Doomwatch

Doomwatch is directed by Peter Sasdy and adapted to screenplay by Clive Exton from the TV series written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis. Ian Bannen, Judy Geeson, John Paul, Simon Oates, Jean Trend, Joby Blanshard, George Sanders, Percy Herbert, Shelagh Fraser and Geoffrey Keen. Music is by John Scott and cinematography by Kenneth Talbot.

An environmental research agency known as "Doomwatch" sends Dr. Dell Shaw (Bannen) to the Cornish Island of Balfe to research the effects of an oil spill. Once there Dell finds the villagers on the island are hostile and secretive and it soon becomes apparent that something is very amiss on the island.

Inbreeding and Immorality?

Doomwatch has its problems, with some average acting and logic holes the size of the Moon, but its highlights far outweigh the flaws. Mixing environmental concerns with sci-fi horrors, even though Doomwatch is not a horror film as such, it's a film that boasts a credible script and high interest value with its mystery.

Essentially the narrative is split into two parts. The first part of the film is suitably eerie. Once Dr. Shaw arrives on the island there's a sense of doom enveloping the place. The inhabitants act oddly suspicious and the makers introduce distorted angles to emphasise the fact that something is badly wrong here. John Scott's music is perfectly off- kilter and foreboding and with the pace of the story purposely sedate, this allows Sasdy to fill the sense of place with paranoia and creeping unease.

The picture then shifts at the mid-point when the mystery of the island is brought to the surface. We then find ourselves in the middle of a science fiction story wrapped around a heart breaking revelation brought about by corporate idiocy and ecological negligence. Into the mix comes ignorance, be it from the islanders, the church or the mainland authorities. It builds up a head of steam in the last quarter, where passions run high and the final act leaves an impression that's hard to shake off.

Add some lovely location photography around real Cornish locations, and some skillful underwater shots as well, and this definitely has much to recommend. Yes it's dated in that 1970s British independently budgeted way, this is a Tigon production after all! But give it a chance by not expecting a Mutant Wicker Man type horror movie and you may just enjoy it more than you expected. 7.5/10

In a far-flung island called Balfe just off the Cornish coast arrives a doctor (Ian Bannen) tasked by a government agency to investigate strange events , as he has to study the after effects of a recent oil tanker spill , as the waters surrounding become contaminated by chemical dumping . Once there the locals are very cold towards him and rather disturbingly they reject him .Along the way he finds a corpse in some local forests and he is also hitten by a deformed man in a barn . There he meets a beautiful children teacher (Judy Geeson) who helps him figure out the causes that create rare results on local people . An ecological nightmare gone berserk! Now on the big screen - Doomwatch means terror . A new terror!

This is a nice chiller , though a little bit boring and slow-moving, being based on a British famous notorious TV series which made star Robert Powell before his role was killed off . In fact in this story results to be one of 13 titles included in Avco Embassy's Nightmare Theater package syndicated for television in 1975 , series regulars Simon Oates , John Trend , John Paul take a back seat appearing as secondaries , while the real protagonists Ian Bannen and Judy Geeson provide decent interpretations . Doomwatch refers to the name of a Government environmental that assigns underling scientist Dr. Del Shaw , Ian Bannen , on an allegedly routine mission . As Ian Bannen gives an acceptable acting as a scientist who discovers a chemical company is dumping poison into local waters causing horrible consequences when the villagers eat the catch of the day , while Judy Geeson is pretty good as the local schoolteacher, who aids him on Balfe . Other prestigious secondaries showing up are as follows : Percy Herbert , Norman Bird , the veteran classic actor George Sanders as a Minister , Geoffrey Keen habitual support in James Bond films and a young James Cosmo.

It contains a splendid and atmospheric musical score by the prolific John Scott . As well as Kenneth Talbot's rich cinematography full of colour and with varying shades of red. The motion picture titled Doomwatch or Island of the Ghouls (United States) Holocausto radiactivo (Spain) was professionally directed by Peter Sasdy with some flaws and gaps , as it has some scenes that result to be of variable quality . Sasdy was a fine craftsman who directed a lot of fims with penchant for terror, Adventure and thriller such as : Taste the blood of Dracula, Countess Dracula , Hands of the Ripper, Nothing but the night, Doomwatch, Young warlord, King Arthur the young warlord, I don't want to be born, The devil' undead, 13 Reunion, Rude awakening, The two faces of evil, The lonely lady, among others . Rating 6/10. Acceptable and passable. The picture will appeal to British chiller aficionados.

Firstly, this is NOT a horror movie (And who thought up the cannibalistic islanders?). The film is about the devastation that comes from the pollution of one the islands beaches with synthetic hormones.

The islanders, having been made to suspect that the physical and mental deformities they're suffering from are caused by generations of inbreeding, regard the coming of an environmentalist as a threat to their community. They hide the sick and try to make sure that nothing 'wrong' is found. The movie is about the struggle of an environmentalist to find out what's the matter with the island, and then the struggle to educate the population about the cause and possible solutions for the problems.

All in all not a bad environmental drama, reminds me a bit of the Minimata disaster in Japan. I give it a 7 out of 10, mainly for the atmosphere on the island and the balls it must have taken to make this film in '72.

In this big screen adaptation of the popular BBC TV series of the same name created by Gerry Davis and Kit Pedlar (the brains behind Dr Who's iconic Cybermen), Ian Bannen stars as an investigator working for the British ecological watchdog group nicknamed Doomwatch. He discovers that locals living on a remote Cornish island are becoming violent and hostile towards outsiders, as well as showing signs of physical deformity, after eating fish contaminated by drums of growth stimulants that have been dumped offshore by a shadowy government agency. Despite being released by Tigon Films (the people who brought us Witchfinder General and The Blood Beast Terror), and directed by Peter Sasdy fresh from completing work on Hammers 'Hands of the Ripper,' Doomwatch isn't really a horror movie at all, and genre fans may be put off by the talkative script and lack of action set pieces in this eco thriller which still seems strangely relevant in these modern times. It was released in the States as Island of the Ghouls.

I remember catching the original BBC TV series of Doomwatch as a kid and found it to be quite unsettling and grim although I didn't really know what was going on. The big screen version made in 1972 is just as grim and downbeat as I remember the series to be only this time with an over excitable Ian Bannen guest starring and it being more on location than confined to a studio.

The producers obviously didn't think the series regulars had enough star power to pull in cinema goers as they get side-lined into supporting roles. It's left to Bannen and Judy Geeson to try to make sense of an uninspired script which takes itself far too seriously in an earnest attempt to raise questions about corporations damaging the environment.

Whilst the film is often mistaken as a horror it is much more science fiction along the lines of Quatermass than horror as nothing horrific really happens, but it does unsettle being set on a remote island with strange locals who have something to hide.

The finale is neither shocking nor unexpected and for a big screen outing it doesn't try hard enough to give the audience something to get their teeth intobut having said that it has just enough intrigue to make you stick with it thanks to a familiar crop of guest supporting actors like George Sanders and Geoffrey Keen. Hammer Films director Peter Sasdy keeps things plodding along whilst attempting to create a taut atmosphere out of a clunky script within the constraints of the low budget provided by Tony Tenser's Tigon films.

No doubt fans of the original cult series will be curious enough to want to check this out.