Although the second film in the Filipino Blood Island trilogy, "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island" (1969), has no relation at all to the original picture, "Brides of Blood" (1968), "Beast of Blood" (1970) picks up mere seconds after part 2's conclusion. In this final part of the trilogy, John Ashley returns to Blood Island, in pursuit of the chlorophyll monster that had wrecked the ship he'd been sailing on. He is accompanied this time by a sassy newspaper columnist hot on the trail of a possible scoop, and played by the scrumptious Celeste Yarnall. Once back on the island, we learn that Dr. Lorca (played here by Eddie Garcia, not Ronald Remy) survived the inferno that had culminated part 2, and is keeping busy by trying to attach a new head onto the chlorophyll monster's torso. (Well, everyone needs a hobby, right?) Anyway, this film is as pulpy as can be, and dishes out more of the same mix of blood, guts, mutants and jungle adventure that were the hallmarks of the previous installments. It manages to incorporate maggots, quicksand, pitfalls, cobras, gorgeous native girls, gross-out surgical sequences, and a battle royale with hand grenades, knives, spears, machine guns and rifles...all to guarantee a rousing show. The chlorophyll monster himself is not given much screen time this go-round--the picture is more of a jungle adventure, and was filmed, Celeste tells us in an interesting interview segment on the DVD version, four hours in from the nearest dirt road! I'm happy to report that the great Bruno Punzalan returns in this, his third Blood Island film, and will likely strike most viewers as a kind of Filipino Oddjob. Please don't get me wrong...these films are guilty pleasures at best, and are hardly exemplars of the cinematic crafts. Still, they're presented with a good deal of panache, and "Beast of Blood" brings the series to a fitting close. Plus, hearing that gorgeous Filipino gal say "un-com-FORT-a-ble" is worth the price of admission itself!
Review of Beast of Blood
