Filipino Exploitation Theater: Beast of the Yellow Night (1971)

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Beast of the Yellow Night is a 1971 horror film, directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, who co-produced the film with Romero. It was the fourth release for Roger Corman's distribution company New World Pictures. It was released as a double feature with the West German horror film, Creature with the Blue Hand.
After successfully distributing Beast of Blood in 1970, producer Kane W. Lynn (as Hemisphere Pictures) tried to get the distribution rights to Ashley's next horror film, titled Beast of the Yellow Night. Ashley and his production company Four Associates Ltd. put up the money to produce the film themselves in the Philippines, and instead of allowing Lynn to distribute it, he made a deal with Roger Corman's then-fledgling New World Pictures instead. Lynn's ex-business partner in Hemisphere Pictures, Eddie Romero, was hired to direct and co-produce, but Lynn was cut out of the deal. Ashley's Four Associates Ltd. went on to produce several other films in the Philippines, such as The Twilight People, The Woman Hunt and Ebony, Ivory & Jade, before disbanding. Lynn invested in Sam Sherman's 1971 sci-fi film Brain of Blood, which did not fare well, and died soon after of cancer in 1975.
Ashley said that playing the role of the monster "was a lot of fun to do. I used a double in the long shots but the scenes where the beast was talking...was me." Ashley later said that the film was among the better written of his Philippines films. "It certainly was the most cerebral, if you can call any of those pictures that", he said. The success of the movie led Corman to make a series of films in the Philippines, including The Big Doll House.

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