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Night of the Big Heat
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 88 Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (19th August 2024). |
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The Film
 England is in the midst of a record-setting frost; that is, everywhere except the island of Fara where the heat is climbing up to ninety-degrees so far and not stopping. The local pub run by popular novelist Jeff Callum (Dial M for Murder's Patrick Allen) and his wife Frankie (The Devil Rides Out's Sarah Lawson) is the only refuge for the hot and thirsty. Speaking of hot and thirsty, Jeff is shocked to discover that his newly-arrived secretary is Angela (Hands of the Ripper's Jane Merrow) who warmed his bed but failed to melt his writer's block, and he is eager to send her packing while his wife is preoccupied by the behavior of guest Godfrey Hanson (Horror Express' Christopher Lee) who spends the hot days out in the woods with measuring equipment when he is not locked up in his room receiving strange packages from the mainland. While out on the beach, Jeff and Angela hear a strange buzzing noise and soon after farmer Ben (Jack Bligh) bursts into the pub delirious and claiming something has killed all his sheep. As night falls, mechanic Bob (A Night to Remember's Tom Heathcote) and his wife (Empire of the Sun's Anna Turner) experience explosive electrical interference, and already-mentally unstable delivery man Tinker (These are the Damned's Kenneth Cope) attempts to rape Angela before dying in a fiery "accident". When Jeff finally loses patience with Hanson's enigmatic behavior and demands answers, Hanson reveals that he believes the heat wave confined to the island and the mysterious happenings to be the work of an alien intelligence that is planning a larger scale invasion. One of two back-to-back productions from the short-lived Planet Film Productions along with the better-known Island of Terror which played like a more restrained Fiend Without a Face, Night of the Big Heat is the moodier entry, focusing like some of the earlier science fiction teleplays – and the lesser Devil Girl from Mars – on the reaction of the human characters to the encroaching inexplicable. While it is wonderful seeing this particular cast going through the motions, it is a rather lopsided genre effort with more time spent on the domestic drama of ineffectual hero Jeff who is posited as an intellectual but is really just brawn acting almost too late on the advice of others as even the local staff at the island's radar station (X the Unknown's William Lucas and The Wild Geese's Percy Herbert) demonstrate more credulity to Hanson's theories and understanding than Jeff. Peter Cushing is also given little to do as the local physician who sits at the bar drinking most of the time, treating the farmer's shock and just agreeing with the evidence. The climax is let down by the actual appearances of the alien invaders are nowhere near as absurd as The Trollenberg Terror's "crawling eyes" looking like glowing fried eggs, with more drama and suspense wrung from Angela's hysterics and the script wanting to redeem a character Jeff described as "no untouched virgin" and "just a slut" with a last minute romantic subplot. While nowhere near as ludicrous as Allen's other science fiction vehicle The Body Stealers, Night of the Big Heat does fall short of Island of Terror. 
Video
Released in the U.K. under its original title and as "Island of the Burning Damned" to U.S. theaters and toned down to "Island of the Burning Doomed" for television – and "beefed up" with hardcore inserts for a belated 1975 French release – Night of the Big Heat had a 2004 U.K. DVD release and a 2008 German DVD before being upgraded to high definition in 2014 with region free British Blu-ray, 2017 French and 2019 German region B Blu-rays. 88 Films' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray utilizes the same master but "restored and re-graded" according to the specifications. Colors are vivid and both the Pinewood studio interiors and locations look suitably rustic – with some recycled locations from Island of Terror more apparent – but grain and contrast can look quite rough before, during, and after some elongated optical dissolves along with the credits overlays and some matted-in television and radar displays. Day-for-night shots also look murky, but that may either have been baked into the elements or at least Euro London's original HD master grading. 
Audio
The specs do not describe any additional audio work being done but the LPCM 2.0 mono track sounds fine with always intelligible dialogue and some uninteresting scoring by Malcolm Lockyer (Five Golden Dragons). Climactic explosions sound rather flat and canned but the alien aural effects do get under the skin. Optional HoH subtitles are also included. 
Extras
88 Films has not carried over the 2004 DVD and 2014 Blu-ray's commentary by Lee and writers Pip and Jane Baker – who reportedly rewrote the script of associate producer Ronald Liles on set and later wrote for Doctor Who – but have included a new audio commentary by film journalist David Flint who discusses the short-lived Planet Film Productions, folk horror elements, using the shortcut of Christopher Lee villain typecasting in the interest of narrative economy, as well as some other typecasting, the deployment of Cushing in a supporting role, and Allen's prolific career as a voice-over actor but less so as a leading man despite his rugged looks.  Also new is "Jane Merrow Remembers Night of the Big Heat" (12:13) who recalls liking the role, meeting Lee and his wife before the shoot, pretending there was a heatwave in the dead of winter – including wearing a bikini on a cold beach – and her opinions about the attempted rape scene. In "Mike Higgins Remembers Night of the Big Heat" (6:30), the second assistant director recalls the film as one of his first jobs and the contributions of Liles. A stills gallery (3:07) is included but no trailer.
Packaging
The disc comes with a reversible sleeve featuring new artwork by Sean Longmore and the original poster while the first pressing includes a double-walled reverse-board gloss O-ring slipcover and the booklet "Rising Temperatures on the Night of the Big Heat" by Barry Forshaw. 
Overall
While nowhere near as ludicrous as Allen's other science fiction vehicle The Body Stealers, Night of the Big Heat does fall short of Island of Terror.
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