The next DVD I watched was “Island of the Burning Doomed” aka “Island of the Burning Damned” aka “Night of the Big Heat.” The film was produced by a company called “Planet Productions” (which also produced “Island of Terror”) but it all seems to be the same people who were working at Hammer and Amicus. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker and Hammer actors Chris Lee, Peter Cushing, Jane Merrow and other familiar faces are featured.
The story involves an invasion of an English island by aliens who emit super-high temperatures and who cremate most of the cast members. The aliens are trying to raise the temperature of the island to create a beachhead to invade the rest of the world. They are defeated when it begins raining and water kills them all. I bet they didn’t plan on that.
The film is more of a soap opera with the interactions of the cast. You have Jane Merrow as a fem fatale playing a “Fatal Attraction” character to a married writer who runs a pub on the island. Then Chris Lee plays the mysterious Dr. Hanson investigating the aliens while Peter Cushing is the local island medical doctor. The movie was made during the winter and was bitter cold during production so the cast certainly brings out all the stops to show that they are “burning up” in the oppressive “heat.” Very convincing!
However, when the aliens are finally revealed, it’s a big let down. Chris Lee was quoted as saying (paraphrasing) that there is this big build-up…and then the monsters are these giant glowing, slow-moving poached eggs which he found totally ridiculous and said so to the producers.
Not a perfect film, but it’s a chance to see Cushing/Lee working again with a number of Hammer film contract players in new roles.
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