CALLUM MCKELVIE: PART ONE OF DOUBLE FEATURE ON SCI FI AND HORROR : ISLANDS OF TERROR AND HEAT!

WHEN ONE THINKS OF PETER CUSHING'S  Science Fiction output, what usually springs to mind? Star Wars and the two Dr Who movies are the most obvious candidates. Aside from that the choices are somewhat limited. Horror Express (1973) and Biggles (1986) contain ostensibly science fiction elements (the monster being an alien in Express and the time travel plot in Biggles) but their feet are firmly rooted in other genres. Scream and Scream Again (1969) is another obvious candidate but sadly it has to be the film in which Cushing is the MOST wasted, barely appearing at all. 

THAT LEAVE JUST The Abominable Snowman (1957) and the films involved in this two-part feature; Island of Terror and Night of the Big Heat. This last pair are not only a sample of Cushing’s relatively small science-fiction output, their also two of famed Hammer Director, Terrence Fisher's four contributions to the genre (along with Four Sided Triangle (1953) and The Earth Dies Screaming (1964).

BOTH FILMS WERE MADE by the short-lived ‘Planet Films’ and share many of the same cast and crew. Both also belong to that curious, somewhat forgotten form of British sci-fi, pioneered by the likes of John Wyndham and Nigel Kneale. Namely, they feature small isolated intrinsically ‘British’ communities menaced by mysterious creatures. Night in particular sees much of its action take place in the local pub, a well-worn trend in British Science-Fiction films. However they’ll be more on that film next week, this time I’m tackling it’s predecessor- Island of Terror.

THE PLOT INVOLVES a cancer research establishment off the coast of Ireland where the locals are turning up dead. With the local Doctor having very little idea as to what is causing the mysterious deaths, enter Dr Brian Stanley (Peter Cushing), Dr David West (Edward Judd) and the wealthy jet-setter Toni Maerill (Carole Gray). The Scientists soon discover that creatures they dub ‘Silicates’ are loose on the island, created accidentally by the experiments. Bone sucking creatures, they multiply at an alarming rate and soon endanger the entirety of the Islands population…

OF COURSE THERE IS ONE MAJOR difference between the two films. Namely Cushing’s role. In Island of Terror, he’s an integral part of the film and one of the three main characters. Not only that but his character is given some genuinely interesting moments, for example a hero loosing his hand (or receiving any other sort of lasting damage) isn’t something we really see in a Cushing film. However, it defiantly works here and manages to ramp the tension up significantly, after all if one of our three leads can have his hand chopped off, why can’t one (or all of them) die? It’s an interesting tactic and Fisher doesn’t shy away from showing the whole thing. The effect might be a little cheesy, but the intent is there and it still works as a shocking moment. 

IN HEAT, CUSHING is given a substantially smaller role and essentially plays a victim- an interesting position to see him in at this point in his career. His character is friendly and affable, but that’s all. Cushing lays on the charm HARD and it certainly works when he reaches his demise, a scene which is easily the highlight of the film and one that is thick with tension throughout. However it’s clear which role is superior and it’s a shame the Planet Films team didn’t consider a direct follow up, re-using the character of Dr Stanley.

 

THE SILICATES THEMSELVES ARE . . . oddly effective. For the first portion of the film Fisher decides, wisely, to keep them off the screen. This builds the feeling of a menace that can be anywhere and strike at any time. Wonderfully, this isn’t just atmosphere for atmosphere’s sake and is actually used to provide genuine shocks (for example the aforementioned sequence involving Cushing's hand) when one appears out of nowhere. 

WHEN THEY ARE EVENTUALLY REVEALED When they are eventually revealed, the design is one that despite it’s cheapness, works wonderfully to compliment the films visual style and has a unique charm about it. One has to give the team credit as well for avoiding the tired cliché of a man in a suit and attempting something that’s a little more unusual, resulting in a striking (if admittedly not always convincing) design. 

THE CREATURE'S SLOWNESS doesn’t make them any less threatening and indeed helps in the slow menace that makes the film so effective. One rather spectacular sequence with the creatures features one on a glass skylight, as it smashes through and drops onto a hapless victim below.
 

ONE TRULY WONDERFUL SEQUENCE, occurs in the films climax (spoilers ahead be warned) in which, trapped with the creatures advancing, Edward Judd prepares to shoot Toni in order to save her from death by silicate. It’s a surprisingly dark moment for a film of this nature, all the more so given the nature of her character and how she came to be on the island. For a character that’s so innocent and outgoing, this fate seems incredibly troubling.

TO SHOOT TERI OR NOT???

INDEED ONE OF the enduring appeals of Island of Terror, is that what starts as an enjoyable 60’s sci-fi adventure- becomes progressively darker. The opening sequences in which we meet our characters, then see them journey to the island are far lighter in the tone, than the latter half of the film. Fisher allows his audience to let their guard down and then strikes when their at their most vulnerable.

ISLAND OF TERROR, really is something of a gem in Cushing’s output and for my money stands as his best Sci-Fi feature alongside The Abominable Snowman. This film may not have the intelligence of that earlier classic, but it has genuinely shocking moments and an atmosphere that oozes dread and menace. The question is, does Night of the Big Heat match it’s predecessor?

 

I’ll be finding out next week, so PLEASE JOIN US!
If you have any comments, suggestions or feedback about this or ANY of my features here at PCAS you can contact me HERE at spookycallum58@gmail.com

REMEMBER! IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA

WATCH 'AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS!' #GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY!

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHINGSUNDAY! INDEED! One of a handful of Cushing frighteners, that passed my dear ol Mum's 'GetTheCushion' test!  . .  she always hid her eyes behind a cushion on sofa, if the tenstion became, TOO MUCH! Yeees, that's where this themed concept comes from ;)

'In 1795, in England, the young woman Catherine moves to the house of her fiancé Charles Fengriffen in the country to get married with him. When she arrives, she feels interest in the portraits of the Fengriffen family, particularly in the one of Charle's grandfather Henry Fengriffen, which seems to have a sort of evil entity possessing it. While admiring Henry's face, a severed hand attacks Catherine through the picture on the wall. Later, she gets married with Charles, beginning her journey of mystery, eerie apparitions, secrets and deaths, and having her days filled with fear and the nights with horrors in a cursed family.'

'AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS' was AMICUS FILMS only production that ventured into the field of 'GOTHIC GHOST STORY'. The Amicus trademark, were films that were set and based in a contemporary setting. Even though a tale like, 'THE DOOR' in 'FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE' (1974) has a toe in the Ghostly World of time past, it confines the setting of the story, to a modern home, with ONE ROOM that appears to be trapped in the 1700's. Maybe it was a question of cost? Films sets for period films, have lots of ZERO'S on the budget sheet, something that would have certainly given producer Milton Subotsky nightmares! With that in mind, don't look too closely at the interior sets of this film, instead admire Cushing calm performance..IGNORE the hairpiece, we've been over it. Beacham is very good, as is Herbert Lom, Magee, and Geoffrey Whitehead. Special mention to a young Ian Ogilvy and director Roy Ward Baker, who both along with Cushing, keep the whole thing, entertaining and moving along nicely....

YOU CAN FIND OUT  MORE ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION, PETER CUSHING'S ROLE AND HIS MANY ROLES WITH OVER THE YEARS IN OUR SERIES ABOVE: LOADS OF RARE PHOTOGRAPHS AND MUCH MORE: CLICK HERE!

MORE ON PETER CUSHING AND THE CAST OF

 'AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS' 

 

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA       

THE CAPTAIN, THE MARQUIS, THE COUNT AND THE LAST DANCE GIFS AND STILLS

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! The  weekly requested selection: 'SILENT GIFS BUT VISUALLY SCREAMING!' 

Here's #VINCENTPRICE as Vampire Eramus, boogieing-on-down in 'hit-miss-that-hit-miss' 1980 fun flick, 'THE MONSTER CLUB' produced by Milton Subosky, one half of the, by then defunked Amicus films. Amicus the one time, only serious contender to the Hammer films crown. It's a little sad to see how far Milton had strayed from the track with this one, although no one..myself included , would have ever told him that. Sitting in on the set, I remember seeing the 'costumed' dancers and clientele of 'The Club' in their fancy dress costumes and joke shop rubber masks, and thinking..'Maybe it will look ok, when the film is edited?' It didn't. 

THE ONE THING the film did achieve was give the crew, many of whom had worked with Amicus, some of the cast, Vincent Price and co, a last chance to have some fun. In this shot, the sound was added later in post production. The music was playing for the dancers, the band, Price, Carradine and Frau Viking-Helmet to have that last dance before for the camera, as the credits role ...but what you didn't get to hear, was the crew and extras laughing and supporting Vincent Price and his strut! It was fun, it was the last train out, that would have even made Dr Terror smile . ..  (requested Gif for J Mahon-Potter )  

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY: AS BUDGETING FOR MONSTERS GO, it's pretty neat deal and very cheap too! There was a problem that beset most of the Hammer films, though not so much at the Amicus HQ, because they didn't really do 'Monsters of the Gothic kind'. The flicks that were the money earners at Hammer, had a 'Thing', a 'Grotesque', a Frankenstein Creation, an 'Ancient and dusty Mummy'. . . .or a 'Very Hairy Oliver Reed as Leon the Werewolf'... that something took time to make, usually make up artists built it onto the actor, HOURS before sun-up, when the majority of the studio crew still hadn't turned up for work. 

ROBERT BLOCH'S CONCEPT for Amicus films, 'THE SKULL' was just what Rosenberg and Subotsky's balance sheet ordered, a Monster, a focal point of terror, that wouldn't cost a fortune to assemble or have a make up man maintain every five minutes on the studio floor, where time was money. Once the Marquis de Sade was dead, and only his Head / Skull remained to stalk and terrorise Peter Cushing's Christopher Maitland, it was a 'no brainer'. In the morning, just a little powder to the cheek-bones. No tantrums, no agents, no trouble and pop him into the box, at the end of the day. It floated on command, and every performance was good to the bone, no strings attached!! Oh no. Wait a minute  . . . . .  

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: Peter Cushing and Milton Reid as pirate Clegg and the traitor he left for dead, tongue-less and stranded on a desert island . . . 'We Meet Again' has never been more unwelcome. Captain Clegg / Night Creatures is a joy to watch, chiefly because we are in the make believe land of pirates, excise men, yo-ho-ho-taverns and lots of swash with the buckle, the kind that Peter Cushing loved. It's plain to see he is having a ball here. It's all high drama living and dying by the sword. Milton Reid is great too as the mute heavy with a grudge. Reid despite his frame, and heavy reputation on screen, actually had a soft high pitch to his own voice! He played many small roles in Brit films, when the industry had many for the picking. There is a fascinating features all about Milton Reid elsewhere on this website, and here is a quick link to find it: HERE! 

 

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: DESPITE ALL THE fouls deeds and murders that Peter Cushing's GUSTAV WEIL carried out in the name of a greater cause, no matter how much I hated him, his comeuppance, more than slightly cheats me of a private moment of pay back. It's a nasty death, where COUNT KARNSTEIN gets to silence nagging Gustav for good and Damien Thomas, makes it all work like clock-work.  But it doesn't sit right with me. I'll explain. Had Weil just been toppled over that balcony, fallen through the air and then had we cut away to the shocked face of long suffering wife, Kathleen Byron, that would have been fine. BUT no. 

DIRECTOR JOHNNY HOUGH, knew exactly what he was doing, when Cushing himself volunteered for that, impact fall on the top step, and the limp, lifeless slide down the remaining eight........! There is something terribly unsettling and moving about Cushing's shattered and frail frame rattling down those steps, the axe clattering before him, as his head gently lolls in that, familiar loose neck, very effective Cushing style. It wasn't a technique as such, because he came at it differently every time... it's just THIS time it looks all the more final and tragic. Cushing did a very good job as Gustav, right up to the final few feet of the last reel  . . . and that fall, of a different kind of Vampire Hunter.  

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA     

#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: HOW TO STAKE A VAMPIRE OR BY ANY OTHER MEANS!

#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: Peter Cushing shares his thoughts on playing his Van Helsing for Hammer productions in five films and the character of Dracula . . .

AS HAMMER HAS shown us, it doesn't HAVE to be death by staking. If you haven't got the Vampire Hunter standard issue mallet and stake, you can always use.... sunlight, a shower tap, a spoke from a cartwheel, a bronze cross, hawthorn, a broken piece of wooden fencing, holy water, light through a stain-glass window, a spear, a spade, a pit full of wooden stakes or indeed a WINDMILL...etc....

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Please Us Help Keep The Memory Alive!