Doomwatch is directed by Peter Sasdy and adapted to screenplay by Clive Exton from the TV series written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis. Ian Bannen, Judy Geeson, John Paul, Simon Oates, Jean Trend, Joby Blanshard, George Sanders, Percy Herbert, Shelagh Fraser and Geoffrey Keen. Music is by John Scott and cinematography by Kenneth Talbot. An environmental research agency known as "Doomwatch" sends Dr. Dell Shaw (Bannen) to the Cornish Island of Balfe to research the effects of an oil spill. Once there Dell finds the villagers on the island are hostile and secretive and it soon becomes apparent that something is very amiss on the island.Inbreeding and Immorality?Doomwatch has its problems, with some average acting and logic holes the size of the Moon, but its highlights far outweigh the flaws. Mixing environmental concerns with sci-fi horrors, even though Doomwatch is not a horror film as such, it's a film that boasts a credible script and high interest value with its mystery.Essentially the narrative is split into two parts. The first part of the film is suitably eerie. Once Dr. Shaw arrives on the island there's a sense of doom enveloping the place. The inhabitants act oddly suspicious and the makers introduce distorted angles to emphasise the fact that something is badly wrong here. John Scott's music is perfectly off- kilter and foreboding and with the pace of the story purposely sedate, this allows Sasdy to fill the sense of place with paranoia and creeping unease.The picture then shifts at the mid-point when the mystery of the island is brought to the surface. We then find ourselves in the middle of a science fiction story wrapped around a heart breaking revelation brought about by corporate idiocy and ecological negligence. Into the mix comes ignorance, be it from the islanders, the church or the mainland authorities. It builds up a head of steam in the last quarter, where passions run high and the final act leaves an impression that's hard to shake off. Add some lovely location photography around real Cornish locations, and some skillful underwater shots as well, and this definitely has much to recommend. Yes it's dated in that 1970s British independently budgeted way, this is a Tigon production after all! But give it a chance by not expecting a Mutant Wicker Man type horror movie and you may just enjoy it more than you expected. 7.5/10

I came across this film by accident while I was looking for movies with George Sanders that I could watch online. This film was one of his last before his unfortunate suicide at the age of 65. I'm sure he did some high living because he is a very old 65 in this film.That being said, most people, especially horror aficionados, probably won't cite this as a horror film, per se. I also happen to agree with them. However, it has enough of a horrific element, a sort of Lovecraft meets X-Files, that I was compelled from beginning to end. Some viewers might say there is no real payoff, but the film itself as a whole is the payoff. As much as I enjoyed Nothing But The Night, which I rewatched again recently, you might imagine my delight at finding(afterwards) that this film was also made by Peter Sasdy. Mr. Sasdy must have enjoyed the locale of this film because I believe it is the same isle used in Nothing But The Night made one year later.The plot involves a environmental research group called Doomwatch(based on a TV series) who sends out one of their researchers to collect some data from an island were there was an oil spill. The research was to find out what sort of effects the spill caused to wildlife in the area. The researcher, one Dr. Del Shaw(played exquisitely by Ian Bannen), arrives on the island and finds himself hampered at every turn by the locals who shun him immediately. They are unfriendly, mysterious, and even violent at times. He meets one person on the island, a schoolteacher, who is an outsider like himself, though she's lived there two years. She, too, is untrusting of the new visitor, but she quickly warms to him while the rest of the inhabitants remain cold and aloof. The film cuts back and forth between island investigations and lab work back at Doomwatch HQ. Apparently, someone has been dumping chemically enhanced pituitary secretions sealed in cannisters into a No-Dumping zone on one side of the island. The navy also had previously dumped toxic waste there(hilariously, or rather, sadly, no one seemed particularly concerned that toxic waste cannisters were dumped in the ocean near an inhabited fishing village). Here's where George Sanders come in. He has more than a cameo and, as many veteran actors tend to do, he is starring in a low budget thriller before his untimely death. However, while this film is low on budget and scares or effects, it makes up with excellent acting in spades. Sanders looks incredibly old as the Navy Admiral or whatever his rank is, but his scenes are still quite good. The villagers, once they learn of the cause of their distress(being deformed by eating fish that ate the pituitary chemicals), revolt against Dr. Shaw and are even willing to kill him to keep their community safe from mainlanders.The directing is in keeping more in line with a TV movie, not quite as good as Nothing But The Night, but the acting, "gush" , is stupendous for such a modest budget feature. Ian Bannen is very good and the only place I recall seeing him before was as the Leper in Braveheart(he got under my skin(heh) in that role).This is a good Sunday afternoon film that even kids could watch(the mutated villagers aren't all that scary). Highly recommended for buffs who get off on refined acting. God, how I want to find that island and live there. It's so quaint looking. I just want to throw on a nice turtleneck sweater, a pea coat, and an ivy cap and just sit in the pub smoking the old calabash pipe.

Ian Bannen stars in the big screen version of the British TV show concerning a British government organization that keeps an eye on the effects of pollution. After an oil spill Bannen is sent to check out a small island where an isolated fishing community lives. Once he arrives he finds he's not welcome and that something weird is going on. Is it related to the spill or the near by naval dumping site ("Its just low level radiation, nothing to worry about")? Will Bannen get out of there alive? I've wanted to see this film for decades thanks to pictures of the deformities that appeared in horror film books. Now that I've seen the film I'm not sure why its classified as a horror film. Mostly this is a slow plodding procedural and by the numbers thriller as Bannen tries to figure out what is going on and the taking steps to help the people. There is in actuality only about an hours worth of plot which they stretch to 90 minutes. Other than the location filming this is pretty much the classic example of a TV episode blown up for the big screen with too little plot stretched to fill too much time. The result is a rather dull film. Perhaps watching this with commercials it might have been better but curled up with the lights off I found my attention wandering.Disappointing. (and the low level radiation remark was made by Bannen who knew that couldn't possibly be the problem- so much for 1972 science)

This one feels a lot like the beginning of Wickerman, with out all the singing.An investigator from Doomwatch, goes to an island to investigate strange occurrences and come up against a wall of close mouthed villagers. He picks up hints that all is not well.Monsters. Monsters!Now this movie was made in 1972, and follows a British TV show of the same. (Which of course desperately needs a US DVD release.) Oddly, the Environmental cause for some of the things, is Genetically Engineered Food. A current Hot Potato Political Topic that has Industry Giants spending Millions of Dollars to quash any Ballot Initiatives for Food Labeling. On the other side, Nuclear Waste is briefly used as a red herring, but Nobody, and I mean Nobody, seems worried about Nuclear Waste.A Cool and Fun movie, just slightly on the weak side.