I cannot believe it! If you told me that a film cast with both the huge talents of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and directed by the great Terence Fisher was bad, I would never have believed it. Watch this film and you will become an instant believer. This film sucks! I had trouble sitting through it, and I am pretty good through just about any kind of film. The film's premise is about an island being over-run with aliens that slowly and then quickly heat up an island off the coast of Great Britain during the winter. Temperatures rise, people are fried after hearing some"whizzing" sound, and finally the much anticipated, very disappointing fried egg looking aliens appear. While all this is going on, we are privy to a love triangle at an inn between a real annoying author, played by a very smug Patrick Allen, and his newly arrived, very attractive secretary, played by Jane Merrow(who incidentally really looks good in a two-piece swimsuit), and his wife played by Sarah Lawson. You won't care much about their love lives or their lives in general. Peter Cushing has a small role as a doctor and Christopher Lee tries to single-handedly save the picture with one of his very officious, obnoxious portrayals of a scientist that knows an awful lot and has to spout this scientific drivel to other characters so the audience will have some idea of what is going on. Lee gives a good performance for the most part, but even in the scenes where he is explaining things he looks unconvinced by the dialogue! Planet Film Productions produced the film and it shows. Had hammer or Amicus been given the film, much more could have been done with it. Poor Fisher directs with a very small budget and his directorial style is best described as tiring and labored. If you are a Cushing, Lee, or Fisher completist I recommend the film, but beyond that save your time for something that better utilizes the talents at hand here.
Review of Night of the Big Heat
