Scott LeBrun
This feature film version of the British TV series of the same name uses some of the actors from the show, while adding Ian Bannen and the lovely young Judy Geeson for name value. Bannen stars as Del Shaw, a doctor with the title department of the government. They investigate effects of pollution on the environment. Del is sent to Balfe, an island community where the locals go out of their way to NOT make him welcome. What's more, chemical dumping in an off limits area has affected the fish in the waters and subsequently the islanders that have eaten them. In addition to being surly and violent, they fall victim to acromegaly as well.Overall, this is a reasonably absorbing story, but pay no attention to false advertising. This is NOT a horror film, but more of a drama that tries to play things in a somewhat realistic manner. Thrills and suspense are minimal. The makeup effects are decent, but you don't see much of them until the end. The story is pretty simple, and straightforward, with clear cut villains and heroes. Actually, it tends to work better when Bannen's not around. The supporting characters are fine, but Del is a rather ridiculous guy, and Bannens' performance is not one of his better ones. He tends to shout his lines, and overreact.Geeson has some appeal as a schoolteacher who is something of an outsider herself, and wants to maintain her relations with these superstitious and religious islanders. John Paul (Dr. Quist), Simon Oates (Dr. Ridge), and Joby Blanshard (Bradley) all come from the series, and they do alright. George Sanders is the special guest star, with Percy Herbert ("One Million Years B.C."), Shelagh Fraser ("Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope"), Geoffrey Keen (who appeared in four of the James Bond adventures), Norman Bird ("Cash on Demand"), and James Cosmo ("Trainspotting") all providing solid support."Doomwatch" scores some marks for good intentions, and for ending in a believable enough manner.Six out of 10.
spotlightne
I bought this on DVD and was expecting to sit back and watch a British classic.But far from it. It was below average stuff and the story never really got passed some toxic material being dumped and people infected.I also think Ian Bannen was miscast. It's hard to see him as a right thinking doctor, when he displays this rather weird persona, particularly when he raises his voice.Who can forget him in Fright (1971)...I think if a different actor had been cast, such as Ian Ogilvy, who I believe was making a lot of horror appearances during this time, then the film might have been slightly better.Having that said, the story was weak, and there were limited action and scares - if none at all.Only a 4/10 from me.
Coventry
Doomwatch the movie comes forth as a spin-off from a TV-series with the same name. I only saw 3 episodes of that series and then they took it off the cable here in my country. Too few viewers, apparently
That always happens to decent series. So I was pretty enthusiast about catching the long feature film when the BBC programmed it recently. Yet, after two viewings, I must say I liked the 3 episodes a lot better. The plot offers too few aspects to fill a complete film with and tends to get boring quite easily. In fact, it would have been perfectly accurate if this were a 50 minutes episode as well. No offense to the people on this site here but the plot synopsis, as described on the film's main page, is rather misleading. It says: `The waters surrounding an island become contaminated by chemical dumping, and people who eat fish caught in those waters become cannibalistic mutants'. Judging by this two-line summary, horror fans might prepare themselves to see a good old-fashioned 70's shlock-and-sleaze film, with adorably cheap make-up effects and awful production values. Fans of this type of cinema will feel cheated because `Doomwatch' is more of a theoretical intelligent film, loaded with environmental messages and criticism towards society. This isn't necessarily a negative aspect, but it could have used a bit more action and entertainment value, if you ask me. I like story-driven horror, but there should have been at least a bit of excitement. The film has more than enough horror potential, though. The substance is perfect for it, while cast and crew are experienced in the field as well. Directed by Peter Sasdy, who previously made some of Hammer's best vampire films like `Countess Dracula' and `Taste the Blood of Dracula', and starring George Sanders, who's one of my personal favorite actors since `Village of the Damned' and `Psychomania'. Altogether, Doomwatch is worth a look if you're in a semi-clever mood
but don't think about seeing it when you're having a few friends over with beer and pizza.
Boba_Fett1138
Why is this movie regarded an horror movie anyway? It doesn't have any real monsters in it and there aren't any scares.The movie relies on the mystery and the atmosphere with as a result that some things are not always happening fast enough. The atmosphere itself is actually quite good and for some reason it reminded me of "Sleepy Hollow". The way the villagers behave towards the main character are almost identical at times.At times the movie gets a very realistic feeling but there are too many dumb and uninteresting things in the movie to be regarded as a completely realistic one (especially towards the ending of the movie).Not a bad movie but too uninteresting and it has too many missed opportunities.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
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