[00:00:00] Clip: I'm worried about Ian Now, now, settle down. Settle down and just tell me all about it [00:00:24] Matthew: And welcome to another episode of the IMMP podcast from the Inter Millennium Media Project. My name is Matthew Porter. [00:00:34] Ian: And I'm Ian Porter. [00:00:36] Matthew: I'm his dad, he's my son, and this begins a special month here at the IMMP. [00:00:45] Ian: Absolutely. [00:00:46] Matthew: This is producer's prerogative month. [00:00:49] Ian: Yes. Aha! [00:00:52] Matthew: I'm sure you heard us make mention of the person that I lovingly refer to as Mrs. Darling Wife, who is actually the producer of this podcast, keeps us on schedule, keeps us organized, helps, all of this happen. And over the years that we have been together, Mrs. Darling Wife has introduced me to a number of movies that have become favorites of mine. Some of them we've already talked about on this podcast, like, Now, Voyager, and the original version of, Magnificent Obsession, and others. [00:01:24] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:01:25] Matthew: But for this month, we, we asked Mrs. Darling Wife what movies, give us two movies that we have not talked about on the podcast yet that you think we should, that deserve, uh, assessment from the, the IMMP. And she came up with two great ideas. [00:01:42] Ian: She came up with two great ideas, but I will say she completely confused me- at first because of what this was listed on our documents as. Because we did not, I did not get informed I would be watching the 1966 film Island of Terror. What I got was a note saying I would be watching a film just known as Squishy Cows. [00:02:10] Matthew: That is how this film is known i- in our house- Yes ... is, is let's watch the Squishy Cows. The Squishy Cows. And we'll, we'll talk about that, whether we're correct about that. But- Yeah ... but yeah, this is Squishy Cows, and it is, as you say, we're talking about the film Island of Terror. And, typically when I think of movies that Mrs. Darling Wife really likes, ones with terror in the title aren't things that would come to mind. [00:02:37] Ian: No. [00:02:39] Matthew: Because, she's not a horror movie fan. When I'm going to the Alamo Drafthouse to watch a horror movie, I'm either doing it on my own or Ian's joining me, and Mrs. Darling Wife is, is wisely not doing that. and yet this may have terror in the title, but it is not a horror movie. [00:02:59] Ian: I... Hmm. You see, I don't know if I agree with that statement, and yet I agree with your point. [00:03:09] Matthew: I think it is not a horror movie. I think instead it is a monster movie. [00:03:16] Ian: Okay. Yeah. And- That's a good way to put it ... [00:03:17] Matthew: and there is a difference. Uh, a horror movie, the movie itself, part of what it is trying to do is instill a feeling of fear and horror in the audience to get that cathartic rush of, secondhand emotion. [00:03:35] Ian: And- Yes [00:03:35] Matthew: ... a monster movie, it is, it is more about there is this powerful evil that we are... we, that we need to address. How do we figure out the process and the way to survive and protect those around us? So, you know, Godzilla. N- nobody... I don't think anybody would watch Godzilla and say it's a horror movie, but it is a monster movie. [00:04:00] Ian: Yeah. I, I get what you're saying on that. Yeah. That's a, that is a good distinction. A monster movie may have horrific things, and it may be a movie or a story in general about things that are uncomfortable. [00:04:24] Matthew: Yes. [00:04:26] Ian: But a monster movie is, in the end, about, about a cycle. And honestly, it's got more akin to a detective film in some ways. [00:04:36] Matthew: That's true. Yeah. Although that can also be true of horror movies, where overcoming the horror is figuring out what the cause is ... and how to thwart it. And I think , one of the big takeaways is These are useful categories, but they are not mutually exclusive. You have to put a movie into a box and no other. Oh, yeah, I know. But it's a useful distinction of, you know, how does this differ from a horror movie? Well, it's mostly about understanding and then thwarting the monster. It's not mostly about does the audience actually feel fear and horror. [00:05:09] Ian: No. I kept on looking at this, and I, I did keep on thinking horror at first because it kept reminding me of systems designed to mimic horror for things like tabletop games. I kept on thinking of things like, uh, the Mothership system- [00:05:28] Matthew: Hmm ... [00:05:28] Ian: for, uh, tabletop games, who specifically talks about a cycle of how to build a horror story- [00:05:35] Matthew: Yeah ... [00:05:36] Ian: for an audience of they've got a framework they call TOMBS, transgression, omen, manifestation, banishment, and slumber. [00:05:46] Matthew: I like that. [00:05:46] Ian: And I always find it great because they did a... This, this is like a a prime example of that same setup. [00:05:52] Matthew: Yes. [00:05:52] Ian: Island of Terror follows a structure very well and is in doing so not a story about jumping and scaring you, it's about the process of making it through a scary situation . [00:06:07] Matthew: Yeah. I, I, I think you're right. And maybe, to the extent these distinctions are gonna be useful, it is useful to say that, uh, some monster movies are horror movies, but not all monster movies are horror movies. And they all have, as you said, they all have that mystery and detection aspect to them. I mean, look at Dracula, which we've talked about here on the podcast. That's a monster movie, but it's also a horror movie, especially in the context of when it was made. [00:06:35] Ian: Monster movies are the rectangles of horror? [00:06:38] Matthew: That's right. [00:06:39] Ian: The squares and rectangles of like- Yes ... wait a minute. This is [00:06:43] Matthew: s- [00:06:43] Ian: Yeah. And I've got that backwards. Yeah, yeah, [00:06:47] Matthew: But, uh, but we are talking about Island of Terror, which is- [00:06:52] Ian: Yes ... [00:06:54] Matthew: it is a very, very British movie. [00:06:57] Ian: It's a very British movie set in Ireland. [00:07:03] Matthew: Yes, yes. [00:07:04] Ian: I'm not sure it's more British than our last outing, but it is similarly very British- Oh I'll say that. [00:07:09] Matthew: That is true. Yeah, last episode we talked, uh, about another... I would say that's a horror movie, but, I mean, I don't wanna get bogged down in that discussion. That [00:07:16] Ian: was a horror movie. [00:07:18] Matthew: Yeah. Quatermass and the Pit, or Five Million Years to Earth, that we talked about last episode with your Uncle Jim, that, that's v- a horror movie and it's very English. It's... was by Hammer Films, and it doesn't get much more English- Mm ... than horror movies by Hammer Films. [00:07:32] Ian: that one was very urban British. This is very small town British. [00:07:37] Matthew: Yeah. This is, yeah, kind of rural, coastal- [00:07:40] Ian: Yeah ... [00:07:41] Matthew: remote. And interesting you compared it to, say, you know, a mothership, a campaign, or in general I'd say that that genre of something terrible has happened on the spaceship, uh, or on the, on the- Yes on the space station. An island in the middle- Oh, yeah ... of the, the sea off the coast of Ireland and Britain, uh, that's pretty much a space station in its way, especially when they contrive to make it impossible to communicate with, with, uh, the mainland. They get rid of all the boats and other transport so there's no way to get off the island. It is an isolated, we only have ourselves and whatever is here and our wits in order to survive. [00:08:25] Ian: Exactly. So we've got, this small island off the coast of Ireland, and immediately, like first thing is person's gone missing, call the police. [00:08:40] Matthew: Yes. [00:08:41] Ian: Like, th- this is... There is something very zero to 60 about this movie. [00:08:46] Matthew: There is. There's a little bit of a setup, and they actually avoid making it an As You Know, Bob- Yeah ... by adding somebody who actually has reason to ask questions and not know the answers already. And we get information about how isolated the island is. We also get information about some of the odd goings-on on the island. There's a professor named Phillips who has rented a huge house off in one of the more remote parts of this remote island, and built his laboratory there because he is one of the top researchmen in the world. I just like that idea. He's one of the top researchmen. Oh, that's- How do we become a researchman? That [00:09:26] Ian: feels like a very Strong Bad kind of phrasing. [00:09:28] Matthew: It does, yes. But he's like the, one of the world's top cancer researchers, and he's doing experiments in his lab on this remote island. [00:09:39] Ian: Like him and his four assistants. [00:09:41] Matthew: I like the fact that this is Petrie Island. It's all a big dish. Yeah. [00:09:46] Ian: It really... It's a giant Petri dish. Yep. That is- [00:09:50] Matthew: So we've got an, uh, a reclusive scientist and his small team doing experiments on a remote island. What could go wrong? [00:09:59] Ian: Of course. [00:10:00] Matthew: And as you say, what goes wrong goes wrong really fast [00:10:03] Ian: Goes wrong really fast. Immediately we've got a person goes missing, and they find the body With no bones in it. [00:10:14] Matthew: Yes. And by this time we know that something has gone wrong in the lab because we see them doing their experiments, and they're about to start up their great big experiment. And the explosion is what happens under the title credits. [00:10:31] Ian: Yes. [00:10:33] Matthew: So yeah, things haven't gone well for Dr. Phillips and his team. [00:10:37] Ian: No. [00:10:39] Matthew: But yeah- The- The first indication that, that there's something wrong is the boneless dude. [00:10:43] Ian: The boneless dude, which, who's named Ian. [00:10:47] Matthew: Dang it. Yes. I, I couldn't help but use that reference in our, uh, our pre-musical opening. [00:10:53] Ian: Ah, dang it. but we then cut to, like, the, oh, the local doctor's just like- How, how in the world? I need some help. I'm going to take our one boat to go to London and find someone who's better at this sort of stuff than me. [00:11:14] Matthew: And I like the way that the- they establish this island, uh, this town as a good and functioning community. Yeah. And they've got civic resources. They've got a terrific civic center which has a medical clinic attached to it. They've got their constable, who is the smallest and slightest of build of anybody on the island, is their constable. Yes. Which I guess is an indication of the fact that there's usually not much to do. He even says, "I don't have much to do here." But they need a constable. [00:11:42] Ian: And, uh, there's something about it where it's like he, I don't have much to do, but everyone else is, happy. They've got their little farm areas. They've got their thing in town. And you get the feeling that this constable's entire job is just running laps around the island. [00:11:56] Matthew: Yes, yes. [00:11:58] Ian: Going from thing to thing. He run... 'Cause we see him running places plenty too. Yeah, it's [00:12:03] Matthew: just him and his feet and his bicycle. [00:12:05] Ian: Exactly. So it's like this is the fittest man on the island- Yes ... because he's the guy who has to travel everywhere. [00:12:12] Matthew: Right. [00:12:12] Ian: It, it works. [00:12:14] Matthew: So Ian's wife comes to the constable. The constable goes and checks it out where Ian liked to take his walks, finds Ian's boneless body, goes to the doctor, and like you say, the doctor realizes, "Oh, this is beyond anything I know." It's like- This guy's got no bones. [00:12:30] Ian: I rec- I recognize the appendectomy scar, but I'm- Yeah ... terrified that that's all that's here. [00:12:36] Matthew: And they do a good job of not leaping into, "Oh, this is a horrific thing we're seeing." Yeah. At first, with this first victim, we just kinda see the clothes there in a, a misshapen flat pile, and when he lifts an arm, it flops around. This is a movie- Later on, we see things that are more gruesome, but they build to that. [00:12:58] Ian: This is a movie that can pull horror out of a rubber costume suit- ... without an actor in it. [00:13:05] Matthew: Yes, yes. [00:13:07] Ian: Which is so powerful. Um... [00:13:14] Matthew: I, I'm almost imagining producers saying, "Huh, how do we have a, a horror movie or a monster movie where we don't have to actually hire actors and pay them to be the victims? I know." [00:13:27] Ian: Yeah. " [00:13:27] Matthew: We only hire the wardrobe." [00:13:29] Ian: It works [00:13:30] Matthew: Yeah [00:13:32] Ian: But it is very much, it starts out very much as the, we've seen an explosion, we know something's happened, but it starts out as a, an infection film. [00:13:42] Matthew: Yes. [00:13:42] Ian: This is a story of a virus. That is what their best theory is. That is what they're assuming. And so I need to go find a pathologist. [00:13:51] Matthew: And they know it's not just a weird one-off thing because the, uh, there's this one human victim, Ian, but then there's a farmer who reports that the same thing has happened to his horse, and we get a little close-up of the squishy horse. [00:14:05] Ian: That squishy horse. [00:14:07] Matthew: And that's where Mrs. Darling Wife and I have conflated two parts of this movie. The cows are very instrumental later on, but first we see the squishy horse. So we don't know that we ever actually see squishy cows, but that's still how the, the movie is lodged fondly in our mind is the squishy cows movie. [00:14:25] Ian: Oh, absolutely. We'll get to the squishy cows. [00:14:27] Matthew: Yes, we will. [00:14:28] Ian: I don't know if you want to include this, but I'm sorry, something in my head is just imagining Uma Musume characters. Oh, [00:14:36] Matthew: no. [00:14:37] Ian: Which is just terrifying. Oh. I have to fix the chuckles. [00:14:41] Matthew: Oh, yeah. Thank you. Oh, dear. [00:14:44] Ian: Oh, no. Okay. Uh, so- [00:14:49] Matthew: Yeah, I, I think that's staying in. [00:14:51] Ian: Great. Thank you. Uh, so they have to go to London, and we get the delightfully very polite, "We might have a pandemic on our hands," kind of- ... London banter- Yes ... of gathering the doctor squad. [00:15:09] Matthew: Yes. They're- Because we've got- ... terribly polite and fascinated. [00:15:12] Ian: Absolutely. But they're going... But, uh, Peter Cushing- [00:15:16] Matthew: Yes, Peter Cushing [00:15:18] Ian: Peter Cushing, is the noted London pathologist here's this, this constable and the, this doctor from a small island. It's like, "You've done everything right?" "I've done everything right." "Well, let's take a look at this." "Well, that's different. I have no clue what I'm looking at." "Let me get my buddy." [00:15:39] Matthew: And his buddy is the, uh, the young and dashing Dr. David West, played by Edward Judd. So Dr. Stanley, played by Peter Cushing, brings them to West, and we immediately see what kind of a, a guy West is because there's a beautiful young woman in his apartment who is changing into his dressing gown because she spilled wine on her, uh, her dress. [00:16:01] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:16:02] Matthew: Uh, but, uh, there is, uh, there's obviously a connection there. They have plans for their evening before- Mm-hmm ... this, uh, pathologist comes to talk to Dr. West because he's, he's a, an eminent bone specialist. [00:16:15] Ian: They've been flirting. It, it seems that Dr. David West and this, this lady, Toni Merrill, have been flirting back and forth for a long while. [00:16:26] Matthew: Yes. [00:16:27] Ian: And there's this delightful moment. Okay, I'm gonna also just note, Edward Judd as Dr. David West, something about the costuming and the haircut they have him in, I had to do a double take because I was absolutely certain for a moment it was Jason Segel- ... who, who you might know from, like, How I Met Your Mother. They look very similar. Wow. They've got a similar cut right here. I don't know why it caught me like that, but- [00:16:53] Matthew: That's interesting. I never would've thought that, but yeah, that's not entirely unreasonable. [00:17:00] Ian: It's not unreasonable. Yeah. Okay. [00:17:02] Matthew: That works. [00:17:02] Ian: Thank you. I feel like- Yeah ... I'm not crazy here. But there's a delightful bit where, Dr. West is very, like, "Why are you guys here? You're interrupting my evening." Yeah. And the moment that Toni Merrill here, hears even a bit of what's happening, she's all in to help. and she's even there saying, "Well, my family has some money. We can use the helicopter my family has to get to the island and such." It immediately struck me kind of pairing Dr. West and Toni as a kind of Nick and Nora Charles couple, where she's very invested in his work, and he's a little bit... He's really good at what he does, but there's a bit of a, "I don't wanna have to do that right now." [00:17:47] Matthew: Yes. [00:17:48] Ian: And that means the two of them act as a unit, pulling each other at different points through the story. [00:17:53] Matthew: Yes. And I think that Carol Gray does a lot with what she can with this character. I think the character is underwritten through- Oh, yes ... most of the movie. But these initial scenes where she's introduced, yeah, are very sharply written. And, uh- Yes ... and I, I, I see the kind of dynamic you're, you're describing. But she is- Mm-hmm ... she's very wealthy. She's also wealthy in a plot-convenient way, because it gives them a way to get back to the island quickly. It gives them a way to get back to the island quickly in a way that leaves behind the launch, the boat that the, the doctor from the island used to get to the mainland. And, the helicopter is needed- Yeah ... by her father the next day, so the helicopter pilot can drop them off on this remote island, but then disappear for a few days. So it's one of the- So- ... believable but contrived things that make them extremely isolated. And she wants to be- Strand ... on the adventure. She wants to be near Dr. West, but she also is a person who wants adventure. Even though later on they, they write her as a character with very little courage. [00:18:59] Ian: Absolutely. [00:19:00] Matthew: There are times when I think that some producer looked at the first draft of this script and says, "Ah, there's a problem here. We need a girl in the picture. Yeah, nobody's gonna see a movie without a pretty girl." And they did a good job of inserting her there, but she's not vital to the plot in that way. [00:19:14] Ian: You see, I can also completely see a version where they inserted her into... Where she was in the plot, and a producer came over and said, "Ah, what do you mean? You got her doing too much stuff. You know, send the guys over there. You know, remove-" Yeah. "... this scene with her over there. She is not needed." [00:19:30] Matthew: She can't be solving- I can- ... the problems in the last act. She's supposed to be screaming and clutching at the hero. [00:19:35] Ian: Exactly. Maybe. It, it gets, it gets forced to be generic in that. But i- once again, like a tabletop game- ... we wind up with our little party of four. [00:19:44] Matthew: Yes. [00:19:44] Ian: Like, three of you have rolled doctors, and you've rolled rich- [00:19:49] Matthew: Yeah. ... [00:19:49] Ian: rich socil- socialite. "I fund the team." "Okay, good," says the game master- That works ... and they keep going. Absolutely. But, uh, stranding successful. So they are back on Petrie's Island and, uh, things have gotten worse. [00:20:06] Matthew: Yes. [00:20:08] Ian: Yeah. Because now... Because they, they, they are trying to figure this out. They're finding some similarities, little holes all over these victims. [00:20:21] Matthew: Yeah, there's puncture marks that indicate either there's a pathology that gets out or there's something's being injected in. But either way, it is, absorbing and consuming all of the, calcium ? which is a big part of human bone. [00:20:40] Ian: Mm-hmm. All of the calcium is just gone. Everything else is there, but without the structure, everything just collapses terrifyingly. And they don't have enough materials to be able to figure anything out. They're, they're hitting a limit and it's been like one day But there is that giant cancer resea- search lab up on the hill. Maybe he- I mean, the guy doesn't answer. Maybe he has stuff. He doesn't answer his door, but let's go up there. [00:21:10] Matthew: So they do, and they discover, as we know from the credit sequence, that things have gone wrong in the laboratory. Things [00:21:16] Ian: have, things have gone wro- wrong in the laboratory. I do like the laboratory's aesthetic, which is well-furnished estate. [00:21:26] Matthew: Yeah. Yes. [00:21:27] Ian: Basement stairs, little curvy basement stairs, and then it's stone hallways, and one of the first things you see is the giant metal doors labeled, "Warning: Radiation." [00:21:42] Matthew: There is something kind of Batman about this, where you've got- Oh ... stately Wayne Manor up above, and then the caverns of strange science down below. [00:21:51] Ian: This is absolutely the Wayne summer home. Absolutely. Not, not only in the, uh, Batman could live here, but in the I rented out, I rented it out to a scientist on a whim, and that turned out to be a bad idea. Yes. This is the Waynes completely. But it's got the giant almost comical, uh, door. [00:22:14] Matthew: Well, which- And- which of course our hero has to open. He, uh, takes the giant, the, the, the giant s- steel door or lead door, I suppose- Yeah ... with the submarine latch on it. Opens it up, steps inside, comes back out and is like, "Yep, there's radioactive isotopes in there." [00:22:36] Ian: I just want to go in in like a, a premiere and just tint him green when he just steps back out. Just step in. Yeah. Step out. He's just glowing now. Oh, boy. [00:22:48] Matthew: And then there's the lab that we saw earlier where they're actually conducting their experiments. There's another room that has test animals. [00:22:56] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:22:58] Matthew: So they're pretty well set up, but things have gone wrong, and they have the, the evidence of the explosions. But also they found the people in the lab in their boneless state, and I think some of the servants in the house too were, were boneless. They [00:23:13] Ian: found one other person up in the- Yeah ... up in the house that was boneless. Mm. So it's like, oh, goodness, it's gotten all the way to here. But no, yeah, they, they, they figure out, and they look at him like, oh, these guys are worse off. They've been in this state for longer. This is the epicenter. Like, this is where things went wrong. [00:23:36] Matthew: And the next act is really split between two main functions. On the one hand, we've got our two scientists, uh, Stanley and West, who have collected all the notes from Philips' laboratory, trying to figure out what was Philips doing, and what had he done when things went terribly wrong. Mm. Because, that'll help us figure out what happened and, and maybe come up with a solution. And then there is working with the townspeople, to figure out how everybody can survive, and what should we do in the meantime while we try to figure this out now that we know these things are so dangerous. So they're dealing with the mayor, they're dealing with the constable, and unfortunately the constable doesn't last too long either. [00:24:18] Ian: No. Well, he goes to, he goes to the, the, uh, the house on the hill there thinking that the other doctors are still there, and they miss each other on the road. [00:24:28] Matthew: Yeah, there's a lot of that back and forth, uh, "I'm gonna go where those guys were," but they've already left. And, and we do have that great tense monster scene- [00:24:39] Ian: Mm-hmm ... [00:24:39] Matthew: as our, our scientists and, uh, including the doctor and including, uh, uh, Toni, are trying to leave, and they get their first real glimpse of the silicates. Yeah. The monsters. Which are kind of like- lumps of things with armadillo plating, and then a big snake-like appendage in the front that it can use to eat people. Uh, [00:25:09] Ian: yeah. There's something very plant-like about them in an odd way. Yeah. They're kind of moss lump-like. Something about the little, like, frill edges to their starfish legs. I don't know. I immediately looked at it and was like, "Oh, my goodness. They're, they're being killed by tree stars from the Land Before Time- Yeah with a Dyson vacuum stuck on the top." [00:25:30] Matthew: Pretty much. [00:25:31] Ian: It's got a little vacuum. It... Also, for anyone who's a Doctor Who fan, they're very Dalek outside of the shell. [00:25:38] Matthew: Hmm. Yeah, they are kind of- They've got that- ... overgrown Daleks in that way. [00:25:42] Ian: Yeah. They've got some... They've got that, that weird slug-like, but with a prehensile suction grabber. A little thwacky arm. And if the arm thwacks you, it'll drag you to the main body, slide over you, and take your bones. [00:26:02] Matthew: Yeah. I almost get the impression that the, the arm thing injects something with the little spiky bits on the end to- Mm-hmm ... incapacitate you, and then it pulls you in so it can suck out your bones. [00:26:13] Ian: , They figure out from the notes and such that they were trying to create a virus that would attack cancer. [00:26:19] Matthew: Right. Oh, and, and by the way, the doctor did not survive that encounter with the... the town's doctor doesn't survive that first encounter with the silicates in the basement of the, the big house. [00:26:31] Ian: Oh, well, well, they... We learn something else when that happens, too. We watch them divide. [00:26:35] Matthew: Yes. [00:26:36] Ian: Where the silicate starts to... I- like eject ramen noodles- ... and turn into two of itself. [00:26:43] Matthew: That is kind of what it looks like. A big- It's like- ... wad of spaghetti. [00:26:47] Ian: Yeah. It just starts pouring, and it splits down the middle. It's very interesting, though, because these are supposed to be little singular-celled organisms that were designed to attack cancer. Something's gone wrong, and they attack bone and are the size of a sheepdog. [00:27:06] Matthew: Yes. It's like a... And, and I have to say that the, that division effect with the noodly stuff, it, it obviously does reference the image of cell replication or cell division that we've all seen in, in, uh, videos in high school. So I can see what they were- Yeah ... going for. It just looks a little goofy at that scale. [00:27:30] Ian: It looks a little goofy because this is a, a movie made on not much of a budget. But it is very much like, Fantastic Voyage in an odd way, but instead of scaling our heroes down, we've scaled the cell creatures up. [00:27:49] Matthew: Yes, that's a good point. [00:27:52] Ian: Because it is, the, like, part of that point is that this, this cancer cure element and this medical nature of these creatures never quite leaves them. They are, they, it, I was calling it before, it starts out as a pathogen film. It stays a pathogen film even when the virus becomes large enough to hit with an ax. [00:28:18] Matthew: Yes. [00:28:19] Ian: Hitting it with an ax does not succeed. These things are very durable. But you can try. [00:28:24] Matthew: And they are not based on carbon. That was one of the big breakthroughs that Phillips was working on. Mm-hmm. He was trying to create a cell that was based on silicon, not carbon, and that would somehow allow it to attack can- a ca- attack cancer cells directly without, I presume, without harming the patient. But this is what they got instead. [00:28:45] Ian: Yeah. And so it is eating bones because it wants more material- to make more of itself, to replicate. [00:28:55] Matthew: And it replicates quickly, and they, they do some math and figure out what a short time it would be until there's a million of them, presuming they find enough to feed on, and that's going to include all the livestock on the island and all of the people on the island. So then it kind of becomes, that second act was how to figure out what was actually happening and what are the best strategies to help the island survive, the next one is dealing with the full-on attack of these things. And how do we, now that we know what they are, how do we figure out a way to kill them? [00:29:33] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:29:33] Matthew: And I suppose it's admirable that they start simple. They start with guns- Yep ... and with dynamite and with petrol bombs. [00:29:42] Ian: Yeah. Ho- honestly, yeah, Our heroes are not the only heroic characters in that sense because once they find out, they go to the town, they talk to the people. And everyone else, like there's plenty of worry, but there's a lot of people who are just like, "Okay, I'll step up and help." Absolutely. Yeah. And the camera actually follows some of the other townspeople for a bit. Leaving our heroes and letting other people take the lead for a scene, which is really nice because it adds that sense of community. [00:30:10] Matthew: It does, and it adds to the stakes because we care about these people more when they're not just props to be saved by our heroes. [00:30:16] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:30:16] Matthew: And it shows the, the mayor of the island, uh, to be, or whatever his title is, to be a pretty good leader. Yeah. To care about his people, to be tough with people when he has to be, like when a young man is getting panicky and, uh, uh, spreading fear m- more, more than is helpful. But, but they do have this long scene where they make these plans with the mayor and where they should scope out and keep watch on things on the island. We need 10 men to join us, and the 10 men go out to this part of the, the woods where these things are. And essentially, the 10 men spend a few minutes watching our heroes shoot guns at the things and- Be very- And then they start throwing dynamite and petrol bombs. [00:30:59] Ian: Be very, very quiet. I'm hunting silicates. Yeah. And really, it's weird. It's just like little hunting expedition. We see a little forest full of the things. I do wonder what they're building these petrol bombs out of. It's another one of those, oh, the movie's made a little on the cheap because they throw them and they just jump cut to generic explosions- [00:31:22] Matthew: Yes [00:31:24] Ian: and little fire effects. And I'm like, "That's not how a Molotov cocktail works." No. "But good effort, guys." [00:31:31] Matthew: And, and I have to say, the capabilities of the silicates are, uh, are impressive. Uh, um, they seem to be very good at climbing. [00:31:42] Ian: Yeah. [00:31:42] Matthew: One gets up in a tree. And I do not understand how he looks up and it's, there's, you know, the guy is killed by one, one dropping out of a tree on top of him. And they don't have any limbs except this one noodley front appendage. Oh, oh, [00:31:58] Ian: we do see one climb up the side, over the top, and down the other side of a car. So they've got kind of a slug-like stickiness, I guess. [00:32:06] Matthew: Yeah. But- But that's not the same as up a tree and out onto a limb that can barely hold [00:32:11] Ian: him. Oh, yeah. The up a tree and falling on a guy is absolutely like the instance of jump scare. Like just add the FNAF sound effect. Right. Ow. I mean, it would absolutely fit there for no good reason. [00:32:25] Matthew: Yes. [00:32:26] Ian: It's the silliest death, I think, of the show, of the entire movie. But [00:32:31] Matthew: it does serve to raise the stakes though, because we've seen more of the townspeople and we've, we've see how dangerous these things are and how impervious they are. And what are we gonna do? Nothing. They're just gonna eat ev- everything on the island that has bones. [00:32:45] Ian: Well, wait a minute, we found a dead one You found a dead one? How? Where? Why? Um, they find a dead one because it tried to eat one of the lab animals And, and this is, this is such a weird instance of like, it almost feels like reverse Godzilla scenario. [00:33:06] Matthew: Yes. [00:33:08] Ian: Because it turns out that the, the, the lab animals had all been dosed with a lot of radiation. [00:33:14] Matthew: Right. [00:33:14] Ian: And that made them toxic. [00:33:16] Matthew: And evidently the, the creatures had eaten most of the lab animals already. But- Mm-hmm ... in Phillips notes there was in, uh, uh, a note that this one particular dog had a heavy dose of, of radiation, or had been exposed to strontium-90. Mm. Which gets into the bones. So this silicate started to eat the dog that was contaminated with strontium-90 and then died [00:33:43] Ian: So we have a solution, but it requires something to be eaten that you poison. [00:33:50] Matthew: Yes. [00:33:51] Ian: Like, How do you kill them? You poison them from the inside because they're impenetrably on, on the outside. All of this story, though, we're describing, it feels very compact. It is drawn out with a lot of, I wouldn't say, I, I wouldn't say it's stretching or it's tension. Instead, it feels very- Regimented. [00:34:18] Matthew: Yeah. [00:34:19] Ian: We see the organization. We see the prep. We see people getting ready and doing their due diligence of checking their notes and confirming just as much. There is map scenes that remind me more out of something from, the Navarone movies we watched- Yes ... in some ways. Planning where people are going to meet up. The, the map of the island, you could chart... You could follow where everyone moves if you had a map and you just made little notes as you went. It's very clockwork well built in that sense. [00:34:52] Matthew: It is a very- S- ... procedural detective story- [00:34:55] Ian: Yeah ... [00:34:56] Matthew: as they figure out this mystery. [00:34:59] Ian: And that means that what feels like a relatively small number of on-screen deaths and a rather slow-moving but threatening force feels constantly like a pressure because the energy of that cycle keeps you engaged. [00:35:25] Matthew: Yes. It does what a movie like this needs to do, which is establish and maintain a tone. And it's, it's, it's not a typical tone. It is that tone of mystery plus danger that works very well. [00:35:41] Ian: Mm-hmm. But now, yeah, they spend the time of gathering everybody in town into this community center and just barring it closed. Yeah. The idea is don't, don't let these things get any person. [00:35:56] Matthew: Because the monsters are on their way towards the town. Mm-hmm. I gather, k eating the bones out of wildlife as they go. And the plan is to use the fact that they're headed towards the town by gathering all the livestock they can, all the cows that they can, into this paddock near the, the town, and shoot up all of the cows with strontium-90. But that means these monsters are gonna be awfully close to- Yeah ... uh, to where all the people are, um, i- in order for this plan to work. And that also means they need to get the strontium-90. So that means another trip back to Philips Lab, because we do have the magic closet of radioactive isotopes. We get a long scene of them going to Philips Lab, suiting up with their protective, gear, and getting the strontium-90 and the tool used to shoot it into animals, and bringing all that back. [00:37:00] Ian: I'm sorry. I, I- This is another instance where the very cheap brand, like the cheap design at times doesn't do quite the right service to this film. These are the silliest radiation suits I've ever seen. [00:37:19] Matthew: And, and I think the idea is that they're not dealing with things that are extremely radioactive. No. But they're dealing with things that are super, super dangerous if you ingest or inhale them, even in tiny, tiny amounts. Yes. So these are not lead-lined, protect you from ionizing radiation kind of suits. They are kinda bunny suits that cover you head to toe, are connected to an external air supply, and are going to practically eliminate the possibility of accidentally inhaling some strontium dust. Mm-hmm. So yeah, they're still kind of goofy, but at least I understand what they're going for, in that they're- [00:38:00] Ian: Yeah. And [00:38:01] Matthew: I do kind of- ... they're handling suits as opposed to radiation protection suits. [00:38:04] Ian: Yeah. And I do kind of appreciate the very clever jump cut where we see them, a long system of them suiting up, prepping and loading the items, and putting them in the case. And then we jump to them out of the suits, carrying the case away. [00:38:20] Matthew: Yes, at least we didn't have to s- watch them get out of the suits. That's the same thing. [00:38:24] Ian: There's a l- there's a little bit of the, the camera followed the weapon. [00:38:28] Matthew: Oh, yeah. [00:38:29] Ian: Not the people for a moment. Mm. And it wasn't a perfectly done jump cut or transition, but it had this very, like... It added weight to this, these strontium injectors as a tool, as a weapon now that is the thing to defeat the monster. [00:38:45] Matthew: But there was danger in going back to Phillips Lab because there are still a lot of silicates around there. [00:38:52] Ian: Yes. [00:38:52] Matthew: And one of them gets Dr. Stanley, Peter Cushing. [00:38:58] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:38:59] Matthew: And we see a r- a really gruesome scene. It's not gruesome on screen. We don't see on-screen blood really. [00:39:06] Ian: Mm. [00:39:07] Matthew: But we see people making fast decisions to do, difficult things that are the only thing to do. And one of the creatures has gotten Stanley on the arm. He can't get it off. It is injecting the horrible stuff into him, or sucking out his bones, whatever. And West is, uh, standing there with an ax that they know isn't going to get through the armor of the silicate. So how does he save Stanley? Stanley sacrifices his arm. Zom- [00:39:41] Ian: Exactly. It's very much, it, it's, it's very much zombie movie rules in that sense. [00:39:46] Matthew: Yes. [00:39:47] Ian: You know? [00:39:48] Matthew: And good acting- But it means that he- ... with them making this decision and agreeing on this course of action between the two of them in a split second. [00:39:54] Ian: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. And, you know, then, then it's, you know, throw Dr. Stanley into the back and drive away as fast as you can. [00:40:03] Matthew: Right. And he's a doctor, he applies his tourniquet first and ... [00:40:06] Ian: Mm-hmm. But we, we ... For, for the rest of the film, Peter Cushing is in a chair in a sling unable to move 'cause he is so wounded. [00:40:17] Matthew: Yes. [00:40:18] Ian: But he's still present as a voice and as a character, so that's very important. [00:40:22] Matthew: Mm-hmm. And- [00:40:24] Ian: But that means that we, we've lost a doctor, Toni's back at the, at the house panicking, and Dr. Stanley is wounded. So Dr. David West is our last hero standing. [00:40:35] Matthew: Yes. And, and the, the world, the, the safe zone such as it is, keeps getting smaller and smaller because everybody, as you said earlier, is locked into the community center, which is also the medical clinic. And the things are right outside, and [00:40:53] Ian: they- Eating the bones of the cows. [00:40:55] Matthew: Eating the bones of the cows. And there's some good s- interesting sound work in this. First of all, for some reason the silicates make a very sci-fi, theremin kind of bubbly noise. Yeah. But then the- Mm ... sound of them extracting bones from their victims, always off screen, but it's really creepy. It's wonderfully creepy. It's the [00:41:14] Ian: right kind of horrible, creepy. Oh, the sound work is, yeah. [00:41:21] Matthew: And then we get kind of a predictable but effective progression of, danger and tension where, oh, they've eaten the cows, but they're still going. They haven't, the, the silicates have not died, so they start breaking into the, uh, the community center and breaking through the windows, ex- demonstrating their impressive climbing skills once again by breaking through the skylights. Yeah, [00:41:51] Ian: the skylight ones are yes. We've got silicate paratroopers coming in. What's going on here? [00:41:55] Matthew: So the, the surviving humans then retreat to the medical clinic, which has one door and like a strong tiled walls. Uh, and yet the monsters are tr- starting to break in there. [00:42:09] Ian: I, I kind of love the fact that I don't, I don't think, maybe I, I don't know if I didn't catch this moment, but do we ever see a sight of the building from the outside once everyone's inside there? Like, do we see it covered- No ... in silicates at any point? [00:42:23] Matthew: I don't [00:42:23] Ian: believe we [00:42:23] Matthew: do. No. [00:42:25] Ian: The camera is actually pretty good at staying places where a person could witness this. [00:42:30] Matthew: Yes. [00:42:31] Ian: If the outside is not safe, the camera's not outside. It is where the people are. It's not a POV shot, but the omniscient camera isn't, isn't showing you as the audience context you wouldn't have otherwise. It keeps you in the moment and keeps you in the terror by leaving those gaps of unknowingness, which means that when they start dropping out of skylights and such, it catches you off guard just as much as it caught the people inside. [00:43:01] Matthew: Very much, and it's not that, as you're saying, you're, you're not in the point of view of any particular character. It's like you are one of the townspeople. You're one of the people who are tagging along on this adventure, or who are trapped in this room with the rest of them. [00:43:15] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:43:16] Matthew: And, and it's... That, that's, that point of view aspect, it really does work in that it, it emphasizes that surprise. You're stuck inside with the people. You don't know what to expect. And it's not just they didn't want to create enough Silicates to cover a building with because in other shots they made a whole lot of these monsters. We... Some of the- They- ... f- scenes in the woods and even- Mm-hmm ... once they start getting into the, the, the building, they made a lot of these models. [00:43:46] Ian: They made so many of them. They, they weren't afraid to fill an area with Silicates to make them threatening. But earlier when we watched them injecting the cows and seeing the Silicates coming over the hill towards the cows, we get standing outside of the community center looking at the cows, looking at the Silicates coming at them, looking back at the people. But the camera's still placed in a location just like the people outside keeping watch, and when the doors are closed, the camera doesn't leave the building past those doors anymore. It's restricted in that same way very effectively. [00:44:25] Matthew: Right. And once the people have to retreat into the medical clinic, we never leave the medical clinic to see what else is happening. [00:44:31] Ian: Yep. [00:44:31] Matthew: We are seeing the monsters try to break through the door into the medical clinic. [00:44:34] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:44:35] Matthew: And we see Dr. West having this little wordless eye conversation with Dr. Stanley about preserving Toni from the horribly painful death she's about to, uh, experience by- [00:44:49] Ian: Yeah, or at very least knocking her unconscious so she- Yeah doesn't have to experience [00:44:53] Matthew: it. Yeah. But- So we're seeing him getting, preparing the, uh, the syringe of opium that was telegraphed earlier when he was offered to our injured Dr. Stanley [00:45:05] Ian: But right as that's happening, after half the town practically has been killed in the attack of, on the community center The silicates start to fade and they die [00:45:21] Matthew: There's something very War of the Worlds about this ending where suddenly these f- fierce and vicious monsters are inert because they're all dying from a, what seems now like a relatively simple cause. [00:45:34] Ian: Mm-hmm. And yet it's still... I mean, eh, that's the thing. I'm n- I'm not saying Island of Terror has a bunch of brand new things. I'm saying it does its things well there. [00:45:47] Matthew: Yeah. [00:45:48] Ian: But yeah, you're right. It's, it's, it's got similar stuff. It's similar to Day of the Triffids. Yeah. It's similar to War of the Worlds in that sense. There's plenty of, there's plenty of things in its genre, but this one's doing specific things- Right ... with it and being careful in certain points. [00:46:02] Matthew: I am a little bit concerned about this happy ending though, because they talked earlier about how rapidly they, uh, they divide and double their numbers. [00:46:12] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:46:14] Matthew: Are, are they sure that all of the silicates made it to that paddock and that there was enough irradiated cow bones to go around? Yeah, I was like- Because if there's only [00:46:30] Ian: one remaining, that's gonna become a whole lot very quickly. Yeah, this is a you've gotta kill every single one. This is a little bit too cut and dry at times, but- [00:46:37] Matthew: But at [00:46:37] Ian: least- it's a happy ending, yeah ... [00:46:39] Matthew: it is. And I, I suppose at least if they've cut down the monsters' numbers dramatically, it gives them a little more time to use their knowledge of how to kill them, in some other way. And they do talk about the fact that it's a good thing, that this was on an island where they could be contained, because you could imagine if this happened anywhere else in the world [00:47:06] Ian: And the, the ending. Oh, that ending [00:47:11] Matthew: And they care- they cleverly, they set up the ending j- right before the credits at the very beginning. Because when Phillips... Like, the only speaking lines Phillips gets are, are when he's talking with his team. They're about to start their experiment, and one of the team members is asking, "What about, Rome and Tokyo?" And I think it was New York. And he's saying, "Oh, I've, I posted to them all the details, and I'm sure they'll begin their experiments to replicate these results as soon as they receive all that. But we're gonna go ahead with our initial procedure now. I'm sure nobody's gonna mind." [00:47:49] Ian: Yeah. And we, and we literally... Talk about the sound work. The last scene we get is the Japan lab with one of the doctors entering the room, and we hear the silicate noises followed by the bone eating and the screaming. [00:48:03] Matthew: Yes, and the big explosion. Yeah. You can't have movie credits without explosions, beginning or end of this film. [00:48:11] Ian: Silicate will return in Avengers: Endgame. [00:48:17] Matthew: It's so [00:48:17] Ian: great. [00:48:17] Matthew: So it is a good monster movie ending in that it's, it's... And, and finally everyone was saved. Or are they? [00:48:26] Ian: Dun, dun, dun. [00:48:29] Matthew: Now, watching this with Mrs. Darling Wife, at least she pointed out, "Well, technically the lab in Tokyo is also on an island." Yeah, absolutely. "It's a bigger island." [00:48:38] Ian: Wait a minute. [00:48:38] Matthew: So there's some- Some ... way to contain it. And if we're talking Manhattan for New York, another island [00:48:48] Ian: Okay, so, uh [00:48:51] Matthew: The Other Island of Terror. Yet Another Island of Terror [00:48:56] Ian: So we need to set, uh, we need to set the last one on one of the islands near Rome. [00:49:07] Matthew: Oh, that's right. Yeah, there was Rome. [00:49:08] Ian: There was Rome, so it's like- [00:49:10] Matthew: Yeah, that's gonna be the tough one. [00:49:12] Ian: Yeah. Like, uh, like Ponza, I guess. Maybe. I don't know [00:49:19] Matthew: But that does seem as if we, uh, might be, be plunging headlong into our final questions. [00:49:25] Ian: I think so. [00:49:27] Matthew: Well, stay tuned then, , listeners, for, , our final assessment of this movie and our recommendations for what we want of this in the future. But in the meantime, if you are enjoying the Intermillennium Media Project, Podcast, and I hope you are, , and if you want more of it, please go to immproject.com, and that's where you will find all of our back episodes, more than 200 main episodes plus bonuses at this point. And you can also find ways to support the podcast on our Patreon, where starting at $3 a month, you get some additional bonus audio content. You can also support us on our,, shop if you like T-shirts and coffee mugs and notebooks and other fun things, not just with the podcast logo, but also jokes about some of the fun things we've talked about over the years, including, The Prisoner and Space 1999 and the Christmas classic Die Hard. [00:50:19] Ian: Exactly. [00:50:20] Matthew: And also, you will find, at immproject.com our contact page with various ways to get in touch with us. You can reach us on Blue Sky and Mastodon. You can send us email, and also you can send us honest-to-goodness, physical mail via the US Postal Service at our PO box. [00:50:39] Clip: It's the mail. I'll get used to it. [00:50:42] Ian: We always love to hear from you. [00:50:43] Matthew: Yes, indeed do you have any favorite, , monster movies or horror movies or British sci-fi movies that you think we should take a look at? Let us know And Ian, where can people find you? [00:50:55] Ian: Oh, I can be found most places as ItemCrafting, be that ItemCrafting on Blue Sky or ItemCraftingLive on Twitch. I stream almost every Thursday. Come on down for, uh, games like point-and-click adventure and all sorts of other classics, and miniature painting, just fun chatting about movies and TV And Dad, where can people find you? [00:51:20] Matthew: Well, you can find me most places as By Matthew Porter, so the easiest thing to do is to go to bymatthewporter.com. That's where you will find links to where to find me on Mastodon and on Blue Sky, and, on YouTube, where I review movies and movie theaters and also travel experiences. And also at bymatthewporter.com you can find information about my book, Questions For The Dead: A Martin Rodak Psychic Mystery. And you can find information about some of the upcoming, appearances I've got at conventions and book festivals over the next few months. If you sign up for my newsletter there at bymatthewporter.com, you'll always be up to date [00:52:03] Ian: Very nice. [00:52:04] Matthew: So- Ah ... final questions. It's a movie. [00:52:09] Ian: It's a movie. [00:52:09] Matthew: Screen or no screen? What do you recommend? [00:52:14] Ian: Honestly, I liked this one. For me, this is a screen, no bones about it. [00:52:22] Matthew: Yeah. [00:52:24] Ian: It was just a fun, good version. I mean, it's not perfect. It's cheesy at certain times, but it's cheesy in the right ways, and it's, it's a good example of the genre. I found it engaging. Hey, I'm, I'm making reference there because I'm like, if, if I'm ever playing, you know, some of these tabletop games, there's a chance I'm gonna just throw these creatures at them- ... 'cause it's engaging. It's fun. Yes. This is good. [00:52:49] Matthew: Throw in a Dr. Phillips as an Easter egg and see if people- Absolutely know what to expect. Yeah, I, I say screen this as well. It is, it is low budget. It is dated. But it's still, it's engaging, and it has that, uh, that investigative and procedural storyline that keeps pulling you through the, the movie. So yeah- Mm-hmm ... I would say give it a try and, and screen this. It's probably something you can find, , easily enough out there. [00:53:17] Ian: Oh, yeah. [00:53:20] Matthew: So our second- Ah ... question is revive, reboot, or rest in peace? [00:53:26] Ian: That's the interesting thing. This is not a big name or a well-known, but it's one of those apparently there's plenty of people in the horror industry who have watched this and enjoyed it, and it's on their list somewhere kind of movies. [00:53:42] Matthew: Yes, and I sometimes do make the mistake of thinking- ... this must have been a Hammer Films production, it being a, a British monster movie from the, the '60s. But no, it was by Planet Films, or Planet Film Productions. I don't know that Planet Films did a whole lot. Um, but, uh, this must be one of the, uh, the pinnacles of their work. [00:54:06] Ian: Oh, yeah. And so my response is, I kind of really do want a remake of this. I want someone with the modern, the modern directorial chops to give us a new version of Island of Terror. I know that we are not on this podcast very much for remake for remake's sake, and I'm saying the original is perfectly watchable. And yet some of those editing things, some of those little pieces mean I think it is, it slips every once in a while when it needed to be solid. It's completely enjoyable- [00:54:42] Matthew: Yeah ... [00:54:42] Ian: but I could see a polished version of this that really nails the tone, really work, and I even have a fun twist on it to suggest. [00:54:54] Matthew: Really? [00:54:55] Ian: Yes. I want a, I would love a remake, but my suggestion is don't set it in Ireland. Set it in Australia. [00:55:04] Matthew: Huh. [00:55:05] Ian: Set it off the coast of Australia because there's a wonderful alternate terrible moment. What you show is not another lab making one. What you show is that one escaped into the ocean. [00:55:18] Matthew: Ah. [00:55:20] Ian: Because what could these things eat? They could eat coral. [00:55:24] Matthew: Oh, goodness. [00:55:25] Ian: And the idea of the ocean filling with silicates- Oh ... is a different terror. Indeed. And so in my head it's like you set this on a small island near the Great Barrier Reef that has a science, a research facility and some locals. You do Island of Terror in Australia as a remake and you could really nail it. [00:55:45] Matthew: That's chilling. And a remake, it could polish up the filmmaking, it could jazz up the science with new, you know, recombinant DNA- Mm-hmm ... uh, uh, techno babble. I, I agree. I would say that I, I don't think at this point we need a, a revival in the same continuity. We don't need a period piece set in 1970 about Japan being overrun by silicates. But a remake takes this and translates it to or transports it to a new location with the kind of potential that you're talking about, that would be great. Australia's a good choice, too. [00:56:21] Ian: Thank you. [00:56:22] Matthew: It's an interesting idea. It's an interesting structure, and it's, it's worth exploring some more. [00:56:27] Ian: I'm, I'm all for it. Yeah. And I kinda do wanna, like, just look, I'm... Okay, I'm gonna do it right now. I wanna just... What else did Planet Films Productions ever even make? [00:56:39] Matthew: I don't know. They don't even have a Wikipedia page. I've noticed that. [00:56:43] Ian: Okay. Letterboxd lists, oh, Night of the Big Heat Mm-hmm. Letterboxd has six total movies for them. [00:56:55] Matthew: And Night of the Big Heat sounds like there was a seed problem in the random movie title generator. [00:57:04] Ian: Yeah. Um Yeah. It, it looks like they did Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait Huh? What? Okay, this is completely side. I need to understand. According to this, they did five movies in the '60s and one film in 2004. [00:57:31] Matthew: Yeah. We've got from 1963 through 1971, and then we've got The Madness of Prince Charming: A Look at the Rise and Fall of Adam Ant. [00:57:47] Ian: Is that actually by them? [00:57:50] Matthew: Uh, did, did somebody buy the trademark out of, uh, out of bankruptcy or something? I've, I've got... That, gonna have to look into that some more. [00:58:01] Ian: Yeah, what in the world? [00:58:02] Matthew: Not, not only because- I- there's a, there's an Adam Ant documentary called The Ma- Madness of Prince Charming. How have I not watched this? [00:58:09] Ian: I feel like the two of us are doing the wild experimentation- ... that's going to result in an explosion and something rampaging across Colorado now. [00:58:17] Matthew: Gonna have to find that, and find out what the connection of this Planet Films is. [00:58:22] Ian: Yeah. [00:58:23] Matthew: Wow. [00:58:23] Ian: Night of the Big Heat just looks like, um, it looks like a disaster movie about the sky catching fire. [00:58:33] Matthew: Yes. [00:58:34] Ian: Okay They had a niche and they did it for a while it looks like. Go them. [00:58:40] Matthew: Their 1970 film Devils of Darkness is about a secret vampire cult. I oughta look, look into these. These are- [00:58:46] Ian: We gotta look into these movies ... [00:58:46] Matthew: my kind of movies. This is... [00:58:48] Ian: Yeah [00:58:49] Matthew: But yeah, I think, uh, it would be interesting to see a, uh, an- another production company remake Island of Terror. [00:58:56] Ian: Oh, absolutely [00:59:01] Matthew: So this was a fun, beginning to producer's prerogative month. [00:59:06] Ian: Yeah, and we've got another one coming. That's gonna be good. [00:59:10] Matthew: Yes, so join us in two weeks for another movie selected by our producer, Mrs. Darling Wife. Uh, a very different movie than Island of Terror, but not, not entirely without similarities either. [00:59:23] Ian: Not entirely without. [00:59:26] Matthew: So we hope you will join us then for another tale of media from the 20th century. [00:59:32] Ian: In the meantime, go find something new to watch