Night of the Big Heat

   
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Year: 1967
Rating: 5.5
Planet Film Productions jumped on the British horror trend in the 1960s with a few films before going bankrupt which was a pity because the other two – Devils of Darkness and Island of Terror are both decent enjoyable films with a few chills. This film very much follows in the footsteps of Island of Terror with a similar plot and the same director. Fortunately, that director is Terence Fisher who must have been taking a break from Hammer. He does a nice job with very little here. A small cast, no sets and only a sense of dread. He does though have Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee – two actors he had worked with at Hammer many times. Island of Terror takes place on a small isolated island with slimy creatures created in a lab sucking the bone marrow out of people that are trapped in an inn.  This one takes place on a small isolated island with slimy creatures burning people to death and much of it takes place in an inn. These creatures though are from outer space. Big difference.

 

The island is having a heat wave. A tropical heat wave. But the rest of England is freezing and no one has an explanation for this weather anomaly. Everyone sweats a lot in this film and England is famous of course for having no air conditioning and warm beer. Not the place to be caught in a heat wave. The island inn and bar is run by the Callum’s, a married couple (Patrick Allen and Sarah Lawson) and they have the usual smattering of barflies that British pubs attract. The island’s doctor is played by Cushing while Lee is Professor Hanson who is staying at the inn while running mysteriously around the island with a camera. In an unnecessary subplot – the film introduces Jane Merrow as Angela – a wanton woman from the mainland who has come to renew her affair with Mr. Callum. She makes this quite clear by putting his hand on her breast and telling him “I know you want me”. If possible, she raises the temperature of all the men in the inn. How anyone can think of sex in that heat is beyond me. But that seems to be all Angela does think about.

 

Suddenly people start hearing a whizzing sound around them. Sort of like cicadas make. These are not giant cicadas though but as the Professor explains something that has come to earth because of our sending out transmissions into space and them riding them back. Or something like that. A few people start looking terrified with their eyes ready to explode and then . . . cut to their burnt bodies. The creatures are not seen until the final five minutes and are quite disappointing. Kind of like large jellyfish washed ashore. They may have been left over from Island of Terror. Any time Cushing and Lee are in the same film, it is a small pleasure. They make every film no matter how silly seem serious. This doesn’t have the energy of Island of Terror or the frights, but it has a few good moments. Just remember the next time you think you are hearing cicadas in the backyard, douse the lights and go inside.