Very disappointing...

Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Planet Film Productions, who distributed (as far as I can tell) a total of six films, beginning in 1951 and ending their run with this, have put together a good, solidly made production featuring an scholarly Peter Cushing. Also, amidst the nicely creepy locations beautifully captured by director Terence Fisher, are the reasons for the 'terror' extolled by the title: b-movie style slithering 'Silicates', long-necked snail-like creatures that move around with staggering slowness. These monsters either destroy the nicely conveyed spooky atmosphere, or provide a somewhat silly high-point among the serious faces and long coats - depending on your point of view.The bodies of a series of murdered humans/animals have one gruesome thing in common: their bones have been liquefied, leaving the cadavers 'all soft and flabby.' Dr. Bryan Stanley (Cushing) and his authoritarian gang Drs David West and Reginald Landers (Edward Judd and Eddie Byrne) investigate, together with Toni Merrill (Carole Gray) - who has constantly to fight against their 'stay here, things might get dangerous', and then screams in terror whenever they are confronted by the Silicates. Girls, eh? The actors do a good job of staring in terror at these wonderfully daft creatures, who occasionally exude slimy spaghetti when attacked. Gray in particular does her best with Merrill, who looks pretty but is written as the wilting female who needs to be looked after.Terence Fisher doesn't make much of effort to make these monsters look particularly terrifying. A couple of zoom-ins, otherwise it seems to be a case of 'point the camera at them and let them get on with it.' ("They don't seem to be moving very fast," Stanley says at one point.) And yet the briefly seen boneless corpses are very effective, as is the depiction of something unpleasant happening to stoic Dr. Stanley's hand toward the end, which is genuinely shocking.Overall, this is good fun. The island setting is authentic and the sets are packed with convincing rural detail. It remains a lesser-known Peter Cushing film, however. "We were lucky this is an island. If it had happened anywhere else, I don't think we would have been able to destroy them," says West shortly before the film ends with an ominous final scene. Tremendous.

Like most Peter Cushing vehicles, this one makes a nice rest for the brain. We almost prefer the horror-effects to be amateurish - plastic dungeons, baffled police, cod-scientific arguments - and we are not disappointed.A top cancer researcher has set-up his laboratory on a small island off the Irish coast, and feels he is close to finding a cure. But he has accidentally let loose a genome that mutates into an entirely new kind of creature that feeds on bone-marrow. When a human body is found, literally filleted, a mighty alarm is raised. It turns out that the tentacled and bullet-proof creatures (oddly named 'silicates') keep dividing into two, and at that rate, they will soon dominate the island.This is more-or-less H.G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds' all over again, and the methods by which the silicates are eventually killed-off need not detain us. The film has more to do with atmosphere, and there is always something Dracula-like about a small remote community coping with the supernatural.The cast do not get many opportunities to excel, which is bad luck on the only significant female, Carole Gray, clearly capable of better. But the dialogue is depressingly poor - literally not one notable line. ("Nasty little creatures, aren't they?" is a fair specimen.)The surprise ending, not to be revealed, is easily recognisable as a little slice of 1966, echoing the irreverent humour of the Bonds.

I first heard this film reviewed when I was a 13-year-old in 1966, while listening to the radio. It sounded fantastic but somehow I've never seen it in all the years since then....until now, courtesy of a Blu-ray.It's a typical low-budget British Sci-fi/horror from the mid 60's, with all the usual features - a mysterious laboratory (with isotopes), strange deaths and geiger-counters. Not a brilliant film really, but director Terence Fisher brings his Hammer-ability to the proceedings, passing 90 minutes in a fairly entertaining manner and it gave us a chance to 'spot the faces'. The ubiquitous Sam Kydd is there, as is Niall MacGinnes looking somewhat like a retired butcher. I liked the way that early on in the story, we are carefully informed (via some banter) that the boat only goes there once a week and there are no telephones on the island. Unusually for a cheap release, there's a very informative booklet which I enjoyed. Extras consist of the original trailer and a picture gallery. And it's on Blu-ray!

This is a hugely enjoyable sci-fi horror film from the not terribly well remembered Planet Film Productions. Wonderfully directed by the great Terence Fisher, it reminds me of the "Quatermass" serials and some of the best American sci-fi films of the 1950s. It concerns a scientist who accidentally created a new lifeform, called a silicate, from a silicon atom in his attempt to cure cancer. As well as being a cool sci-fi plot, it's a nice commentary on well-intentioned scientists creating something with a peaceful application only for it to be subverted. The film takes place on the fictional Petrie's Island off the east coast of my native Ireland. According to Wikipedia, the film had a budget of only £70,000. If that is true, it's a testament to Fisher's great skill as a director since the film looks fantastic.The always superb Peter Cushing and the underrated Edward Judd lead a strong cast of predominantly Irish actors including Cushing's "The Mummy" and "Star Wars" co-star Eddie Byrne, Niall MacGinnis, Sam Kydd, James Caffrey and Liam Gaffney. The film's only major female cast member is Carole Gray, who is excellent as Toni Merrill, the love interest of Judd's character David West. She had a short acting career, which encompassed a mere eight films and three TV appearances, which is a shame as she would have made a great Bond girl or Hammer leading lady. The film is very well written with a strong plot which respects the audience's intelligence. The characters all seem like real people. I always get a little nervous when Irish people are depicted in British or American films but I need not have worried as no one said "Top o' the mornin' to ya" and the characters did not look like 19th Century farmers or IRA members. It's actually quite an accurate portrayal of rural Ireland in the 1960s, though the British number plates, lack of signs in Irish and one or two other things belie the fact that it was shot in Britain. When it came to the sci-fi and horror elements, the major threat posed by the silicates is emphasised by their excellent design, which is better than the design of most creatures in contemporaneous American sci-fi shows, and the distinctive noise that they make. There are many frightening visuals, particularly the remains of the various victims of the silicates whose bones have been liquefied. The film bears some superficial similarities to the lacklustre 1967 film "Night of the Big Heat", which likewise was made by Planet Film, was directed by Fisher, featured Cushing and concerned a crisis which took place on a remote island. It would seem to me that they were trying to recreate the success of this film but they failed, I'm afraid, as that one was nowhere near as good. Incidentally, Cushing's character Brian Stanley shares his name with one of my local TDs, which is what we call our MPs in Ireland. Sadly though, he's no Peter Cushing.