Beast Of The Yellow Night (1971) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Eddie Romero
Producers: Eddie Romero, John Ashley, David J. Cohen, Roger Corman, Beverly Miller
Writers: Eddie Romero
Date Released: 1971
Cast:
John Ashley as Joseph Langdon/Philip Rogers
Mary Charlotte Wilcox as Julia Rogers
Leopoldo Salcedo as Insp. de Santos
Eddie Garcia as Det. Lt. Campo
Ken Metcalfe as Earl Rogers
Vic Diaz as Satan
Andres Centenera as Blind Man
Don Lipman as U.S. Military Attaché
Joonee Gamboa as Mateo
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story is about a dying man, Langdon, who was saved by Satan in exchange for a lifetime of service to him. He reincarnated for more than 20 years in different bodies to provoke evil in people. In his recent reincarnation, he had some realizations and was trying to bargain again with Satan. Instead, Satan gave him a curse where he suffers pain and transforms into a werewolf-looking monster that feeds on humans. It brought trouble to his already failing marriage because the police got involved. Upon meeting a strange blind man, it is up to him to turn his life around in all this mess.
Gore Factor
Right before the opening credits, there were already some blood and gore. They showed the death of a woman and the feeding of chopped human meat. Other notable scenes include the sudden transformation to a beast and feeding off the old man, the biting of the woman on the sidewalk, and the fistfight with the mob.
The Grave Review
This movie had a mix of everything, from the appearance of Satan, to reincarnation, to shapeshifting into a werewolf-like beast, to cannibalism, and to immortality and invincibility.
One good thing that they depicted in the film was how Satan and Langdon exchanged promises. The fact that Langdon ate the human meat was an act of signing their deal. Also, the actor who played the witty Satan was good, though at first, he did not look like the devil.
There were a lot of confusing moments in this film. It lacked more backstories from the previous reincarnations to show that he had suffered years of transferring from person to person. All the dialogues were too long as well, reaching to a point where the actors seemed reciting a speech to each other. It was not monotonous, but the lack of emotion showed in their faces. Langdon’s sudden transformation into a monster was also not explained, apart from the cryptic message from Satan during the cemetery scene. The entire arc of the blind bandit was not explained up until their last moments in the grassy area.
Also, there were no scenes to show his actual transformation, apart from the ending where the curse had been lifted. It was weird to see a monster in pain while fighting a mob, and it was even weirder to see the men with terribly slashed faces from just one punch.
The ending was also abrupt. There was no explanation as to what the importance of the bandit’s last words were and how it affected Langdon to become his true mortal self again. The silent prayer broke the curse but it was an idea that they failed to explore. It ended with Satan still doing his monologue in the yellow smoke about failing but promising a comeback.
The story has potential. It’s interesting to watch something about selling the soul to Satan and reincarnating from body to body, spreading evil and transforming into a monster. If given the chance, it could be improved with a remake.
Overall, this movie is still recommended for those who love monster films.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Beast Of The Yellow Night (1971) two graves out of five graves.
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