Island of Terror

Island of Terror
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Terence Fisher
Produced by	Tom Blakely
Written by	Edward Mann Al Ramsen
Based on	an original story by Mann and Ramsen
Starring	Edward Judd Peter Cushing Carole Gray Eddie Byrne
Music by	Malcolm Lockyer
Cinematography	Reg Wyer
Edited by	Thelma Connell
Production company	Planet Film Productions
Distributed by	Planet Film Distributors Universal Studios (US)
Release date	1966
Running time	89 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
Budget	₤70,000
Box office	117,645 admissions (France)

Island of Terror is a 1966 British horror film released by Planet Film Productions. The film was released in the US by Universal Studios on a double bill with The Projected Man (1967). The idea for the film came when Richard Gordon read the Gerry Fernback screenplay The Night the Silicates Came. He partnered with Tom Blakey of Planet Films to produce this movie.

It was shot in rural England using naturalistic colours. This film is one of the last significant examples of a common 1950s plot style in which a horrific threat introduced by a scientist is resolved by others using "responsible" scientific measures.

On the remote Petrie's Island off the east coast of Ireland, farmer Ian Bellows goes missing and his wife contacts the local constabulary. Constable John Harris goes looking for him and finds him dead in a cave without a single bone in his body. Horrified, Harris swiftly fetches the town physician Dr. Reginald Landers, but Dr. Landers is unable to determine what happened to the dead man's skeleton. Landers journeys to the mainland to seek the help of a noted London pathologist, Dr. Brian Stanley.

Like Landers, Stanley is unable to even hypothesize what could have happened to Ian Bellows, so both men seek out Dr. David West, an expert on bones and bone diseases. Although Stanley and Landers interrupt West's dinner date with the wealthy jetsetter Toni Merrill, West is intrigued by the problem and so agrees to accompany the two doctors back to Petrie's Island to examine the corpse. In order for them to reach the island that much faster, Merrill offers the use of her father's private helicopter in exchange for the three men allowing her to come along on the adventure.

Once back at Petrie's Island, Merrill's father's helicopter is forced to return to the mainland so he can use it, leaving the foursome effectively stranded on Petrie until the helicopter can return. West and Stanley learn that a group of oncology researchers led by Dr. Lawrence Phillips, seeking a cure for cancer, have a secluded castle laboratory on the island. Paying a visit to Phillips' lab reveals that he and his colleagues are just as dead (and boneless) as Ian Bellows. Reasoning that whatever it is must have begun in that lab, West, Stanley and Landers gather up Phillips' notes and take them to study them. From them they learn that in his quest to cure cancer, Phillips may have accidentally created a new lifeform from the silicon atom.