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Peter Cushing headlines this British horror film about an island overrun by mysterious, bone-liquifying creatures that are multiplying at an alarming rate. Cushing plays a professor who teams with a doctor (Edward Judd) and his girlfriend (Carole Gray) to discover the origin of the creatures, with hopes it may illuminate a means to destroy them. The investigation leads to a science research facility where the quest to cure cancer accidentally brought the creatures to life. As humans and livestock are liquified across the island, Cushing and team place all their hope in a serum they inject into the livestock, round the community into a town hall for a last stand, and hope for the best.
I always enjoy British actors taking silly monsters or aliens with the utmost seriousness, and Peter Cushing is the absolute master of this game. The cast, including Cushing, do not disappoint. Their performances are all the more amusing for the fact that the monsters, referred to as ‘silicates’, are ridiculously underwhelming in appearance. They’re amoeba-like blobs no more than a foot tall, with single tentacles in front that grab and bite their prey. They move very slowly and emit a synthesized noise similar to cicadas. They’re so bad in design and execution… they’re good. If you’re into cheesy genre fare.
I’m happy to accept these goofy monsters because everything else about Island of Terror is surprisingly well done. In addition to the always-professional British cast, veteran Hammer Horror director Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein) keeps things moving at a nice pace and delivers a climax more tense than usual, with the creatures breaking into the town hall and forcing Cushing and company to consider lethal self-injections as a preferable alternative. The blobby corpses of human victims look pretty convincing, and there’s also an axe-to-the-hand amputation scene that was pretty shocking for 1966 audiences. These old British horror films may feel dull and antiquated to contemporary audiences, but I suppose I have a soft spot for them. I could probably watch Peter Cushing read the back of a shampoo bottle and get some measure of enjoyment out of it.