Island of Terror

Island of Terror
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Terence Fisher
Written by	Edward Mann Al Ramsen
Based on	an original story by Mann and Ramsen
Produced by	Tom Blakely
Starring	Edward Judd Peter Cushing Carole Gray Eddie Byrne
Cinematography	Reg Wyer
Edited by	Thelma Connell
Music by	Malcolm Lockyer Barry Gray (electronic effects)
Production company	Planet Film Productions
Distributed by	Planet Film Distributors Universal Studios (US)
Release dates	3 June 1966 (1966-06-03) (Liverpool; premiere) 20 June 1966 (1966-06-20) (United Kingdom) 1 February 1967 (1967-02-01) (United States)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£70,000
Box office	117,645 admissions (France)

Island of Terror (also known as Night of the Silicates and The Night the Creatures Came) is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing and Edward Judd. The screenplay was by Edward Mann and Al Ramsen. It was produced by Planet Film Productions. The film was released in the United States by Universal Studios on a double bill with The Projected Man (1966).

Plot

On the remote Petrie's Island off the east coast of Ireland farmer Ian Bellows goes missing and his wife contacts the local police. Constable John Harris finds the farmer dead in a cave without a single bone in his body and fetches the island's physician, Dr Reginald Landers, who is unable to determine what happened. He journeys to the mainland to seek the help of a noted London pathologist, Dr Brian Stanley. Stanley too is unable even to hypothesise what could have happened, so both men seek out Dr David West, an expert on bones and bone diseases. Although Stanley and Landers interrupt West's quiet evening at home with the wealthy jetsetter Toni Merrill, West is intrigued by the problem and so agrees to accompany the two doctors back to Petrie's Island to examine the corpse. In order for them to reach the island that much faster, Merrill offers the use of her father's private helicopter in exchange for the three men allowing her to come along on the adventure.

Once back at Petrie's Island, Merrill's father's helicopter is forced to return to the mainland so he can use it, leaving the foursome stranded on Petrie. West and Stanley learn that a group of oncology researchers led by Dr Lawrence Phillips have a secluded castle laboratory on the island. Paying a visit to Phillips' lab reveals that he and his colleagues are just as dead (and boneless) as Bellows. Reasoning that whatever it is must have begun in that lab, West, Stanley and Landers take Phillips' notes back to the inn where they are staying to study them. From them they learn that in his quest to cure cancer, Phillips may have accidentally created a new lifeform from the silicon atom.

Thinking the doctors are at the castle, Constable Harris bikes up there to tell them about the discovery of a dead, boneless horse, only to wander into the laboratory's "test animals" room and be killed by an offscreen tentacled creature, the result of Dr Phillips's experiments. The creatures are eventually dubbed "silicates" by West and Stanley, and kill their victims by injecting a bone-dissolving enzyme into their bodies. The silicates prove difficult to kill, as Stanley, West and Merrill learn when Landers tries to kill one at the castle with an axe, but is himself killed. During this first encounter they learn that the silicates reproduce by dividing. Later discovering that they divide every few hours, the scientists calculate that the island will be totally infested in just a few days.

After learning all they can from the late Dr Phillips's notes, West and Stanley recruit the islanders, led by Roger Campbell, to attack the silicates with everything they've got. Bullets, petrol bombs, and dynamite fail to harm the silicates. But when one is found dead, apparently having ingested the rare isotope Strontium-90 from Phillips' lab (via Phillips' accidentally irradiated Great Dane), West and Stanley realise they must find more of the isotope at the castle and contaminate the remaining silicates before it is too late. They obtain enough isotope to contaminate a herd of cattle – at the cost of Stanley's left hand, when he's grabbed by a silicate – and the silicates feed on these. At first, there seems to be no effect. Silicates break into the community hall and kill many islanders. West, Merrill, and some surviving residents barricade themselves in the clinic with Stanley as the silicates press their attack, although with waning vigor. Soon, every silicate in the community hall dies.

The story ends with evacuation and medical teams inbound from the mainland, and West commenting on how fortunate they were that this outbreak was confined to an island. Had it happened on the mainland, he notes, they might never have stopped them in time. This sets up an epilogue and a visit to the satellite programme, in Japan, where the technicians are duplicating Phillips' work with the inevitable result. A technician walks down a corridor, hears a strange noise and investigates before screaming.

Cast

• Peter Cushing as Dr Brian Stanley
• Edward Judd as Dr David West
• Carole Gray as Toni Merrill
• Eddie Byrne as Dr Reginald Landers
• Sam Kydd as Constable John Harris
• Niall MacGinnis as Roger Campbell
• James Caffrey as Peter Argyle
• Liam Gaffney as Ian Bellows
• Roger Heathcote as Dunley
• Keith Bell as Halsey
• Margaret Lacey as old woman
• Shay Gorman as Morton
• Peter Forbes-Robertson as Dr Lawrence Phillips
• Richard Bidlake as Carson
• Joyce Hemson as Mrs. Bellows

Production

The idea for the film came when the producer Richard Gordon read Gerry Fernback's screenplay The Night the Silicates Came. Gordon partnered with Tom Blakey of Planet Films to produce the film.

Home media

DD Video released a collector's edition DVD on 17 Jan 2005. It was released on Blu-ray by Import Vendor on 28 Oct 2014.

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Although the plot is little more than a rehash of Day of the Triffids, it is quite effectively concocted and features some sluggishly mobile jellied turtles, each waving a snake-like tentacle ... In fact, it is really Reg Wyer's colour photography, with its pale greys, browns and steely blues offset by patches of bright colour, together with the equally attractive art direction and special effects, which make this otherwise routine horror epic (with a naïve message about scientific responsibilities) worth a look."

Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film two out of a possible four stars. Maltin commended the film's acting and direction, but felt that the result was "nothing special."

AllMovie's Brian J. Dillard wrote: .This creepy yet clunky sci-fi-horror flick boasts one of the coolest monsters ever to grace the silver screen—radioactive silicone beings ("silicates") that suck the calcium right out of your bones. ...With the exception of these creatures du jour and the eerie electronic sounds that emanate from them, Island of Terror is a fairly standard-issue lab-coats-versus-creatures flick in the mold of superior genre fare such as 1954's Them.

TV Guide wrote: "A rather shaky plot is boosted by Cushing's ever effective performance and Fisher's tight direction."

Radio Times called the film "long on logic but high on hysteria."

Leslie Halliwell said: "Horror hokum, moderately done."

DVD Talk gave it three and a half stars and called it "an immensely enjoyable sci-fi potboiler."

Legacy

David Robert Mitchell referenced Island of Terror's feeling of "waiting for the creature to pop up" as an inspiration for It Follows (2014).

See also

• Night of the Big Heat

External links

• Island of Terror at IMDb
• Island of Terror at AllMovie
• Island of Terror at the TCM Movie Database
• Island of Terror at Rotten Tomatoes