurrection he is a pretty kind man, thoughtful and gracious and caring. I don't know. It's so darned obtuse that I just never got a handle on it.

John Ashley has a much more demanding part to play in this horror from the Phillipines then in the "Blood Island-movies". He is the victim of a horrific transformation into a bloodsucking monster! He was picked out by the devil to be the double for a US-army deserter in the forties, the devil then gave him eternal life, but the monster keeps claiming victims even after 24 years.... Good performance of the tortured soul by Ashley and.....a much better story then for instance that other Eddie Romero-classic "Beast of the night".

This is another of those bottom of a double bill $1.50 exploitation trifles that was given a fun title to match its (usually far superior) main attraction.

In any case Joseph Langdon(John Ashley) is a career criminal, who finds himself dying in the jungle. A mysterious stranger offers to save his rotten life, in exchange for unquestioned servitude. Some marble mouthed whining and a bag of rotten meat later, the deal is sealed.

Langdon comes to as formerly injured businessman Philip Rogers, with a whole new life, a thriving business empire and a buxom blonde wife, Julia (Mary Charlotte Wilcox).

Seems like a pretty sweet deal, until Phillip woodenly marches to the (correct) conclusion that his benefactor is Satan himself (Vic Diaz) and his new eternal mission is to awaken the latent evil in the folks he comes across. Philip can be harmed, but cannot die in the process.

The thing is, Philip/Joseph royally sucks at it. While he's making stroke victim face and spouting platitudes that would make a college kid who just discovered the writing of Dylan Thomas blush, he not only fails at any actual evil.....but makes poor Julia fall in love with him again (perhaps she has a fetish for monotones).

The Devil is indeed in the details, so hydrogenated Satan adds a bonus to the deal. Since his protégé sucks at evil in human form, Philip becomes a mauling monster at night, with a face that looks like it was made out of a Vogon's armpit putty. The silly putty changes color randomly throughout the film from brown, to gray, to green-ish. I'm assuming it depends on which classic movie monster the barely gore producing killings and mannerisms are being stolen from in that instance.

In any case, there's lots of boring speechifying about good and evil, one really awkwardly shot sex scene, and a random as can be blind man who tries to help our tortured "hero" out of the various predicaments a demonic Silly Putty monster can get into on a day to day basis.

Said random blind man then tries to help mush mouth find a place to hide until he can break the Devil's pact, Julia nearly gets murdered, and the kind sightless stranger gets killed for his trouble by police looking for Joseph/Phillip.

However, since monster mash and his monstrous alter ego are still capable of feeling expressionlessly sad over the kind helper's death magically breaks the vow.....and finally our protagonist takes a bullet. Joseph can finally die in peace, and pieces.

Some more psychobabble, and roll end credits.

Director Eddie Romero has produced some enjoyably trashy romps,had obviously had a good handle on the genre given the length of his career, and why he thought an exploitation film was an excellent platform for half baked philosophical and ethical lessons is beyond me.

One star for Vic Diaz being his delightful self and scenery chewing through Satan's silly dialog with wickedly smarmy abandon and half open shirts. Fast forward to his scenes, as they are the best part of the film.

One star for a slightly past her prime Mary Wilcox being quite attractive, pending the degree of camera angle.

The rest is dull as dishwater.

In post-WWII Philippines, Joseph Langdon (John Ashley) is on the run, being hunted as a traitor. About to die and unable to go on, he suddenly sees the image of Satan. He's offered his life in return for his service. Years later, a man named Philip Rogers (again, John Ashley) wakes in the hospital, covered in bandages. When the bandages are removed, the face is not that of Rogers, but Langdon. Satan wants him to turn others to his side. But when Landon has second thoughts, he's turned into a snarling beast, only capable of killing and devouring those he comes into contact with. At least I think this is the basic plot. Who knows and who cares?

In all honestly, Beast of the Yellow Night isn't really all that good and I've probably overrated it. But it did have some things I enjoyed. I found the plot concept surprisingly ingenious. I never expected this level of creativity in a Filipino exploitation movie. Not that they had the money to effectively pull it off, but the idea was good. The budget limitations are especially noticeable when it comes to the monster make-up. Cheap is an understatement. I know this may sound contradictory, but, other than the monster make-up/mask, the other low-budget effects actually work in the film's favor. When Langdon rips open a body, for example, the effects have a real disturbing quality to them.

As for the acting, Vic Diaz, who I believe is in every Filipino movie I've seen, is a hoot in Beast of the Yellow Night. His laughing, happy Satan is the real star of the movie. Not what I expected from Diaz. Ashley does quite good also. His understated delivery works given his characters predicament. The lovely Mary Wilcox plays Rogers' wife, Julia. For some reason that makes no rational sense, Julia agrees to sleep with Langdon/Rogers though he looks nothing like her husband and is possessed by Satan. Still, it wouldn't be a Filipino exploitation/horror movie without the requisite sex scene.

This movie begins in Southeast Asia immediately after World War 2 with soldiers searching in the jungle for someone (or something) who has killed a couple of innocent villagers. As it turns out, an American deserter named "Joseph Langdon" (John Ashley) is also in the vicinity and due to his desperate situation makes a deal with the devil (played by Vic Diaz) to escape from the situation he has found himself in. It's at this point that the movie fast-forwards to the present with the body of Langdon being buried but his soul transported into a man named "Philip Rogers" (also played by John Ashley) who has just been declared dead by a surgeon in a hospital. Needless to say, his wife "Julia" (Mary Wilcox ) is overjoyed when Philip comes back to life. However, the new version of Philip isn't the same and immediately makes decisions that hurt all those around him by sowing evil among them--and that especially applies to Julia and his brother "Earl" (Ken Metcalfe). But then one night something very unexpected happens and Philip is transformed into a kind of werewolf--which creates even more problems for everyone involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a standard low-budget film characteristic of movies produced in the Philippines during this particular time. Yet, even though the acting was adequate it was the makeup and special effects which really doomed this film—especially on the part of the supposed werewolf. It was really bad. That said, I have rated the film accordingly. Below average.

Joseph Langdon (John Ashley) is a traitorous, cowardly deviate running for his life in post WWII Philippines. He encounters Satan himself (prolific Filipino icon Vic Diaz), who promises that he will save Langdons' ass in exchange for becoming his disciple. Unfortunately, periodic transformations into a grotesque creature - and inevitable rampages of said creature - will be part of the bargain.

If you've seen a lot of Filipino exploitation and genre cinema, you've seen the name of the writer / director often: Eddie Romero. Here Romero crafts a decent enough horror flick that manages to overcome the limitations of a (most likely) limited budget. It's certainly cheap looking, but it has much of the atmosphere common to Filipino horror of the 60s and 70s. Romeros' screenplay is also more interesting than the usual monster movie cranked out by the country during these decades. As you can see, it's got a touch of "Faust", combined with a werewolf tale and domestic drama, as Langdon / Philip Rogers tries to mend his relationship with his wife (sexy Mary Charlotte Wilcox). The effective music score is by Nestor Robles, the passable makeup effects by Tony Artieda.

Ashley tries his best in a role more meaty (pardon the expression) than he usually played in these movies. Wilcox isn't that great, but is certainly pleasing to look at. Leopoldo Salcedo and Eddie Garcia (another guy who turned up frequently in these sorts of movies) are fine as investigating detectives, and Ken Metcalfe is alright as Rogers' brother Earl. Diaz has fun with the flashiest role in the picture (and has the best dialogue), but the best performance has to come from Andres Centenera (the warden in "The Big Bird Cage"), who plays the helpful blind man.

Fairly thoughtful, and reasonably entertaining, "Beast of the Yellow Night" has some good moments throughout.

Six out of 10.

Pardon me, I meant this movie is better then "Beast of the dead", I saw these two Phillipine movies short after another and since the word "Beast" seems to come across Eddie Romero's filmtitles quite often, I mixed them up :-)

During the 1970s, a long series of schlocky horror films came out of the Philippines. They all were extremely low budgeted, featured ridiculous looking monsters and tossed in some boobies. I have yet to see one of these films that doesn't fit this pattern--and this certainly includes "The Beast of the Yellow Night". It's bad but also fun if you happen to like bad films--and there are quite a few bad movie buffs out there. Heck, despite reviewing countless art and foreign films, I like a schlock film now and then--and an Eddie Romero film certainly fits that bill.

An idiot (perennial lead in Filipino horror films, John Ashley) eats some poisonous fruit. But instead of dying, Satan appears and makes him a deal--you become my servant and I'll let you live. Now this movie's version of Satan is interesting--he's no idiot in a red suit and horns--he's just some fat Filipino guy in a bandanna. However, wouldn't you know it but this bargain comes with a catch--the guy becomes a hairy monster with a taste for human flesh. Not surprisingly, this creates problems with his lady, as he is torn between ripping her clothes off or just ripping her to pieces.

While this is a cheesy monster film, it's interesting to note that the film is very slow to get to the action. Sure, eventually he turns into a silly monster and runs amok--but this isn't until rather late in the film. But when he does, it's well worth the wait--as he looks utterly ridiculous! What I really liked is how there is a makeup line on his neck--and you can see this very clearly. Overall, yet another dopey film in the genre.

During the 10-year period 1968-'77, Filipino director Eddie Romero collaborated with American actor John Ashley on no less than 10 motion pictures. First up was the little-seen "Manila, Open City," to be quickly followed by the so-called Blood Island trilogy ("Brides of Blood," "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island" and "Beast of Blood"), and then the film in question here, "The Beast of the Yellow Night" (AND, later on still, films with such titles as "The Twilight People," "The Woman Hunt," "Beyond Atlantis," "Savage Sisters" and "Sudden Death"). Nowhere near as pulpy or as fun as the Blood Island trilogy, "TBOTYN" is something of a labor to sit through, sports a confused and confusing story line, and never adequately answers a good number of questions that the film itself raises. In it, Ashley plays a U.S. Army deserter named Joseph Langdon, who, when we first encounter him in the jungles of southeast Asia in 1946, is fleeing from his pursuers and near death. He is saved by a portly, acerbic sort of fellow, who the viewer soon divines to be no less a figure than Satan himself (amusingly portrayed by the great Filipino mainstay Vic Diaz), and gives up his eternal soul in return for his salvation. Flash forward 25 years, and we find Langdon's soul inhabiting the body of wealthy industrialist Philip Rogers, who, after a disfiguring accident, awakens with Langdon's precise facial features (at least, this is what I THINK happens here). Langdon's mission: to bring out the latent evil in the man he is inhabiting. The problem: Rogers' hotty wife, Julia (well played by yummy Mary Wilcox, whose work I had recently enjoyed is such psychotronic winners as the woefully underrated "Love Me Deadly" and the shlocky thrill ride ""Psychic Killer"), whom he becomes understandably attracted to. The even bigger problem: Langdon/Rogers' tendency to morph into a hideous-looking, gut-ripping, indestructible monster at the most inopportune moments....

Regarding those monstrous transformations, screenwriter/director Romero leaves it pretty unclear WHY Langdon/Rogers is being punished by Satan in this manner...unless it has something to do with the character going near a church, or making love to a woman, or feeling any sort of decent, human emotions. Who knows? Again, why is the monster made suddenly vulnerable to bullets at the film's end, after being invincible up till that point? Just because he said a prayer for a dying blind man? Who can say? And while I'm posing some imponderables, what's up with the film's title, anyway? The only "yellow" on display in this film are the ocher-colored vapor swirls that sometimes surround Satan when he manifests himself. Could that be it? Anybody's guess. Besides these instances of fuzzy writing, "TBOTYN" gives us the usually likable Ashley in a fairly wooden performance, some unimaginative lensing by Romero, and few if any scares or even moments of suspense, even though there are, surprisingly, numerous scenes involving blood and guts on display. On the plus side, these Filipino horror pictures always feature interesting-looking, exotic locales, and this one is no exception, although it might have been nice if Romero had managed to squeeze in a few more gorgeous Filipino women as additional eye candy (as he did, for example, in my favorite picture of his, 1973's "Black Mama, White Mama," a distaff "Defiant Ones" starring Pam Grier). The film gives us one excellent performance, at least: Leopoldo Salcedo as Inspector Santos, the head cop trying to hunt down the maniacal killer; Salcedo underplays nicely and invests his cop with a good deal of dignity and smarts. Another plus: the memorable and at times lovely score by Nestor Robles; how strange to find such a nice piece of music in this film, of all films! And as for this DVD itself, from the fine folks at RetroMedia, it sports a decent-looking (though far from pristine) print of the film, and comes with a number of interesting "extras." In the one called "Remembering John Ashley," Ashley's widow, Jan, as well as director Fred Olen Ray and some of Ashley's other friends, reminisce about the man and his work; this "extra" is, I hate to admit, far more interesting than the film itself. "The Beast of the Yellow Night" is not quite (as they would say in Tagalog) "walang kwenta," but it sure does come close!

This has a cult following. So I had to watch it, okay, again low budget and acting was also low profile. Someone eating some weird fruit was saved by Satan. End of plot. The main actor (John Ashley) really makes it all a bit weird to believe. His acting, although he appeared in a lot of movies, is terrible. When he is changing into the beast the make up is laughable and reminded me of Michael Jackson nowadays. Really. The movie is slow but has his gore moments and that's the main reason it became cult. It was not done in those days and made by Philippines it was surely not done. It has taken some years to release it, but now you can find it full uncut on DVD. Many will know it simply by the name Beast, now released under Beast of the yellow night due to the, of course, yellow haze.

Beast of the Yellow Night, The (1971)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Horror film from the Philippines is set in South Asia where a man named Joseph (John Ashley) gets lost in the jungle and is minutes away from death when a mysterious man approaches him, offering life to Joseph in exchange for his soul. It turns out this mystery man is none other than Satan and soon Joseph turns into a murderous beast. I had heard mixed reaction to this film but it nearly had me asleep during several moments. There some very nice touches but overall there's not enough going on and we're bogged down with boring talk. What I hate about this type of film is that it spends so much times with the police who have to talk and talk and talk just to try and solve the mystery but the problem is the viewer already knows the mystery so this leads to boredom. The make up effects are actually pretty good and effective but that's about all the film has going for it.