Anoraks Assemble

Island of Terror is a 1967 horror film from Planet Film Productions, directed by Terence Fisher.

On yet another remote island, scientists are doing covert experiments to try and discover a cure for cancer. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the scientists end up creating mysterious creatures – dubbed Silicates – who kill their victims by injecting a bone-dissolving enzyme into their bodies.

Before anyone can say, “Ouch, that’s got to hurt,” enter our heroes, Drs. Brian Stanley and David West (and not forgetting West’s useless girlfriend, Toni), who must try to decipher exactly what is going on, and more importantly, can the Silicates be stopped.

Meanwhile, islanders are being bumped off left, right and centre, and their death scenes are accompanied by a rather gruesome, slurping sound, something similar to a child sucking their milkshake too loudly through a straw.

The unfortunate victims are left as a blob of flesh and nothing else, which might look a bit silly but I think is quite effectively done.

Peter Cushing is as believable as ever as Dr. Stanley. To be honest, Cushing could tell me the sky was pink and the moon was made out of cheese and I would believe him.

Edward Judd is okay as Dr. West, but I find him a bit irritating. I am not sure if it is the way the character is written or the actor himself (there are plenty of stories out there about him having an inflated ego), but his manner here just annoys me.

There is also good support from Eddie Byrne and Niall MacGinnis (of Night of the Demon fame). Admittedly, Carole Gray has a thankless task as West’s girlfriend, Toni Merrill, but my goodness, she is annoying. Apart from commandeering her father’s helicopter to fly them to the island, she serves no purpose except to scream and tell everyone how frightened she is.

I know this was the way female characters were treated back then but it is just so tiresome.

To be fair, the film is nothing special and we have seen it all before, but there are a few nice atmospheric moments. We can easily guess who is going to live and who is going to die, but it is all good, silly fun nonetheless.