Island of Terror (1966)

The Worst Film Ever

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

O.K., we can all agree that there have been some pretty silly looking monsters in 1950's and 1960's horror movies. A flowing blob of goo, giant turkeys, walking trees and even a rock that waddled after its intended victims. Now here comes one of the oddest, a silly looking creature that rumor has was authorized by the Hoover administration-a vacuum cleaner like creature that literally sucks the bone marrow and the solid mass around it right out of it. These creatures also have the ability to climb trees and drop out of the sky just like that house in "The Wizard of Oz". That most serious of all mad doctors, Peter Cushing, is aghast to find out that his experiments unleashed this evil. All he wanted to do was go to the peaceful island to work on a cure for cancer. The entire island ends up trapped in a building surrounded by them, just like the townspeople haunted by the blob and other various monsters in similar films. Add on radioactivity to make these hose nosed creatures even more dangerous, and you've got another film reminding us of what the world has done wrong. So enjoy the unbelievable silliness of the whole thing and remember afterwards that your own household appliance is just that...or is it?

Despite the presence of Terence Fisher and Peter Cushing, ISLAND OF TERROR is not a Hammer production. Surprisingly--because besides the star and director it has all of the assets we attribute to Hammer: an intelligent script hinged around a far-fetched premise; an expert cast including some outstanding character actors (in this case, a sadly wasted Niall MacGinnis); and modest but substantial production values bolstering what might best be called resourceful special effects.Produced in the days of the double bill, its 89 minutes fly by—just enough time to be convinced by ISLAND OF TERROR's imaginative calcium- sucking "silicates." The unlikely products of cancer research, the silicates look like huge oyster-shells with a single tentacular proboscis waving from (what one presumes is) the front end. Slow-moving but sneaky, their presence is announced by creepy (and for 1962, groundbreaking) electronic sound effects, and their deadly tentacles overtake even the wariest interloper. These uniquely-conceived monsters are just one of ISLAND OF TERROR's many pleasures, along with the ingenious (but hard on cattle) scheme our heroes devise to overcome the menace, the embattled island (inhabited by a couple of hundred people, who among them unfortunately have only one boat) mise-en-scene, and (SPOILER ALERT) the wacky sense of humour the previously dour Cushing develops after having his arm chopped off.Let us not underrate ISLAND OF TERROR; its craftsmanship stands up a half-century later, when more "serious" efforts from the same decade merely look embarrassing. It has many genuinely scary moments, including a classic, "it's-not-over" denouement, which make it a genuinely pleasurable movie experience.

Sorry to disappoint anyone expecting silly cats. Sillicats are nothing more than the pizza-monsters in the "Star Trek" episode "The Devil In The Dark", plus a long elephant-like trunk glued in the middle, which flaps about somewhat when targeting a luckless islander.Not too much padding, as is usual in low-budget monster fare, but there is a hilariously drawn-out scene which shows nothing more than the two scientists putting on some large condoms (suits) in a lab. Perhaps the director was forced to show the entire sequence of putting on those goofy suits because if he'd cut straight to Cushing dressed as a condom the scene would have garnered some unintentional laughs. This way the audience at least has time to adjust to the fact that the two heroes will be dressing as condoms. Dramatic music accompanies this protracted scene, just in case we notice how irrelevant this scene is. This was a typical "trick" in the meager 50s/60s B-movie weapons arsenal: when you know the scene is lame, put on some mega-dramatic music on top of it.Fancy that, the young scientist putting his girlfriend in charge of controlling the villagers in the town hall (or village hut). And what exactly qualifies her to control the rabble? This is exactly how Mira Markovic and Elena Ceausescu got to where they were: spineless husbands pushing their ugly wives to power. (OK, fine, this actress is neither ugly nor evil, the comparison is slightly flawed, so shoot me.) A bit too silly how even an ax cannot even slightly damage the sillicats. If they're made out of silicon, they're not made out of steel.Watch for Cushing get all jovial and cracking jokes, mere hours after having had his hand amputated by an ax. So very English. So B-movie.IOT is a charming little monster-invasion flick, with little action and a lot of talking which is typical of its type, but very much watchable.

Tom Blakely's Planet Productions made just four features, three of which were this film, 1964's "Devils of Darkness," and 1967's "Night of the Big Heat" (their last). For ISLAND and NIGHT, they secured the services of Hammer director Terence Fisher and Hammer star Peter Cushing, adding Christopher Lee to the cast of NIGHT for extra measure. DEVILS was an odd footnote, the first British vampire film set not in the Gothic world represented so well by Hammer, but in the modern day, otherwise undistinguished. Terence Fisher expressed no fondness for science fiction, and his early black and white Hammer entries, "Four Sided Triangle," "Stolen Face," and "Spaceways" (all 1952), are all overly talkative and extremely dull. 1964's "The Earth Dies Screaming" was a modest step up, a very low budget alien invasion represented by a tiny cast and one single robot. Fisher's two Planet features make quite a matched set, perhaps not as revered as his better known Hammer efforts, but allowing him to focus on his cast of characters, presenting them in dangerous situations that create tension. Fisher always emphasized the human side of his monsters, and even in these two sci fi entries, he remains true to form. Both scripts benefit from finely etched characterizations, and wonderful actors bringing them to vibrant life. In ISLAND OF TERROR, an isolated island off the East coast of Ireland is the setting of an invasion created by scientists searching for a cure for cancer, creating a form of life that survives by devouring the bones of people and animals. Sam Kydd plays the constable, John Harris, who discovers a missing farmer dead in a cave, the body a mass of jelly. Eddie Byrne (THE MUMMY, THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU, STAR WARS) is the island doctor, scoffing at the apt description of the corpse: "there was no face, just a horrible mush, with the eyes sittin' in it." Both actors, well known faces in British cinema, are so natural in these roles that the horror of the situation is instantly established with great credibility, and this is BEFORE the introduction of the heroic Peter Cushing, who never fails to convey sincerity in even the smallest of parts. Here, Cushing occasionally takes a back seat to second billed Edward Judd, but both work well in tandem, putting together the scientist's notes as to what went on in the laboratory, and learning how to stop the onslaught of terror. Cushing was usually the voice of reason, the authority figure, a character the audience trusts completely to present all the facts to them, yet here, his character is not so sure of himself, a quick quip to try to hide his fear, a more believably written hero, and this marvelous performer delivers one of his very best. The low budget special effects, especially the eating sounds, deliver on a modest scale, and the harrowing sequence where Cushing is attacked and implores Judd to chop off his hand at the wrist is the stuff of childhood nightmares. A first time viewer may be surprised at the unusual depth of characterization, and Niall MacGinnis (NIGHT OF THE DEMON, DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, TORTURE GARDEN), as the island's leader, Liam Gaffney as the first victim, even the smallest of roles are played faultlessly. Of course, when one puzzled islander remarks "some peculiar goings-on going on on this island," there's always a risk that unintended humor might overcome the intended, but it's not fatal. Superior to NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT, and proof that Terence Fisher could make excellent science fiction, provided he had a script that presented human characters little different from the ones in his Gothic chillers. Make no mistake, this is definitely a CHILLER, and one of Richard Gordon's infrequent productions, ranging from "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire" (Bela Lugosi), "Grip of the Strangler" (Boris Karloff), "Corridors of Blood" (Karloff and Christopher Lee), "Devil Doll," "Curse of Simba," "The Projected Man," "Tower of Evil" (all four with Bryant Haliday), "Horror Hospital" (Michael Gough), "The Cat and the Canary" (Carol Lynley), and finally "Inseminoid" (Judy Geeson and Stephanie Beacham). Thirty years of genre cinema with the greatest stars of their day.