Monster of the Day #1675

Updated on December 13, 2017 By Ken Begg 17 Comments

A stereotypical staid British poster for…a film about passing kidney stones? “Well, yes, there is a monster, old bean. However, one doesn’t just talk about such things.”

I’ll opt for the Spanish poster.

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  • Gamera977

    Actually the last kidney stone I had I think having all the calcium sucked out of my bones would have been less painful.

    And if the Spanish poster is that wild I’d love to see the Italian one.

  • KeithB

    Kidney stones are one of the few conditions where women who have given birth will feel sorry for you.

  • bgbear_rnh

    In Spain the whole world is in danger not just a terrible little island. Took it up a notch.

  • zombiewhacker

    One of my all-time faves. A pity this doesn’t get much TV play anymore (though I’m pleased to see that it’s finally available on Blu Ray).

    The monster visual FX here were much better than Island of the Burning Doomed… but what really freaked me out were the silicate monster sound FX. If these weren’t the scariest sounding creatures in film history, they certainly came close.

    Fun factoid: the next time Peter Cushing and Eddie Byrne (Dr. Landers) would appear in the same movie again? A little flick called Star Wars.

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, that shrill electronic sound would be silly in some films but here it was terrifying. It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen where the shock ending where the scientist opens the door, gets the ‘oh s**t’ look on his face, and fade to black as we hear the sound of the silicates still gets me no matter how many times I see it.

  • Rock Baker

    The electronic sound effects are credited to Barry Gray, I believe.

  • Rock Baker

    One of my favorite British science fiction films. The sequence where our heroes test against the silicates increasingly destructive weaponry is one of my favorite scenes in any science fiction movie. It’s logical, thrilling, and fits the characters involved. Great stuff.

  • The Rev.

    Island of the Burning Doomed is okay, although it does drag, but this one is a gem that I just realized I haven’t seen in years and thus must remedy ASAP.

  • The Rev.

    Good sound effects, I agree. I think the ants from Them! still beat them for the creep factor, but it’s close.

    On a related note, I never knew how gross chicken noodle soup could be until this movie.

  • Flangepart

    Saw it at the drive-in, scared the krud out of me. And what happens to Cushings arm…not expected!

  • Beckoning Chasm

    One of my favorite films. I’ve got a grey-market DVD that I watch every now and then. The great thing about this is that, once you accept the existence of the Silicates, everything proceeds with logic and scientific method. There’s no “Of course, sea water will destroy them!” deux-ex-machina.

  • zombiewhacker

    Sinister Cinema DVD?

  • zombiewhacker

    One other thought: could this be the greatest “trapped-on-an-island-with-monsters” film ever made? Human-sized beasts, I mean, not Kong-sized.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I first saw this on Svengoolie. I figured Sven was joking when he warned that this one was strong medicine and not for kids. He wasn’t! Yikes but they have some creepy scenes in this movie.

  • Rock Baker

    The film does slip up once, though, in allowing the Stealth Monster Rule to let a silicate get close enough to Peter Cushing to grab his hand. It does this silently, despite the firmly established electronic whine which allows the creatures to be heard from several yards away.

  • Ericb

    I also wondered how one of these stiff, bulky creatures managed to climb a tree.

    Still, one of the best British sci-fi movies of the 50s & 60s outside of the Quatermass films.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Oh no, not at all. This DVD is one of those sold-on-a-folding-table kind. “DVD company name? We don’t need no steenkin’ company name!” You can even see a couple of times when the tracking on the VHS source adjusts itself.