The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This feature film version of the British TV series of the same name uses some of the actors from the show, while adding Ian Bannen and the lovely young Judy Geeson for name value. Bannen stars as Del Shaw, a doctor with the title department of the government. They investigate effects of pollution on the environment. Del is sent to Balfe, an island community where the locals go out of their way to NOT make him welcome. What's more, chemical dumping in an off limits area has affected the fish in the waters and subsequently the islanders that have eaten them. In addition to being surly and violent, they fall victim to acromegaly as well.Overall, this is a reasonably absorbing story, but pay no attention to false advertising. This is NOT a horror film, but more of a drama that tries to play things in a somewhat realistic manner. Thrills and suspense are minimal. The makeup effects are decent, but you don't see much of them until the end. The story is pretty simple, and straightforward, with clear cut villains and heroes. Actually, it tends to work better when Bannen's not around. The supporting characters are fine, but Del is a rather ridiculous guy, and Bannens' performance is not one of his better ones. He tends to shout his lines, and overreact.Geeson has some appeal as a schoolteacher who is something of an outsider herself, and wants to maintain her relations with these superstitious and religious islanders. John Paul (Dr. Quist), Simon Oates (Dr. Ridge), and Joby Blanshard (Bradley) all come from the series, and they do alright. George Sanders is the special guest star, with Percy Herbert ("One Million Years B.C."), Shelagh Fraser ("Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope"), Geoffrey Keen (who appeared in four of the James Bond adventures), Norman Bird ("Cash on Demand"), and James Cosmo ("Trainspotting") all providing solid support."Doomwatch" scores some marks for good intentions, and for ending in a believable enough manner.Six out of 10.

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 was about 11 when the popular BBC TV series of the day "Doomwatch" aired and vaguely remember watching it at the time. Back then, if a TV show took off it would often be stretched into a film (it still happens today of course, witness "The X Files" or "Sex and the City"), although it was usually comedy shows which got the movie treatment then ("Porridge", "Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads", " Steptoe and Son" etc) rather than dramas.So watching this was like reliving a little of my childhood, but it did live up to my expectations in engaging and entertaining, if not exactly thrilling me. Ian Bannen and Judy Geeson (plus the ever-smooth George Sanders as a Navy bigwig) are added to the normal cast to give a little star-power to proceedings and both acquit themselves well, although the former does look a little silly at times in his chic white skip-cap!The plot is reminiscent of the "Damned" pictures of the 60's but also anticipates "The Wicker Man" in its depiction of an establishment figure exploring a mystery in a closed island community, although the latter of course, played up the horror content and came up with a much more dramatic climax. The direction is satisfactory although I found some of the night scenes to be poorly lit and almost impossible to make out clearly.The ecological message at the heart of the show, sorry film comes through loud and clear, but I guess my unintentional slip there confirms the contention that it rarely breaks out of small-screen mode to really pass muster as a cinematic experience. One for the living room and not the theatre.

An environmentalist group ( a la early 70s ) somewhat sensationally named "Doomwatch" takes an interest in some peculiar goings-on on a small island near the UK. As a disclaimer, we never saw the BBC series so we don't have any previous notions to compare this film against but, having said that, the film is an enjoyable, cautionary tale about pollution and official stonewalling. Some people have lamented over the film's obviously modest - read: small - budget, but in our opinion this does not handicap the effort. If anything, it serves to highlight what can be achieved by the use of good writing, good acting, and good directing. Though not a horror film per se, its moody atmosphere and imaginative makeup does blur the line between suspense and horror quite effectively, and does actually manage to make you care about the people in it, most notably the character of Dr. Shaw. It's been pointed out that this film does bear a certain resemblance to "The Wicker Man", but in our opinion this has been overstated; yes, in both films an investigating official is stranded on a small island with lots of local strangeness, but that's about the only common ground between the two. Both are enjoyable, but for totally different reasons. Bottom line: while "Doomwatch" may not be a great film, it is a pretty good one. Try it.