Island of Terror

That Fisher demonstrated his finest artistic talents in his classic gothic horror films is a generally accepted opinion. Sci-fi horror may not be his strong suit, but you still have to give the director his due for having produced a decent (and moderately interesting) film based on a plot that veers perilously close to the ridiculous, given that it calls for repeated attacks by bradykinetic creatures equipped with a lethal tentacle/straw combination (and by the sound of it, there must be plenty of air in the human body…).

Peter Cushing’s great charisma and gravitas are fundamental here, because his performance as the scientist has an almost magical ability to lend depth to even the most absurd scenes and dialogue. The budget is bare-bones, and the look of the “monsters” is childish, but true fans of the genre will nonetheless find something to appreciate.

It’s an entirely different story when it comes to the – disturbing – methods adopted to confront the horrific menace the “silicates” pose. They start off with bullets, progress to incendiary bombs, then move on to dynamite. The icing on the cake is a plot to expose a herd of cattle to high doses of radioactive Strontium-90(!) in order to contaminate the ravenous snail-like creatures who will eventually suck the radioactive bones out of them. Lines such as “Let’s hope we’ve got enough Strontium-90” leave us raising our eyebrows.

Very similar to the subsequent “Night of the Big Heat” (1967) – both were released by “Planet Film Productions”.