Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

smeet-299-56645 The title works your imagination, 'Island' of terror - you think of a dark terrifying jungle where beasts only dare to tread - but no, its just Ireland. Ireland where bone sucking creatures are causing havoc by doing a fair amount of 'sucking' Sure, there are one or two 'creepy' moments here and there but the first sight of the creatures is a real let down and secures it as a 'cheapie' Cushing really could have chosen better......

Leofwine_draca A great, old-fashioned thriller from an era which remains sadly long forgotten. Most viewers today would probably laugh at the quaint style of acting and the slightly less than awe-inspiring special effects on display, but this is one of those movies which just fulfils all of my requirements to enjoy it - it's British, it's got monsters in it, Peter Cushing is in it! Instead of typical alien monsters, these creatures are actually created in an almost plausible way, as the result of a scientific experiment (for the good of mankind) which has gone horribly wrong. There are no mad scientists, just these creatures, which are a lethal side effect. Although the film has obvious flaws - the low budget means that it's frequently possible to see the wires pulling these monsters along - the film succeeds by having a great cast to go through the ropes. The plot may not be a startlingly original one (for instance, it bears quite a similarity to NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT, released a year later) but it acts as a clever backbone and sets up the central premise of man vs. monster. The island setting is used well, making events quite isolated, although there is a twist ending which we see coming a mile off.Peter Cushing leads the cast, and once again, he's great. Cushing has to suffer the indignity of having one of his hands cut off with an axe and gets to suffer for the rest of the film, proving once again that he was an actor who knew exactly how to express physical pain. Edward Judd (INVASION) is also highly sophisticated and likable as the young scientist hero, his dashing looks and manner are well suited to this film even if his performance is rather lightweight. Carole Gray is the obligatory love interest and is satisfactory, and the rest of the cast, while playing clichéd characters (stuffy locals), are all fine. It's fun to play "spot the character actor" with the likes of Sam Kydd, Niall Macginnis, and Eddie Byrne turning up - all prominent actors.It's the monsters which stick in the mind though. For a start, they look like giant wood lice. They're not at all scary, more like laughable, and there are some really hilarious moments (the monsters jumping out of a tree to attack somebody). The special effects of the drained corpses are surprisingly effective and gruesome, however, and surprising for what is otherwise a fairly restrained film (arm-axing aside). The best word to sum up the effects on display here is "fun" - they may not be convincing, and they may be tacky, but they're fun to watch and have a laugh at.ISLAND OF TERROR is a film for nostalgists and monster buffs. It may not be a movie classic by any means, and lacks the finesse of the Hammer films made at the same period of time, but Terence Fisher ensures that things are never boring and the clever ending is quite exciting without actually showing the monsters too much. A cult film, definitely, and one I enjoyed very much.

GusF 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.

Koosh_King01 Reclusive oncologist Dr. Lawrence Phillips is on the verge of curing cancer. He and his assistants have set up shop on the remote Petrie's Island, somewhere off the coast of Ireland, an island with no working phones, a weekly visit by a supply ship, and only one cop. Dr. Phillips' experiment is reaching a head, when, suddenly, something goes wrong. There is a flash of red light, and some breaking glass...That night, local farmer Ian Bellows is walking home through the woods when he hears a strange, electronic warbling noise coming from inside a cave. He decides to investigate...When Ian doesn't return home, his wife contacts Constable John Harris, who finds the waylaid farmer in the cave after searching the forest. But his corpse is in such a state that Harris rushes to get Dr. Reginald Landers, the island's doctor. An examination of Ian's corpse confirms Landers' worst fears; the dead man is completely boneless! At his wit's end, Landers heads to the mainland to see his old friend Dr. Brian Stanley in London. Unfortunately, although Stanley is Britain's foremost pathologist he has never heard of a disease that dissolves human bone.Undaunted, Stanley takes Landers in turn to see hotshot young osteopath Dr. David West, currently attempting to talk his way into the pants of Toni Merrill, a former patient. West is confounded by the tale of a boneless corpse, but agrees to return to Petrie's Island with the other two doctors. Toni, who has a rich father, offers the use of daddy's private helicopter with which to fly to the island, provided the three men let her tag along. Upon arrival however, Toni's father requires the chopper for some last-minute business. The pilot is forced to drop the four people off at the island and then fly away, leaving them effectively stranded until he can return.The doctors set immediately to work. They discover Ian was injected with a new enzyme that dissolves calcium phosphate, but can't figure out what produces it. The local clinic doesn't provide sophisticated enough equipment, so Landers suggests they go and see Dr. Phillips, as Phillips' laboratory, located in an old mansion in the woods, is better equipped. Upon arriving however, they discover that Phillips and his assistants are all just as dead as Ian Bellows... and just as boneless. Reasoning that whatever Phillips was mucking around with started all of this, West, Stanley and Landers gathers up the dead scientist's notes to study them.As soon as they've left, another farmer comes to complain to Constable Harris that one of his horses has been found dead and, shall we say, relieved of its skeleton. Harris hurries to the mansion, but misses the doctors. Doing a little exploring of his own, he is drawn to one room they didn't go into by a strange electronic warbling... only to be seized by the throat by a green tentacle!A minor cult classic of British horror that has sadly fallen through the cracks of time, 1966's Island of Terror is a movie that certainly deserves more fame than it's gotten over time (especially a proper American DVD release!) due to some stellar performances by a mostly unknown cast, headed by stalwart Peter Cushing, and also due to its frankly creepy central premise.