Island of Terror (1966)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Fantastic!

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I remember watching this sometime in the early 1980s and being very impressed by it . When you're young you do feel an intense affection for these type of movies . They're mindless fun but the emphasis is on " fun " and you have no knowledge of the word " mindless " . In short if you spend the rest of your life having never seen a fondly remembered film then your fondness remains intact , so much so that I had hoped to rewatch this movie as an adult but it's not an easy film to find and I don't recall it being broadcast apart from its initial screening on ITV one Friday night circa 1981 That changed tonight and it's interesting how many people on this message board say it's a victim of false memory syndrome . It certainly wasn't a contender for the Oscars but it's difficult to believe that a film so dumb and more than a little bland could stay in the memory so long . Yes it's certainly watchable and remains so but that might be down to watching so many excessive gory films between 1981 and 2012 rather than ISLAND OF TERROR having massive merits of its own .Two obvious things let the film down - the screenplay and the directing The premise is the standard scientists try to make things better for humanity but almost succeed in destroying the human race but the premise is totally undermined by every plot turn . Supposedly the location of the story is set on an Island off the East coast of Ireland which is strange because most of the characters have Scottish sounding names . It could be the East coast of Northern Ireland which would make sense . Nothing else makes sense however such as the Islanders having no phones but an endless supply of guns and dynamite . This was three years before the troubles started but would the average Island in Ulster be selling boxes of dynamite at a corner store ? Perhaps the most ridiculous thing is a total lack of phones on the island which is force fed to the audience time after time The screenplay is full of these type of credibility defying moments . Likewise some of the dialogue has to be heard to be believed and one can't help thinking that it'd be better off in THE BENNY HILL SHOW or a Carry On film . We're introduced to the hero who is an expert on bone disease and he's just had a quickie with a hot brunette . I'm surprised the writers didn't make a joke about a serious bone injury. And later on Peter Cushing's character makes a joke to the hero and hot chick if three can play a game of solitaire Director Terence Fisher can't rise above the written material and you get the distinct impression he doesn't want to either . He shoots most scenes in a bland medium shot and fails to inject much atmosphere in to the proceedings . Worse is his realisation of the silicate monsters which are unmenancing and somewhat laughable . You could claim that this gives the film a lot of charm and I won't disagree but there's a lack of internal logic to them . How for example would the silicates manage to kill three scientists and a housekeeper if they're so slow movingISLAND OF TERROR is one of these movies that deserves a " 100 things that I learned from this movie " posts on the message board as in : " Japan isn't in fact an island " or " You can make jokes ten minutes after getting your arm chopped off " or " A stick of dynamite has the same explosive force as a firecracker "As I said the film is somewhat charming and watchable but much of this is down to the decades passing and horror in the 21st Century revolving around people being kidnapped and slowly tortured to death in stomach churning explicit brutality

Reclusive oncologist Dr. Lawrence Phillips is on the verge of curing cancer. He and his assistants have set up shop on the remote Petrie's Island, somewhere off the coast of Ireland, an island with no working phones, a weekly visit by a supply ship, and only one cop. Dr. Phillips' experiment is reaching a head, when, suddenly, something goes wrong. There is a flash of red light, and some breaking glass...That night, local farmer Ian Bellows is walking home through the woods when he hears a strange, electronic warbling noise coming from inside a cave. He decides to investigate...When Ian doesn't return home, his wife contacts Constable John Harris, who finds the waylaid farmer in the cave after searching the forest. But his corpse is in such a state that Harris rushes to get Dr. Reginald Landers, the island's doctor. An examination of Ian's corpse confirms Landers' worst fears; the dead man is completely boneless! At his wit's end, Landers heads to the mainland to see his old friend Dr. Brian Stanley in London. Unfortunately, although Stanley is Britain's foremost pathologist he has never heard of a disease that dissolves human bone.Undaunted, Stanley takes Landers in turn to see hotshot young osteopath Dr. David West, currently attempting to talk his way into the pants of Toni Merrill, a former patient. West is confounded by the tale of a boneless corpse, but agrees to return to Petrie's Island with the other two doctors. Toni, who has a rich father, offers the use of daddy's private helicopter with which to fly to the island, provided the three men let her tag along. Upon arrival however, Toni's father requires the chopper for some last-minute business. The pilot is forced to drop the four people off at the island and then fly away, leaving them effectively stranded until he can return.The doctors set immediately to work. They discover Ian was injected with a new enzyme that dissolves calcium phosphate, but can't figure out what produces it. The local clinic doesn't provide sophisticated enough equipment, so Landers suggests they go and see Dr. Phillips, as Phillips' laboratory, located in an old mansion in the woods, is better equipped. Upon arriving however, they discover that Phillips and his assistants are all just as dead as Ian Bellows... and just as boneless. Reasoning that whatever Phillips was mucking around with started all of this, West, Stanley and Landers gathers up the dead scientist's notes to study them.As soon as they've left, another farmer comes to complain to Constable Harris that one of his horses has been found dead and, shall we say, relieved of its skeleton. Harris hurries to the mansion, but misses the doctors. Doing a little exploring of his own, he is drawn to one room they didn't go into by a strange electronic warbling... only to be seized by the throat by a green tentacle!A minor cult classic of British horror that has sadly fallen through the cracks of time, 1966's Island of Terror is a movie that certainly deserves more fame than it's gotten over time (especially a proper American DVD release!) due to some stellar performances by a mostly unknown cast, headed by stalwart Peter Cushing, and also due to its frankly creepy central premise.

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.

For starters, the title of this movie rocks. I couldn't think of a better name for a horror movie.The story tells about an island with a small village and a research lab. In the lab they try to find a cure for cancer, but something goes wrong (or else we wouldn't have a movie). Strange creatures are the result of the experiments and they break out of the lab and start killing people and animals. They suck the bones straight out of you, man what a NASTY way to go.I liked this movie a lot. From start to finish I was enjoying myself. The acting is good, with Peter Cushing as the charming Dr. Stanley. The effects are good enough, sometimes a little nasty. The creatures look really goofy though, but don't take the movie too seriously. Just watch and enjoy! Island of Terror is a nice horror movie. Certainly watchable for the fans.7 out of 10 stars.