Reviewed BY-Sean Patrick Dolan
Director: Peter Sasdy
Cast: Ian Bannen, Judy Geeson, John Paul, Simon Oates, Joseph O'
Conor, Paddy Ryan
After a brief scene of a group of men carrying a child's body through the woods to be buried, the film opens with a Mission Impossible- style scene of a typewriter. It tells us all we need to know about the premise of this film: "URGENT- TO COMBAT WORLDWIDE POLLUTION THE FORMATION OF A NEW GOVERNMENTAL DEPARTMENT . . . DOOMWATCH." The opening credits roll over scenes of an oil spill clean up on a beach as the James Bond-esque theme song plays.
Doomwatch agent Dr. Del Shaw (Ian Bannen), is sent to the island village of Balfe to research the environmental effects of the recent oil spill and the detergent used to disperse it. He quickly gets the distinct impression he is not wanted there, as people will barely speak to him, much less point him to a place where he can find lodging for the night. He finally finds a room at an older woman named Miss Johnson's place, I discovers that she has another guest, Victoria Brown (Judy Geeson). She is also an "outsider" she arrived just a few years ago to teach at the village school. He tries to strike up a conversation with her about the villagers' strange behavior- "They seem an odd lot; I mean don't they?"- but she is just as unfriendly and suspicious as they were.
It isn't long before more strange behavior alerts Dr. Shaw to the fact that the villagers have something they are trying to hide. A strange man with a shotgun follows him to the beach where he is collecting samples; he witnesses strange, aggressive behavior from the men at the local pub; one night at Miss Johnson's he looks out the window and sees a group of men carrying a struggling figure off into the woods! The next day he searches the woods and finds the dead girl's buried body (as well as two very psychotic dogs fighting over it) but, by the time he alerts the Constable and they walk back there, someone has moved it. The Constable accuses him of "playing games". He is even more suspicious when he overhears a conversion between a priest and a woman. They are discussing whether they should contact a doctor for someone who is ill- "Calling a doctor will do no good, we cannot thwart God's will," the priest advises. When Shaw confronts Victoria about what she knows, she speaks vaguely about the island having "troubles" and then shuts down- "Just leave them alone, it's all they want."
Meanwhile, at Doomwatch HQ, the first samples Shaw sent back have turned out to possess anomalies- the plant and animal samples are healthy- but too healthy. They are oversized and their cells are reproducing too rapidly. The department head, Dr. Quist (John Paul), sends Shaw back to get more samples. Again Shaw witnesses strange nocturnal activities- this time a group of men carrying lanterns into the woods after midnight. He follows them to an old abandoned barn and, after they leave, climbs through a window to investigate. He is attacked by an unusually strong, deformed Neanderthal-like man who knocks him out. He wakes up at the inn with Victoria tending to him, and he does not believe her when she claims he was found unconscious at the beach- he remembers what happened last night. Victoria finally gives in and tells her all she knows, but only after making him promise he won't take any actions which will harm the islanders. She tells him that people in the village are disappearing, or rather just staying in their homes and not coming out anymore at all. She describes how the men in the village have been fighting with each other and how their is an overwhelming atmosphere of secrecy.
Now that Victoria is on his side, Shaw goes out with a local boatman to catch some fish to send back to the lab. He takes them out near a place that is roped off with buoys, telling them that it is known as Castle Rock, a restricted area that was a formal dumping ground of the Royal Navy. When the fish are taken back to Doomwatch headquarters, the lab results show that their molecules have been "mucked about". They are overlarge, due to a condition known as agromeglia, caused by the presence of a pituitary growth hormone. When the PGH is tested on laboratory animals, they become extremely violent. Shaw is sent to talk to a Naval official, who denies that any "even remotely dangerous" was ever dumped their "only" mildly radioactive waste. When two agents are sent down in scuba gear to determine what exactly WAS dumped at Castle Rock, they find canisters that are not government property there as well. They trace the canisters to a chemical company that manufactured the PGH for use as a livestock food additive. They abandoned the project when the substance proved unstable, and contracted out the disposal to a local company. It was this unscrupulous company that illegally dumped the canisters at Castle Rock, instead of bearing the expensive of shipping them somewhere safer and further away. The nuclear waste the army dumped produced gases which caused the contests of the PGH canisters to burst, infecting the fish which are the islanders main food source.
Now Shaw is able to put together the pieces, which explain the islanders strange behavior. Having eaten the contaminated fish, they have contracted agromeglia, which has caused their deformities and their sometimes violent behavior. Shamed by the local priest into believing that the illness was caused by interbreeding and the islanders' sinful nature, they were locking the sick in houses and not contacting medical authorities on the mainland. Shaw calls a meeting of the townspeople at the school to explain to them that they have nothing to be ashamed of because the disease was caused by nothing more than their diet of contaminated fish. They do not trust him because he is an outsider, and they don't want to travel to the mainland to get the necessary medical treatment- they are afraid that if they all leave the island, they will never be able to return to it and their traditional way of life. Shaw and Victoria are chased out of the meeting and run to the local pub to use the town's only telephone to call the mainland for help. The angry mob of villagers arrives and threatens them- they will do anything necessary, even kill both of them, to prevent them from calling the mainland and endangering their way of life. Dr. Shaw stands firm though, explaining to them that it is his duty to make the call, and that the island will die anyway as more and more of them fall victim to the illness. He bravely dials the number, and the villagers finally understand they have no choice- many break down in tears. The film ends with them all boarding boats for the mainland and with the Royal Navy cleaning up the dangerous mess beneath Castle Rock- before infected fish spread throughout Britain and Europe!
I was quite disappointed by this film, which I picked up mainly because of my familiarity with Image Entertainment DVD releases and the label "Euroshock Collection", but also because of a bargain price at the local video store. There is nothing shocking about this film. There is little action, no blood and gore, and only sparse use of special effects (in this case merely old fashioned makeup) in rendering the deformities of the diseased inhabits of the village Balfe. The atmosphere of the film is promising at first- the suspicious behavior of the villagers towards Dr. Shaw is reminiscent of the much better film The Wicker Man, starring Christopher Lee. All similarities end there, as the islanders' secret is quickly revealed and all suspense is lost. The rest of the film focuses on the actions of the Doomwatch team trying to ascertain who is to blame for this ecological nightmare. Shaw's conflict with the village priest, superstition versus science, is ground that has been tread many times before, and there is nothing original in this film's take on the subject. The Bond-esque theme song at the beginning also does not pan out, as there is nothing stylistic about this film which merits the attention of fans of the psychedelic sixties/
early seventies. I understand that this film was based on a British television show of the same title and, in retrospect, that makes sense. This film might be considered a decent TV-movie, but it cannot stand as a full length film in its own right. Of interest only to "completists"- those that have to see every Euro film out there to make sure nothing slips under the radar. Everyone else should skip it. Note: The TV series ran in the UK from 1970-1972 for 37 episodes. A recent TV-movie, Doomwatch: Winter Angel aired in the UK in 1999.
I reviewed the 2001 Image Entertainment DVD release, part of their "Euroshock Collection". It contains a twelve scene chapter index and no other extras, not even an insert in the front cover.
Extras: 1.0 Bitch Slaps
Picture/Audio: 3.5 Bitch Slaps
Overall DVD: 1.5 Bitch Slaps