Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Micransix Crappy film

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Leofwine_draca Heavyweight casting and an intelligent script do nothing to dispel the atmosphere of lethargy surrounding this production, which often threatens to be stodgy and dull but somehow retains interest despite this. An adaptation of a popular BBC TV series at the time, this follows the typical plot of having an outsider arrive at a mysterious village where the villagers are rude, unwelcoming, and hide an unwholesome secret. Except this time the plot is grounded in scientific realism and the 'monsters' aren't really monsters at all – just unfortunate townsfolk who have become diseased by some toxic fish off the bay.The film has generally good production values all round, and handling the directorial chores is the steady and solid Peter Sasdy. The script is literate and the mystery unfolds at just the right pace. It's just a shame that all the building menace never has a pay-off; there is little or no action in this movie, unless you count a man having a fight with a dog at one point. Ian Bannen makes for a campaigning, slightly stuffy lead, whilst Judy Geeson has nothing to do except tag along on some scenes; a Scully to Bannen's Mulder she is not. The cast is packed out with interesting British character actors, ranging from Percy Herbert to Shelagh Fraser, as well as John Paul and there are two big-name cameos from a tired George Sanders and also Geoffrey Keen as a couple of bigwigs. DOOMWATCH isn't bad, just a bit bland; UK viewers may have fun spotting the familiar faces and second-guessing the plotting, but it doesn't add up to that much in the end.

Tender-Flesh I came across this film by accident while I was looking for movies with George Sanders that I could watch online. This film was one of his last before his unfortunate suicide at the age of 65. I'm sure he did some high living because he is a very old 65 in this film.That being said, most people, especially horror aficionados, probably won't cite this as a horror film, per se. I also happen to agree with them. However, it has enough of a horrific element, a sort of Lovecraft meets X-Files, that I was compelled from beginning to end. Some viewers might say there is no real payoff, but the film itself as a whole is the payoff. As much as I enjoyed Nothing But The Night, which I rewatched again recently, you might imagine my delight at finding(afterwards) that this film was also made by Peter Sasdy. Mr. Sasdy must have enjoyed the locale of this film because I believe it is the same isle used in Nothing But The Night made one year later.The plot involves a environmental research group called Doomwatch(based on a TV series) who sends out one of their researchers to collect some data from an island were there was an oil spill. The research was to find out what sort of effects the spill caused to wildlife in the area. The researcher, one Dr. Del Shaw(played exquisitely by Ian Bannen), arrives on the island and finds himself hampered at every turn by the locals who shun him immediately. They are unfriendly, mysterious, and even violent at times. He meets one person on the island, a schoolteacher, who is an outsider like himself, though she's lived there two years. She, too, is untrusting of the new visitor, but she quickly warms to him while the rest of the inhabitants remain cold and aloof. The film cuts back and forth between island investigations and lab work back at Doomwatch HQ. Apparently, someone has been dumping chemically enhanced pituitary secretions sealed in cannisters into a No-Dumping zone on one side of the island. The navy also had previously dumped toxic waste there(hilariously, or rather, sadly, no one seemed particularly concerned that toxic waste cannisters were dumped in the ocean near an inhabited fishing village). Here's where George Sanders come in. He has more than a cameo and, as many veteran actors tend to do, he is starring in a low budget thriller before his untimely death. However, while this film is low on budget and scares or effects, it makes up with excellent acting in spades. Sanders looks incredibly old as the Navy Admiral or whatever his rank is, but his scenes are still quite good. The villagers, once they learn of the cause of their distress(being deformed by eating fish that ate the pituitary chemicals), revolt against Dr. Shaw and are even willing to kill him to keep their community safe from mainlanders.The directing is in keeping more in line with a TV movie, not quite as good as Nothing But The Night, but the acting, "gush" , is stupendous for such a modest budget feature. Ian Bannen is very good and the only place I recall seeing him before was as the Leper in Braveheart(he got under my skin(heh) in that role).This is a good Sunday afternoon film that even kids could watch(the mutated villagers aren't all that scary). Highly recommended for buffs who get off on refined acting. God, how I want to find that island and live there. It's so quaint looking. I just want to throw on a nice turtleneck sweater, a pea coat, and an ivy cap and just sit in the pub smoking the old calabash pipe.

Prof-Hieronymos-Grost Scientist, Dr. Del Shaw is sent to a remote Cornish island to investigate the effects of a tanker spill on the local wildlife. On arrival on the island, he is immediately struck by the strangeness of its inhabitants, they are dismissive and suspicious of him, they seem wary of outsiders and he struggles to find a room for the one night of his stay. As he goes about his business collecting marine samples, he is aware that he is being followed, he begins to feel he may be in danger, some odd nocturnal goings on make him even ,ore suspicious that there is something amiss on the island and when he finds the shallow grave of a child he knows for sure there is. The set up is excellent, both in mood and atmosphere, one is left with the distinct impression that a Wicker Man type plot is imminent, but sadly the film never lives up to those lofty heights and instead turns out to be more of an ecological drama, interesting but never as compelling as it could have been.

dbborroughs Ian Bannen stars in the big screen version of the British TV show concerning a British government organization that keeps an eye on the effects of pollution. After an oil spill Bannen is sent to check out a small island where an isolated fishing community lives. Once he arrives he finds he's not welcome and that something weird is going on. Is it related to the spill or the near by naval dumping site ("Its just low level radiation, nothing to worry about")? Will Bannen get out of there alive? I've wanted to see this film for decades thanks to pictures of the deformities that appeared in horror film books. Now that I've seen the film I'm not sure why its classified as a horror film. Mostly this is a slow plodding procedural and by the numbers thriller as Bannen tries to figure out what is going on and the taking steps to help the people. There is in actuality only about an hours worth of plot which they stretch to 90 minutes. Other than the location filming this is pretty much the classic example of a TV episode blown up for the big screen with too little plot stretched to fill too much time. The result is a rather dull film. Perhaps watching this with commercials it might have been better but curled up with the lights off I found my attention wandering.Disappointing. (and the low level radiation remark was made by Bannen who knew that couldn't possibly be the problem- so much for 1972 science)