Review of Doomwatch (1972) by R.john X — 30 Jul 2011

Reasonable spin-off from the early 70's BBC series. 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 movie is wrapped up with plenty of moral & environmental message's which in todays ultra polluted world are very relevant & pretty topical. Some 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 90 mins. I liked the story a lot, it manages not to give too much away too early which keeps things interesting.

There's a cool atmosphere that you might expect to find in a Hammer movie of the period, the director 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. 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 and your a sci-fi/horror/thriller fan then Doomwatch may be worth an hour & half of your time.