Island Of Terror [Blu-ray]

Ranks with The Night of the Big Heat, another Hammer style film with Peter Cushing. Also stars Edward Judd (The Day the Earth Caught Fire). An offshore island is terrorised by a cancer cure that sucks the bones out of its victims. Some good visuals of the deflated victims which were probably advanced at the time. A ripping yarn from 1966. All good fun!

First of all the dvd came very fast, this film is shot very well and has top in the day actors the film windes up as it goes the sound effects will make your hair stand up more than any thing else, a good old-fashioned film.

If you are a fan of British 1950’s and 60’s Sci-Fi this is one for you. An isolated island, a mad professor and deadly mutant creatures plus Peter Cushing, Edward Judd and a supporting cast of excellent British actors. Excellent quality picture and sound make this a Blu-ray well worth having.

I’m 54. I remember watching this as a kid numerous times and loving every second even then.

Of the 50’s and 60’s British sci-fi movies I love so much this is easily in my top 10 along
with Night of the Big Heat, Day the Earth Caught Fire, and all 3 Quatermass movies.

I’m very happy to say that thanks to recent releases I now have 5 of those 6 on BluRay.
Keep ’em coming!

Back to the movie, Terence Fisher and ‘Planet Productions did an awesome job here and thank
goodness for Edward Judd and Peter Cushing.

Oh yeah, and the eye candy is very ably provided by the yummylicious Carole Gray.
Even the silicates would spare her!

So if you want a very enjoyable fun time for your movie viewing this is your winner. enjoy!

Peter Cushing at his zenith in this off-beat sci-fi 60s fare. Cushing investigates an outbreak of a mysterious disease wreaking havoc on a small island. He discovers that the deaths are actually caused by something far more frightening than a deadly disease. Mystery, intrigue and schlock sci-fi effects combine to make this a must see movie for Peter Cushing fans.

In this review I’ll be assuming that you are familiar with this classic British monster flick, or you wouldn’t be thinking of a blu ray version. If you haven’t seen it, you should before you buy, because you may not appreciate it. But if you relished Hammer’s horror movies or Quatermass, you will probably find this highly entertaining.

I already have this film on dvd in the Masters of Horror Collector’s Edition, and I have to say that version does score over this in a few ways. Firstly the extras on the blu ray are just an image gallery and a trailer, wile the dvd release has an interview with Christopher Lee. On the other hand since Lee isn’t actually in this film, that extra wasn’t really appropriate. Plus the booklet with the dvd is bigger, more colourful, and has some juicy pictures of the various posters for the movie. On the other hand, it isn’t actually as informative about the film, so I can live with the blu ray version.

It’s with the picture and sound that this version comes into its own. The picture is superb, clear and sharp without turning the cast into plastic toy versions of themselves. Detail is beautifully clear, and the colour is well balanced; vibrant without being garish. The sound on my tv set (I don’t have any external speakers, just standard built-in) comes across as more enhanced mono than anything, but having watched the dvd version – which was in itself a huge improvement on the vhs release – I’d say this is sharper and has been noticeably cleaned up here and there. One tiny flaw I spotted was that in one scene (involving armed humans versus monsters in the woodlands) the picture completely blanks out for a second, leaving a white screen. I assume this is some error that crept in during remastering, but it is such a brief flash that I don’t feel it spoils it (especially having viewed the badly worn and damaged copies that have been broadcast on tv over the years, and on which the video release was based). I enjoyed every minute of it and thought it was well worth the money.

Directed by horror legend Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing and Edward Judd, this is a nice little tale of Sci-Fi hokum.

On a remote island, a scientist is investigating cancer cures. The experiments go horribly wrong, and he accidentally creates a species of silicates who go round sucking the bones from people’s bodies. Cue the arrival of Cushing and Judd, eminent London surgeons summoned by the Island’s doctor to help diagnose the cause of death of the bodies mysteriously popping up all over the island.

The remote island setting gives it a nice claustrophobic setting, which adds nicely to the suspense. The whole film turns on the performances of Cushing, who was always able to inject even the most absurd scripts with some plausibility, and Judd who is an effective action man hero. I always quite liked the silicates, though others have derided them. OK, so actors visibly clutch them to themselves when being attacked, but apart from that they’re pretty creepy.

DVD presentation is OK, the picture is a bit grainy at times. It is in 16:9 widescreen with a mono soundtrack. Features are limited to an interview with Christopher Lee, who famously worked with both Cushing and Fisher. There is an interesting 24 pg booklet discussing the genesis of the film.

A regular feature of late night TV in my youth, this is still a great 90 minutes of atmospheric, entertaining fun, just don’t take it too seriously.