Terror Is a Man (1959 film)

Terror Is a Man (also known as Blood Creature, Creature from Blood Island, The Gory Creatures, Island of Terror and Gore Creature) is a 1959 black-and-white Filipino/American horror film directed by Gerardo de Leon.

It was the first in a series produced by Eddie Romero and Kane W. Lynn known as the Blood Island series, which also included Brides of Blood, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island and Beast of Blood. All four films took place on an island called Blood Island, named for its vivid red-hued sunsets.

Plot
William Fitzgerald, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, washes ashore on Blood Island. He is found by Dr. Charles Girard, a scientist who has set up a laboratory on the isolated island with his disenchanted wife, Frances, and his assistant Walter Perrera. The island's natives fear Dr. Girard, as he has been experimenting on a panther, surgically changing it with a series of painful operations into a half-man/half-panther beast, which occasionally escapes from its cage and kills an unwary villager. The creature is swathed in bandages, but his cat-like eyes and ears are still evident. The creature is attracted to Frances, as she is the only person on the island who shows him pity. After one of these attacks, all the native people flee the island except for Girard's servant girl Selene and her little brother Tiago.

As time passes on the island, Fitzgerald and Frances eventually fall in love, and she asks him to take her away. A jealous Walter tells Frances that Fitzgerald won't help her off the island but he will. When she refuses his proposal, he assaults Frances in the lab near the creature, who learns to hate Walter. Later when the doctor is teaching the creature to speak, the creature is enraged by Walter's walking in on them and manages to free itself once again, but Walter sets the beast on fire and is able to recapture the scorched monster. Later, the beast escapes again and goes on a rampage, killing Walter and Selene, and abducting Frances, carrying her off into the jungle. With William and Charles in hot pursuit, the creature is eventually cornered on the edge of a cliff, where it manages to hurl the mad doctor to his death. Before the creature can turn on the others, it is shot several times by William. Fleeing towards the beach, the wounded creature is helped by Tiago, and the unconscious beast drifts out to sea in a small rowboat.

Cast

 * Francis Lederer as Dr. Charles Girard: A surgeon creating a man out of a panther on Blood Island.
 * Greta Thyssen as Frances Girard: The wife of Charles Girard who doesn't like his work and feels bad for the creature but she relunctanty assists the operations.
 * Richard Derr as William Fitzgerald: A shipwrecked man who finds himself on Blood Island and falls in love with Frances Girard.
 * Oscar Keesee as Walter Perrera: Dr. Girard's sleezy assistant who assaults Frances and possibally beats Selene. He takes an aggressive approach toward handeling the beast-man including setting it on fire. He despises Dr, Girard and doesn't think others are doing enough to stop him.
 * Lilia Duran as Selene: A servant girl whose mother was also a servant and the first person to die from the panther-man's escapes. She may have been beaten by Walter Perrera.
 * Peyton Keesee as Tiago: Selene's little brother who gives Fitzgerald a goodluck charm and later helps the creature off the island.
 * Flory Carlos as the Panther-man: A former panther who has been surgically modified toward a man. Unfortunatelly its killer instincts are not so easily modified.

Comparison to other versions

 * Unique: There is only one beast-man.
 * The Island of the Lost: The male lead is in a love triangle with a woman on the island and another man/ men there.

Watch

 * Watch: The Silver Scream, Dailymotion, Internet Archive, Vudu, Amazon