Quatermass 2: Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sid James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn, Vera Day, Charles Lloyd Pack, Tom Chatto, John Van Eyssen, Percy Herbert, Michael Ripper, John Rae, Gerald Gibbs, Val Guest, James Needs, Anthony Hinds, Michael Carreras, Nigel Kneale: Amazon.ca: Video

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Considered by many critics to be the finest in the series, Hammer's second Quatermass feature (adapted from the television serial by Nigel Kneale) is a subversive alien invasion story. Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) stumbles onto a top-secret government base near a rural location that has been inundated by a steady stream of meteors. His investigations, which are met with distrust by suspicious townspeople and outright hostility by the base guards, uncover a conspiracy originating in the highest reaches of government. With few he can trust and fewer he can convince of his suspicions, Quatermass decides to meet the menace head-on. Director Val Guest, who cowrote the screenplay with Kneale, loads his film with fascinating detail (the whiz of the falling meteors--actually space pods--recalls the buzz bombs of the London blitz, and the antipathy of the high-strung locals adds a curious element of class conflict), but really brings the picture to life with its stark black-and-white look and overpowering mood of paranoia. The base, the very picture of industrial modernity in the midst of rural nothingness, is given a creepy emptiness as Quatermass wanders through, dwarfed in the giant maze of pipes and towers centered by enormous spherical containers and huge domes. You'll likely never forget the image of a government investigator covered in a smoking black substance, stumbling down the steps of the stark white container. --Sean Axmaker

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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews

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4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
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4.0 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars This is Hammer?, Dec 31 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Quatermass II (Full Screen) (DVD)

I couldn't even get past the first half hour of this movie before turning it off ... deeply disapponted. It looks like bad 50's American sci-fi, it's hard to believe that this is a Hammer film. Buy this film if you like "The day the Earth Stood Still" or other cheese like that.

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1.0 out of 5 stars As dull as it gets, Jun 27 2003

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Minneserenity "karmal64" (Obscurity) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quatermass II (Full Screen) (DVD)

I love old movies--gothic, sci. fi.--you name it. But I was very disappointed in this one. I could just go on and on, but suffice it to say that except for the crisp b&w filmography this movie has no (zero) redeeming qualities about it whatsoever. It's not even "funny bad." I wish I could give zero stars, but one is as low as it is allowed to go. How sad.

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5.0 out of 5 stars DARKEST 5O's SCIENCE-FICTION SUSPENSE THRILLER, Mar 5 2003

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dan mcorbick (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quatermass II (Full Screen) (DVD)

Thanks to an excellent literate script by master Nigel Kneale and intensive, atmospheric direction by the underrated Val Guest (who both scored great marks with "Abominable Snowman"), this ranks as one of the best and most disturbing Science-Fiction Thrillers. I don't need to reiterate the intriguing story, but it builds gripping suspense from the word 'Go' and finally escalates into a crucial state-of-alarm that climaxes in a thrilling and terrifying showdown at the secret alien refinary plant in the remote British country. Pretty violent and grim for its time, and it still retains its entertaining and thought-provoking qualities. The confrontation between the workers and the alien-controlled government & military "zombies" has certain Marxist underlying themes of the 'workers revolt againest the oppressive, dictatorial rulers' - who, in shattering fact, are aliens who are truly alien - and thoroughly malevolent. Some kaffka allegories of corrupt government and fascism are conveyed here in the bleakest of ways. Kneale's intelligent, riveting screenplay also served as the basis for the James Bond plots and wild devices that surfaced a few years later in the rebelliously turbulent 6O's - which this insightfully compelling Science-Fiction Classic seems to sinisterly forecast. Not your typical or campy monster movie by any long shots. Also, quite cynical for its time, as Quatermass is forced to become the angst-ridden, alienated hero (anti-hero) in his accidental uncovering of conspiracy (his plans for a proposed moon project is swiped by them) and cover-ups: Very Hitchcockian. Also sounds a lot like X-FILES, doesn't it? I believe this was XF's producers favorite childhood science-fiction film; the dark, ominous influence and inspiration is undoubtably present. Not a kid's flick by any means. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this hauntingly memorable and intensely scary classic. Probably the most starkly realistic vision of what a true alien invasion might be like. Genuine nightmares to take to bed - and wonder.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars DARKEST 5O's SCIENCE-FICTION SUSPENSE THRILLER
Thanks to an excellent literate script by master Nigel Kneale and intensive, atmospheric direction by the underrated Val Guest (who both scored great marks with "Abominable... Read more

Published on Mar 5 2003 by dan mcorbick

4.0 out of 5 stars DVD suffers by comparison with VHS Tape edition
As others have pointed out, this is a fantastic movie. It's one of my all-time favorites, so when the DVD edition came out I had to have it. Read more

Published on Feb 9 2003 by Charles Hall