Doomwatch refers to the name of a Government environmental watchdog & starts as head scientist Dr. Quist (John Paul) sends underling scientist Dr. Del Shaw (Ian Bennen) on a routine assignment to a small island named Balfe just off the Cornish coast to study the after effects of a recent oil tanker spill. Once there the locals are very cold towards him & rather disturbingly he finds the body of a child buried in some local woods, he is also attacked by a deformed man in a barn. Having examined some of Dr. Shaw's samples the scientists at Doomwatch discover that the local wildlife & seawater is full of a artificial hormone growth stimulant, a stimulant that has been dumped into the sea by an unscrupulous waste disposable company. Since the islanders eat fish contaminated with the hormone they begin to develop a disease known as acromegaly which makes the suffer very aggressive & deformed, a large proportion of the island has become infected but they are very wary of outsiders. Can Dr. Shaw convince them to have proper medical treatment & stop the disease from spreading even further...
This English production was directed by Peter Sasdy & was a direct spin-off from the BBC TV series of the same name that ran between 1970 & 1972, I have to admit right now that I have never seen a single episode of the TV series so I cannot compare the two but I really rather liked Doomwatch the film. The script by Clive Exton starts out like a horror with it's unfriendly villagers hiding a terrible secret, the outsider, the isolated location, dead bodies & deformed people but then goes into thriller mode as the illegal chemical dumping takes center stage while the whole film is wrapped up with plenty of moral & environmental message's which in todays ultra polluted world are very relevant & pretty topical. Many have said how slow Doomwatch is, this is something I disagree with as I found it very entertaining, consistently engaging & a very worthwhile way to pass an hour & a half. I liked the story a lot, it manages not to give too much away too early which keeps things interesting. Even now I also think it's quite an original film, I can't remember seeing another film like it. The character's are good, the dialogue isn't too technical & I never felt lost or confused & I thought it was a satisfying film to watch although the climax felt a bit rushed & a bit flat.
Director Sasdy does a good job, the opening 20 odd minutes where he sets the story up is great. There's a cool atmosphere that you might expect to find in a Hammer film of the period, he manages to create some nice tension & some effective scenes although it's not really scary overall. There's no blood or gore but that's not what Doomwatch is about, the misleading artwork featuring deformed mutants probably doesn't help as Doomwatch isn't a straight horror or sci-fi but it does have horror & sci-fi elements.
Technically Doomwatch is fine, it has 70's written all over it but that suits the story perfectly. It's generally well made on location in Cornwall which looks cold all the time. The acting is good.
Doomwatch isn't for everyone but I liked it a lot. I liked the story, the mystery, the well thought out script & atmospheric locations & make-up effects. I doubt I'll watch it again anytime soon but if your looking for something a bit different & your a sci-fi/horror/thriller fan then Doomwatch may be worth an hour & half of your time.
This English production was directed by Peter Sasdy & was a direct spin-off from the BBC TV series of the same name that ran between 1970 & 1972, I have to admit right now that I have never seen a single episode of the TV series so I cannot compare the two but I really rather liked Doomwatch the film. The script by Clive Exton starts out like a horror with it's unfriendly villagers hiding a terrible secret, the outsider, the isolated location, dead bodies & deformed people but then goes into thriller mode as the illegal chemical dumping takes center stage while the whole film is wrapped up with plenty of moral & environmental message's which in todays ultra polluted world are very relevant & pretty topical. Many have said how slow Doomwatch is, this is something I disagree with as I found it very entertaining, consistently engaging & a very worthwhile way to pass an hour & a half. I liked the story a lot, it manages not to give too much away too early which keeps things interesting. Even now I also think it's quite an original film, I can't remember seeing another film like it. The character's are good, the dialogue isn't too technical & I never felt lost or confused & I thought it was a satisfying film to watch although the climax felt a bit rushed & a bit flat.
Director Sasdy does a good job, the opening 20 odd minutes where he sets the story up is great. There's a cool atmosphere that you might expect to find in a Hammer film of the period, he manages to create some nice tension & some effective scenes although it's not really scary overall. There's no blood or gore but that's not what Doomwatch is about, the misleading artwork featuring deformed mutants probably doesn't help as Doomwatch isn't a straight horror or sci-fi but it does have horror & sci-fi elements.
Technically Doomwatch is fine, it has 70's written all over it but that suits the story perfectly. It's generally well made on location in Cornwall which looks cold all the time. The acting is good.
Doomwatch isn't for everyone but I liked it a lot. I liked the story, the mystery, the well thought out script & atmospheric locations & make-up effects. I doubt I'll watch it again anytime soon but if your looking for something a bit different & your a sci-fi/horror/thriller fan then Doomwatch may be worth an hour & half of your time.