Doomwatch is definitely worth a watch for Hammer fans, even though it's made by Embassy Pictures it plays out the same way. It starts off quite ordinarily with some fantastic shots of the desolated island village, the hero played by Ian Bannen, who is actually a very, very good actor in this despite what anyone says, is not given a warm welcome and is treated as an outsider. Some big stars here are George Sanders, Geoffrey Keen from James Bond, Judy Geeson and Shelagh Fraser who plays Aunt Beru in Star Wars. All in all it has a pretty good cast.
Starts off as a horror film but quickly turns more mystery oriented as Dr Del Shaw (Ian Bannen) discovers polluted water and fish that is turning the villagers very aggressive and giving them an extreme form of acromegaly, Dr Shaw explains this phenomenon surprisingly well in an impassioned speech nearing the end of the film. This is what makes the film stand out as it's not linked to the supernatural at all and is a genuine illness. Bannen's character confronts the idea of religion with divine intervention and inbreeding, the villagers want to explain the disease away instead of seeking help. An especially powerful scene is near the end where Dr Shaw and the schoolteacher Victorian Brown (played by Judy Geeson, another outsider) are about to ring for help when confronted by what appears to be mutants threatening to kill them, bravely Shaw goes ahead and rings for help anyway but instead of attacking the very human "mutants" instead break down into tears and start crying. It's quite a moving scene, they feel like they're being invaded and unlike the usual Hammer horror films where the people with issues are portrayed as monsters in this they are portrayed as real people with real emotions and a strong desire to be left alone. In that sense Doomwatch is a very strong emotional film.
Unfortunately, a lot of the film is let down by overlong and boring sections trying to test out the water and fish in a lab, these go on for too long and there's a quite tedious subplot about who dumped the pollution in the sea and what to do about it, I would much rather be at the island.
6/10: Very intersting watch for Hammer fans
Starts off as a horror film but quickly turns more mystery oriented as Dr Del Shaw (Ian Bannen) discovers polluted water and fish that is turning the villagers very aggressive and giving them an extreme form of acromegaly, Dr Shaw explains this phenomenon surprisingly well in an impassioned speech nearing the end of the film. This is what makes the film stand out as it's not linked to the supernatural at all and is a genuine illness. Bannen's character confronts the idea of religion with divine intervention and inbreeding, the villagers want to explain the disease away instead of seeking help. An especially powerful scene is near the end where Dr Shaw and the schoolteacher Victorian Brown (played by Judy Geeson, another outsider) are about to ring for help when confronted by what appears to be mutants threatening to kill them, bravely Shaw goes ahead and rings for help anyway but instead of attacking the very human "mutants" instead break down into tears and start crying. It's quite a moving scene, they feel like they're being invaded and unlike the usual Hammer horror films where the people with issues are portrayed as monsters in this they are portrayed as real people with real emotions and a strong desire to be left alone. In that sense Doomwatch is a very strong emotional film.
Unfortunately, a lot of the film is let down by overlong and boring sections trying to test out the water and fish in a lab, these go on for too long and there's a quite tedious subplot about who dumped the pollution in the sea and what to do about it, I would much rather be at the island.
6/10: Very intersting watch for Hammer fans