VHS : Quatermass 2

Rating: - After Seeing "Quatermass 2," You'll Never Wish Again On A Shooting Star
Professor Barnard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy of "Gamera the Invincible") returns in "Quatermass 2," the sequel to Hammer Production's "The Quatermass Xperiment." This classic science fiction horror masterpiece is as excellent, if not superior, as the original. Professor Quatermass appears to have mellowed since we first met him; he displays more compassion towards his fellow man.

Professor Quatermass learns that meteorites of uniform size and shape are falling at regular intervals and landing in a particular site. Upon further investigation, he learns the landing site is near a top secret government facility that contains huge domes. He is told that synthetic food is stored in these domes? Synthetic food for whom . . . or what? The true nature of this facility is being kept a secret by a government conspiracy involving officials at high levels.

There is plenty of action in this movie. An angry mob of townspeople descend upon the facility and fight the guards who are nicknamed "zombies." It reminded me of a gothic horror film when the villagers attack a castle suspected of harboring a vampire. Many people are shot and killed. This film is similar to the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" because humans are possessed by aliens and forced to protect the colony that has established itself at the facility.

If only "Quatermass 2" could've been filmed in color. The wounds on people's faces and arms would've appeared more grotesque. They were adequately described in detail but there is no substitute for living color. Too bad we learn so little of the creatures. Where exactly do they come from and why did they choose earth to colonize?

Some critics say "Quatermass 2" is the best of the Quatermass trilogy. I disagree. I think all three films are equally wonderful. Each one deals with alien colonization and should be watched in the order in which they were released. "Quatermass 2" is a must have for fans of science fiction horror and fans of Hammer Production.

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Rating: - One of My Favorites
Definitely one of my personal sci-fi favorites. Strong supporting cast. Well written and directed. I highly recommend this film. If you can't afford the more expensive dvd version, then, by all means, purchase a vhs copy. You won't be disappointed.

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Rating: - Tense, Realistic, & Gritty
Following on their success with The Quatermass Xperiment, Hammer quickly bought the film rights to its BBC sequel. Bringing back many of the same creative team who made the first film so successful and allowing original writer Nigel Kneale to co-write the script, Quatermass 2 had a lot to live up to.

Like its predecessor, Quatermass 2 has a strong cast. Brian Donlevy returns as Professor Bernard Quatermass. Quatermass is the archetype science fiction film scientist: a scientist obsessed with their quest for science before turning having to deal with the consequences of that quest. In this film Quatermass goes from disappointment in the government's refusal to back his Moon Project (this was more then a decade before Apollo 11 mind you) to intrigued by a continuous fall of meteorites to the last hope against an extraterrestrial invasion. The nature of the story means that Donlevy (and Quatermass) are caught in the effects of the story rather then the cause of it, this films till has a good performance from Donlevy. There are many new faces including John Longden who takes over from jack Warner as Lomax, filling in very nicely and there's Sydney James who practically steals any scene he's in as reporter Jimmy Hall in one of the film's best performances. Then there's the storing supporting cast including Bryan Forbes as Marsh, John Van Eyssen as the sinister public relations man at the facility, and then there's Tom Chatto as Vincent Broadhead, the government official looking for the truth behind the mysterious facility. Chatto isn't on screen for long but he has a chilling exit that marks what is perhaps the film's best moment.

Quatermass 2 does what it predecessor did so well: it rose above a genre that was at the time defined by the clichéd and outrageous monster and alien invasion films. This film is far from cliché thanks to some excellent dialogue and plotting by Kneale and co-writer / director Val Guest. Yet on top of that there is something unnerving about watching this film. Nigel Kneale played into Cold War fears and secrecy to create a story about what happens when the need for secrecy is circumvented to cover up someone else's sinister agenda. True it's done in a science fiction context that seems far removed from then let alone today more then fifty years later, but it is still a powerful message and the overriding theme of the film.

The film is also helped immensely by two of the strongest elements of The Quatermass Xperiment: the black and white cinematography and the music score. The black and white cinematography adds atmosphere and realism to a film that begins as an investigation into meteorite showers and turns into a race against an invasion from creatures from one of the moons of Saturn. It helps also that the locations for the facility are as dark and foreboding as the script called for which adds even more tension and realism to the film. . The music score by James Bernard is terrific in adding to the atmosphere of the film and it never intrudes, but just helps to bring one a little bit closer to the edge of one's seat. There seems to be a lot less music in this film then there was in Quatermass Xperiment, which might be good or bad but I have a hard time telling which. Either way, Quatermass 2 wouldn't be the same or really even as good either one of these two elements.

The biggest fault of the film is what is the biggest fault if films of the era: the special effects. While one could look past this fault in Quatermass Xperiment it is impossible to overlook here. The special effects in this film are totally unconvincing I am sorry to say. This is a shame because not only does it bring down the film in terms of comparison with its predecessor but nearly makes void all the realism placed by all the other elements of the film. Thankfully this major downside is made a lot less catastrophic by better elements of the production.

Yet outside of the special effects, there is much to like about this film. It has a strong cast, a script that contains both good plotting and dialogue eon top of delving into the heart of the issue of government secrecy, excellent black and white cinematography and a highly atmospheric score from James Bernard. In short, Quatermass 2 is just as tense, realistic, and gritty as it predecessor and well-worth seeing.

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Rating: - Great 1950's Sci Fi
Is Professor Quatermass a nice guy? No.
Are the effects great? No.
Is it a fun film? Absolutely, yes.

Brian Donlevy is great as the surly Quatermass. The story is classic 1950's Sci Fi / Horror. There are labs and scientists, space ships and aliens, and secret government plots.

If you like the genre, this is a really fun film.

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Rating: - A sequel better than the original!
The gothic horror films of Hammer generally trod a well worn route, with rules and conventions laid down not only by 19th century literature, but also by Hammer themselves. As a result a great number of these films now seem formulaic and unadventurous. The period directly proceeding THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN in hindsight now seems one of the most interesting in Hammer's history. The period 1955-7, produced three films that although owing a great deal too gothic conventions are more ostensibly science-fiction. The three films THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT, X THE UNKNOWN and QUATERMASS 2, are far richer and rewarding than their colour contemporaries. The latter film also has a viable claim to being Hammer's greatest film. Nigel Kneale's distrust of government and its various institutional strands reaches its apex here. Whereas the first Quatermass film had an alien intelligence inside a human being, in the sequel the alien intelligence is already here and has with unrealistic ease infiltrated the highest reaches of British government. The film also gets to grips with industrialisation, military brute force and working class uprisings. A lot of substance and weighty issues cultural issues of the day are explored. With its military law, the area surrounding the synthetic food factory (really a processing plant to feed the alien infiltrators) has the feel of a fascist state. There are a number of layers to this film which reward repeated views. But the most interesting is the use and rejection of the working classes, whose only useful purpose to the alien invaders is to block up the pipes to stop lethal oxygen entering their domes. Once again Val Guest creates some impressive tension which is aided by the monochrome look. QUATERMASS 2 is a film that proves that British Science Fiction can uniquely speak to the culture of Britain and work as a fine example of the genre, for me this film remains Hammer's finest achievement.