MovieChat Forums > Island of Terror (1967) Discussion > false memory syndrome

false memory syndrome

posted 20 years ago by dyrkstyr
18 replies | jump to latest

It's on dvd now, I got mine from Amazon (uk). I loved it! I had completely forgotten what the Sillicates looked like and some sets were the same as Night of the Big Heat(ie; the cave). Some brought back memories, opening sequence and the lab accident, Carol Gray's first appearance, the creature dropping on the car, Peter Cushing having his hand chopped off, trapped outside the lab and the sillicates dividing...I could go on and on.
But my question is; I thought that I was remembering a scene where a man is walking in a dark house and a tentacle drops down from above and hitting him in the neck, the camera goes up and we see one clinging to (pipes?) on the ceiling.
A couple other people might have been present and they looked up. One was a woman who screamed (naturally)!
So I was surprised when this was not in the film, so, am I confusing the film this scene was from? Or was this something I dreamed?

...and I looked and saw a pale horse.

[–] Koosh_King01 19 years ago

I just watched the movie and the only time we see a tentacle drop down on anybody from above is when Constable Harris gets killed, and he's alone at the time so I don't think anyone could have screamed in response to his demise.

As to the camera going up to actually show the Silicate on the ceiling, that I'm unsure about. The scene DOES cut rather awkwardly to Dr. Landers pulling up outside of Harris' house, so it's possible originally we would've been shown the full Silicate on the ceiling until Terence Fisher decided this would ruin the big reveal when it comes out of that room later to get our four main heroes, so it was cut.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Flowbeer 19 years ago

Hell yes, kindered spirits! I loved this movie also when I was a kid & saw it on tv one Saturday afternoon! It just took me over 25+ years to remember it (kinda) and to have the Net-knowhow to search for it by plot line! Now I found it! It wasn't The Blob '58 w/ Steve McQueen, this one was different, but did NOT remember Peter Cushing or that it was a Hammer film!
I guess the scene I remember most is the body with no bones inside and then the guy looks up into a tree w/ a flashlight & it falls & lands on him! Aarrgghh! I know I never saw if from start to finish but it did affect me too. Glad to see others liked it as much as I did! Gotta get this on video or dvd!

"The Film in which you are about to see is an account of a tragedy that befell a group of 5 youths"

[–] sommers-7 19 years ago

Is this the movie where someone chops one with an axe but instead of causing its end, it causes it to divide and multiply?

If so, I saw it as a kid and thought it was great.

[–] Flowbeer 19 years ago

MAYBE, but you have to understand I only saw most of it (not all) like 30 years ago as a kid, so I can not recall that, but it SOUNDS familiar...many things in nature can re-grow tails & stuff, right? Regenerating, they call it...
lizards, perhaps some snakes, earthworms....I really need to buy this on DVD but they want like $27 bucks for it or so I recall last time I was on ebay.... I want it for the memories, maybe I'll find it for $10.00 soon....
did U check the reviews here for that scene?

"The Film in which you are about to see is an account of a tragedy that befell a group of 5 youths"

[–] Koosh_King01 19 years ago

They divide by themselves. The axe doesn't do anything to them, merely bounces off their armored skin.

[–] wearenoteven 18 years ago

Caught it on Italian tv LATE last night. There is a scene where they are in the trees and the camera pans up to see them up there. Not sure about them being on the ceiling. It was late and put me to sleep.

[–] Hammerfanatic46 18 years ago

Gordon P. Clarkson

I love this film too ,but despite being Directed by Fisher and Starring Cushing ,it isn't a Hammer Film.

[–] saoreck 18 years ago

I too saw this film on TV on Horrer Incorperated. A late night TV Show.
I have found that in my memories I have combined this film with "Island of the Burning Doomed". I have not found either film on DVD but I will. I need them for my collection.
Any way, I do remember that the two scenes that keep coming back to me are the scene with Cushing getting his arm chopped off after he's attacked and the Alien splitting into two halves with the White, Bonefilled
ooze seeping out . That was cool.

[–] brettvoss 18 years ago

they aren't aliens -- if memory serves me, they are an over-irradiated attempt at a cure for cancer.

[–] Koosh_King01 18 years ago

They're silicon-based lifeforms originally intended to 'eat' cancerous tissue, but an accident resulted in them not only growing really big but also developing a taste for calcium-rich bones (obviously the 'science' in this movie is a bit wonky).

Since he also says he saw Night of the Big Heat (which is Island of the Burning Doomed's original English title, as well as the title of the novel it's based on), it's possible he confused the Silicates with that film's inert glowing blobs of protoplasm from space.

[–] cengelm 18 years ago

Yes, they are indeed fantastic mutants. Nature was never able to do this.
Good luck that the lab experiment didn't take place on the European continent.

[–] Koosh_King01 17 years ago

Sucks for the people of Japan, since Carson's dialogue at the beginning expressly places the Japanese lab doing the same experiments in Tokyo.

[–] dawgpoundjohn 16 years ago

As I recall (it's been over 30 years since I've seen it - yikes!) the movie ends at a Japanese laboratory. One scientist is walking out of the lab only to have one of the creatures grab him around the neck.

Like I said, it's been a long time so I might be mistaken. I have my DirecTV receiver set to search for it. Scared the crap out of me in my youth... EVERY TIME I WATCHED IT!!!! How 'bout that noise the creatures made?!

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] jcaselli 18 years ago

Oh man, I loved this film for years. Leave it to Cushing and director Terence Fisher. Saw it as a kid back in the early 70s on Bob Wilkins' Creature Feature show in the SF Bay Area and it scared a wits out of me. The sound effects used for the creatures was chilling. The creature splitting and dividing was really amazing sci-fi for back then, I thought. My brothers and I used to think they must have used chicken noodle soup for the ooze seeping out, ha!

If anyone knows when it's coming out on DVD (not the French DVD release) PLEASE post it! Thanks.

[–] margad64 15 years ago

OMG, I was 8 years old in the summer of 1972 and we visited my grandmother in Mill Valley(suburb of SF) and it was there that I saw this for the first time. So we must have been watching the same broadcast. I have this on my DVR and my now 9 year old still freaks when she hears anything close to the silicats.

[–] LJ27 11 years ago

I definitely have that "false memory syndrome" you refer to. Worst case was a movie called PYRO (1964). I saw it on WTBS in 1980. I watched the DVD about a year ago. Wow. My memory is of a drastically different movie. Sadly, the movie as I remembered it was better than the actual movie I saw again.