Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95964 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

A lost treasure rediscovered
I first saw "Quatermas II" (it's original Hammer release title) almost 40 years ago and even today it maintains much of its original power and impact. The combination of talents (Nigel Kneale's script, Val Guest directing, even the high, tense string musical score blend together to make this a true classic, regardless of the fact that it was done on a pittance of a budget.

Val Guest's direction is almost flawless, blending overlapping dialogue and camerawork designed to draw the viewer into the moment by allowing them to observe from a "non-God" viewpoint, rather than throw the action into the face (as is common in most films today.) One example of this would be a scene, early on, when Quatermass and his assistant travel to a remote English village to investigate a report of strange goings-on at a secret plant of some kind. They drive down a clean, modern road that ends abruptly in the middle of nowhere. Confused and a bit unnerved we stand beside them on the road, watching them climb back into their car and pull away. A few moments later, distant, shadowy figures step out of the forest, stopping to watch them depart. It is the fact that we do not know who or even what these individuals are and are not drawn into a close-up of them that makes the moment especially unnerving and creepy. The entire film is rife with such suggestive, effective touches.

The dialogue, while witty and crisp, is still to the point and drives the story along in a sudden rush. The entire tale takes place over the space of only a few days, but the distance travelled is lightyears in terms of mood and power.

Even the musical score, a combination of rolling, threatening timpini and screeching violins, merely heightens the already anxious mood of the story.

The performances are competent, in come cases journeyman in caliber, but the real power of the piece is the barely suppressed hint of menace that flows through it, like a half formed nightmare.

If there is a flaw in the film it is one of budgetary constraints, particularly in the eventual appearance of "the monster" at the very end of the film. Even with modern special effects it is difficult to imagine that moment carried out with complete success, though it is clearly expected by the viewer to be presented eventually. But the scenes leading up to it drive ahead into a chasm of disturbing images that are difficult to ignore. (The scenes of the heros trapped in the control room at the plant alone are a tidal wave of paranoia, claustrophobia and horror without ever having to resort to trickery or special effects.)

By all means every student of film or science fiction fan should at least see this picture. And it is well worth adding to a collection. I view it at least annually.

British sci-fi: Brainy and Low-Budget
First of all, if you've never seen a Quatermass film before, the name is pronounced KWAY-ter-mass. The three Quatermass films by Hammer are all adapted from British television serials in the 1950s; a fourth Quatermass series was televised in 1979. The general consensus is that of the Hammer films, _Quatermass 2_ is the best, and I have to agree. (As the British television versions go, I've heard several different opinions as to which Quatermass is the best, from the 1958 _Quatermass and the Pit_ to 1979's _Quatermass_. The stories of these television serials are much too complicated for an average 90-minute B picture.)

The screenplay for _Quatermass 2_ is a marvel of efficiency, setting up characters and situations with remarkable ease and confidence. Unlike other films in the series, this one doesn't seem burdened with too much exposition. Perhaps this is because most of us have already seen this story in a different form, as _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_. (The televised version of _Quatermass 2_ actually preceded _Invasion_ by a year or two.) But _Q2_ has a very different focus, articulating Britain's paranoia over a military-industrial complex that seems out of control. Sound familiar?

Although the script is quite good, it's the superb direction of Val Guest that really makes the film work. He makes it easy for viewers to keep track of a complex chains of events, often pulling suspenseful moments seemingly from thin air. Brian Donleavy's square-jawed, straight-arrow performance as Professor Quatermass is perhaps a little too much like Joe Friday for my taste. Still, I frequently enjoyed Donleavy's overbearing manner, even though it's the only aspect of the film that feels dated now.

One of the best and brainiest sci-fi films from the '50s ... well worth owning if you're a sci-fi fan, and well worth viewing if you're not. (By the way, the central ideas of John Carpenter's recent _Ghosts of Mars_ seem somewhat indebted to _Q2_, although _Q2_ is by far the better film.)

Paranoid, plausible, intelligent: pure Quatermass
There's simply no equal to the Quatermass films in the effects-driven "science fiction" foisted on today's public. These films, adapted from much longer BBC television "miniseries", rely on intelligent plot development and attention to detail that is notably lacking in anything done in the genre lately.

In this film, Quatermass inadvertantly stumbles across a secret military base whose staff will shoot first and ask questions later. (Shades of Area 51!) Unfortunately, the secret of this base is *far* worse than reverse-engineering, and the safety of the world is (again) in Quatermass's hands.

It's too bad that Brian Donlevy really makes a poor Quatermass, but he's all we have. He seems to confuse bullying and shouting with projecting authority and confidence, and you end up somewhat surprised no one decks him. Andrew Keir (Quatermass and the Pit) presents a much more palatable Quatermass interpretation.

That said, though, I really give this a very high recommendation. When you consider the original was shown on British TV nearly 50 years ago, it is stunning to think just how far ahead of its time the Quatermass series was. They don't write them this well anymore.