Rating: C-
Dir: Terence Fisher
Star: Patrick Allen, Christopher Lee, Jane Merrow, Peter Cushing
Made the year after Island of Terror, this is similar in a number of ways. Again, Fisher helms a movie in which a generally ludicrous alien life-form threatens the inhabitants of a remote island, including Cushing. I guess if you have a winning – or, at least, profitable – formula, you might as well stick to it. This second lap is significantly less entertaining, however. Despite the addition of genre stalwarts Lee and Allen, the execution is poor. In particulaer, the makers decided to shoehorn in an entirely unnecessary love-triangle, leading to some spectacularly bizarre takes on Letterboxd [that this rambling garbage is the most-liked review there, says a lot about the typical Letterboxd user]
Events unfold on the northern island of Fara, which is experiencing a bizarre winter heatwave, reaching as high as… ninety degrees. [Pauses to laugh hysterically in Arizonan] Among those present on the island are writer Jeff Callum (Allen) and his wife, reclusive scientist Godfrey Hanson (Lee), and Dr. Vernon Stone (Cushing). Weird events start to pile up, including incinerated sheep, mysterious deaths, and a high-pitching whining sound. Oh, and sweating. So. Much. Sweating. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve seen so many moist armpits (top). Mind you, as shown, Hanson is still wearing the mandated scientist garb of long pants, shirt and a tie. This being Britain in the sixties, the sole permitted nod to comfort is that he gets to undo the top button and loosen his tie somewhat.
The only person dressed appropriately is Callum’s new secretary, Angela Roberts (Merrow), and that’s because she’s a bunny boiler. She has followed him there, intent on wrecking his marriage as revenge, after he broke off their affair. It’s a bizarre angle to throw into what is otherwise, very much, B-movie science-fiction. Admittedly, it hasn’t aged well, but it was simply a different era: no-fault divorce wouldn’t even become a thing in England for another two years. No need to get hung up on it, unlike some reviewers. Far more offensive is the feeble ending, which is bad enough to feel like it may have inspired the one in Signs. The creatures responsible are not great either, though unlike in Island, at least they’re not plummeting from trees.
As there though, you do get the sense that – excluding the relationship drama – this could have been an episode of Doctor Who. Indeed, husband and wife team, Pip and Jane Baker, who worked on this, would later write for Who, including classic story Time and the Rani. It has the same limited locations, including a finale in what could well be the traditional gravel pit, and an attempt to replace the need for effects with story and characters. It doesn’t work, with Cushing in particular wasted, his scenes taking place almost entirely in the local pub, and lacking vitality. I remember being distinctly underwhelmed by this when first seen on British TV in the nineties. It has not improved with age.