John Ashley and Eddie
Romero, an unlikely, but winning film producing combination, will be the focus
of VCI Entertinment’s Feb. 13 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack release of their 1972
horror hit, The Twilight People.
A 2K restoration from the
original 35mm negative (in widescreen) is planned.
Ashley was a handsome
“teen” film star — you know, those 20 and 30-year olds starring as delinquents
and beach “kids.” He appeared in most of
the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello Beach Party films, plus such
drive-in classics as Dragstrip Girl, Motorcycle Gang, High
School Caesar, Hell on Wheels … do you see a
pattern there? By the time he appeared
in Hell
on Wheels he was 34-years old!!!
And then a funny thing
happened, he got an offer to appear in a film being shot in the Philippines. His marriage to Deborah Walley was on the
rocks, so a “vacation” in the Philippines, as the story has it, was a welcomed
break … little did he know that this little side trip was a career
changer.
The producer/director of
the film that Ashley had signed on for was none other than Eddie Remero, a
prolific Filipino filmmaker, who hadn’t quite cracked the lucrative U.S. market
in a meaningful way with his films.
That was about to change.
The two hit it off with Brides
of Blood and with Ashley’s long-standing connections with AIP alumni
Roger Corman and James H. Nicholson, he soon found himself in the role of
producer (and star) in a series of films with Romero that all became commercial
hits … in the United States!
Counted among these were Beast
of the Yellow Night, The Big Doll House (a production
credit in association with Roger Corman), Black Mama White Mama (Ashley as
producer), Beyond Atlantis and the VCI Entertainment’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Pack release on Feb. 13 of The Twilight People.
Pam Grier also stars in The
Twilight People (the Panther Woman, Ayesa), who was also working in the
Philippines at the time — The Big Doll House and Black
Mama White Mama. Needless to
say, The
Twilight People was a drive-in hit in 1972 and John Ashley’s career as
a film (and TV) producer was off and running.
Bonus goodies lined up by
VCI Entertainment include a video session with filmmaker Eddie Romero and a
commentary track with film historian Toby Roan (author of “A Million Feet of
Film: The Making of One-Eyed Jacks”).
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