Night of the Big Heat

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and a “slut” are burning up off the coast of Britain

A sultry woman (Jane Merrow) travels to Fara, an Island in Northern UK, to work as the secretary of an author (Patrick Allen). The latter’s naïve wife (Sarah Lawson) runs the Inn where everyone stays, including a polite man (Peter Cushing) and a standoffish scientist (Christopher Lee). It’s the middle of the winter yet temperatures are rising to well over 100 degrees and people are turning up dead. What’s going on?

“Island of the Burning Damned,” aka “Night of the Big Heat” (1967) was made by the same short-lived company that released the similar “Island of Terror” a year earlier, both featuring Peter Cushing and director Terence Fisher. It walks the balance beam between sci-fi and horror and should be appreciated by fans of Lee, Cushing, Hammer, Amicus, Tigon and American International. It helps that some human interest is offered with a tense triangle. Interestingly, the secretary is overtly called a “slut” by the author, which is a little surprising for such seemingly “refined” people.

The story maintains your interest as suspense slowly builds, especially concerning what’s causing the heat and the deaths. There’s a deus ex machina but, hey, the story had to end. Merrow is pretty stunning, but her character needs slapped.

The film runs about 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot at The Swan Inn and Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England, as well as Dorset.

GRADE: B-/B