Despite the presence of Terence Fisher and Peter Cushing, ISLAND OF TERROR is not a Hammer production. Surprisingly--because besides the star and director it has all of the assets we attribute to Hammer: an intelligent script hinged around a far-fetched premise; an expert cast including some outstanding character actors (in this case, a sadly wasted Niall MacGinnis); and modest but substantial production values bolstering what might best be called resourceful special effects.
Produced in the days of the double bill, its 89 minutes fly by—just enough time to be convinced by ISLAND OF TERROR's imaginative calcium- sucking "silicates." The unlikely products of cancer research, the silicates look like huge oyster-shells with a single tentacular proboscis waving from (what one presumes is) the front end. Slow-moving but sneaky, their presence is announced by creepy (and for 1962, groundbreaking) electronic sound effects, and their deadly tentacles overtake even the wariest interloper. These uniquely-conceived monsters are just one of ISLAND OF TERROR's many pleasures, along with the ingenious (but hard on cattle) scheme our heroes devise to overcome the menace, the embattled island (inhabited by a couple of hundred people, who among them unfortunately have only one boat) mise-en-scene, and (SPOILER ALERT) the wacky sense of humour the previously dour Cushing develops after having his arm chopped off.
Let us not underrate ISLAND OF TERROR; its craftsmanship stands up a half-century later, when more "serious" efforts from the same decade merely look embarrassing. It has many genuinely scary moments, including a classic, "it's-not-over" denouement, which make it a genuinely pleasurable movie experience.
Produced in the days of the double bill, its 89 minutes fly by—just enough time to be convinced by ISLAND OF TERROR's imaginative calcium- sucking "silicates." The unlikely products of cancer research, the silicates look like huge oyster-shells with a single tentacular proboscis waving from (what one presumes is) the front end. Slow-moving but sneaky, their presence is announced by creepy (and for 1962, groundbreaking) electronic sound effects, and their deadly tentacles overtake even the wariest interloper. These uniquely-conceived monsters are just one of ISLAND OF TERROR's many pleasures, along with the ingenious (but hard on cattle) scheme our heroes devise to overcome the menace, the embattled island (inhabited by a couple of hundred people, who among them unfortunately have only one boat) mise-en-scene, and (SPOILER ALERT) the wacky sense of humour the previously dour Cushing develops after having his arm chopped off.
Let us not underrate ISLAND OF TERROR; its craftsmanship stands up a half-century later, when more "serious" efforts from the same decade merely look embarrassing. It has many genuinely scary moments, including a classic, "it's-not-over" denouement, which make it a genuinely pleasurable movie experience.