Wonderfully offbeat film!

Perfect cast and a good story

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) is angered when his space rocket project is cancelled by the government. Yet he becomes involved in a big conspiracy when investigating meteorite falls over the Winterdon Flats area in the North West of England. They turn out to be far from ordinary meteorites when the Professor's assistant, Marsh (Bryan Forbes), is injured when one bursts open and gives him a strange infection. Suddenly, armed guards appear and drag Marsh off to a heavily guarded complex which is an exact replica of Quatermass's moon base, which is designed to allow life to exist in an artificial atmosphere. Quatermass teams up with an MP, Vincent Broadhead (Tom Chatto), and secures a visit to the plant with an inspection party who are concerned about the level of secrecy surrounding it and the vast public expenditure. The party are told that the plant is being used to produce synthetic food but, the so called 'food' turns out to be toxic when Broadhead dies after being exposed to it. Quatermass discovers that the plant's giant domes contain an alien life force that got to Earth via the meteorites and has taken over senior members of the British government. The plant is cultivating the alien life force and when released it could take over the country and the entire world...Hammer's sequel to their box office smash, The Quatermass Xperiment, is a considerable improvement on its predecessor. Naturally, the special effects look extremely primitive when one considers what the Hammer team could have done had they had all the resources of today's CGI special effects at their disposal. Nevertheless, Nigel Kneale's story about an alien invasion including a conspiracy at the top level of government is awesome, has great appeal and still creates a genuine sense of alarm thanks to the direction of Val Guest. Brian Donlevy was never better than here as Quatermass as he battles his way not only against Britain's senior politicians, the Yard and the sceptisism of the folk in the New Town neighbouring the plant. Viewers will also delight in the appearance of Carry On legend, Sid James, here appearing in a role intended for light relief as a drunken journalist whose help the Professor enlists in order to try and get the conspiracy known to the public via his newspaper.

Whilst talking to a fellow IMDber about a number of excellent Hammer Titles that I've seen for the IMDb Horror Board October Challenge,I got told by a fellow IMdber,that due to having enjoyed the excellent Quatermass and the Pit,that I should take a look at the other Hammer Quatermass titles.Getting set to check for the DVD prices online,I was happily caught by surprise,when I found out that my dad had recently picked up a DVD of the second Quatermass,which led to me getting ready to go to the moon with Quatermass.The plot:Driving away from a maximum security factory,a young couple crash on the road side,when a strange black infection covers the mans face.As he attempts to get government funding for his plans of a human colony on the moon, Bernard Quatermass notices on his lab radar that large meteor showers are taking place over one small village.Going out to investigate the village, Quatermass discovers a large government- funded factory,whose building designs are based on his Moon Colony plans.Going to the entrance of the factory,Quatermass is met by steel gates and gas mask wearing guards pointing guns at anyone who attempts to enter the site.Tracking down some of the factory workers in the village,Quatermass is horrified to see strange black marks on their bodies,and for each of them to be acting in a disconnected way,which leads to Quatermass fearing that a non-human species has decided to start their own colony on earth.View on the film:Made whilst he was becoming a serve alcoholic, (which led to him having to be reminded of the characters names before every shot,and the dialogue being written on "idiot boarders" due to him not being able to remember any of it) Brian Donlevy gives a remarkable, impressive performance as Quatermass. Realising what is going on before everyone else,Donlevy gives Quatermass a fantastic gumshoe Film Noir side,as Quatermass displays a real stubbornness in pushing any voices of the doubt to the side in order to solve the mystery of what is taking place at the factory. Joining Quatermass,Sid James,Michael Ripper and Charles Lloyd Pack give very good performances who gradually catch up with Quatermass's discovery,whilst John Longden gives a wonderful performance as Lomax,with Longden making Lomax's transition from sceptic to believer feel very natural.Backed by a chilling score from James Bernard,director Val Guest & cinematographer Gerald Gibbs breath in the paranoid Film Noir fumes,with the factory being clouded in long lingering shadows,and the factory "workers" being faceless thugs who steel cap boots stamp out any outsider who attempts to uncover the truth behind the factory.Whilst the final baddie looks like a giant sock,Guest emphasises the Noir atmosphere by giving the horror elements an earthy,gritty appearance,with the harsh alien "burn" marks on people brilliantly heightening the sense of paranoia in the title.Returning to his creation after stopping Hammer from using the character for Jimmy Sangster film X: The Unknown,the screenplay by Nigel Kneale pulls the Sci-Fi of Quatermass into a terrifyingly relevant,allegorical thread,as Kneale stays away from making the aliens be little green men,by instead making them part of a government "big business" project,with any doubts that the townspeople have over what is taking place,being kept quiet,due to the factory being the only major employer in the area.Looking for reds (or in this case aliens) under the bed,Kneale grips the Hammer Horror in a striking Film Noir tension,thanks to the minimal "burn" marks making it impossible for Quatermass to tell who is against the system and who has been infected by it,as Quatermass looks into the pit for the second time.

In an episode of 'On The Buses', 'Stan Butler' ( Reg Varney ) insults his sister Olive's ( Anna Karen ) cooking by likening it to something out of 'Quatermass'. The very name had become a byword for something truly horrible. 'The Quatermass Experiment' was a B.B.C. science fiction series which made a huge impact in the '50's ( you have to remember that there was not much television sci-fi around back then ). Viewers were gripped by the terrifying Nigel Kneale-scripted tale of an astronaut who returns to Earth, and begins changing into a monster. Two sequels followed. A Hammer film version was made in 1956 - directed by Val Guest - with American Brian Donlevy replacing Reginald Tate as 'Professor Bernard Quatermass' of the British Rocket Group. It paved the way for Hammer's famous horror pictures, proving popular enough to justify a sequel - again starring Donlevy - the following year.'Quatermass 2' opens with our hero driving through countryside late at night when he is involved in a minor car accident. A young woman is taking her boyfriend to hospital. He was injured after coming into contact with a strange rock, which then burst open, leaving a ghastly mark on his face. The boy found the rock at Winnerden Flats. It is one of many meteorites which have been landing on Earth for months now. When the Professor arrives at the scene, he is astounded to find a factory patterned after the Moon base he had earlier proposed to the British government, but which they rejected. The factory is said to make 'synthetic food', and is protected by a wall of secrecy. Sinister security guards in gas masks patrol the place constantly, ready to kill trespassers. The domes contain an alien life-form that breathes ammonia. It intends taking over the world...Shot in stark black and white, 'Quatermass 2' comes across at times as a British 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' with its theme of alien invaders taking over human beings. Guest achieves some genuinely scary sequences, most notably the tour of the factory which has one of the most horrific screen deaths of all time - 'Vincent Broadhead M.P.' ( Tom Chatto ) emerging from a dome covered from head to foot in corrosive poison. When Quatermass peers through a porthole into a dome, he sees a shapeless, seething mass which resembles vomit. Later, workers barricade themselves in the pressure room, but some are duped into surrendering. Moments later, their screams reverberate through the pipes. To stop the flow of oxygen to the domes ( which Quatermass initiated ), the aliens have used the workers' dead bodies to block the pipes. Angered, their friends open fire on the domes with anti-tank guns. Freed, the vomit-like creatures emerge...Kneale was unhappy with the casting of Donlevy; describing him as a 'bawling bully', and while another actor ( such as Peter Cushing ) probably might have been better, Donlevy's not too bad. A real surprise though is the casting of Sid James as seedy crime reporter 'Jimmy Hall'. William Franklyn and Bryan Forbes play Quatermass' colleagues. John Longdon replaces Jack Warner in the role of 'Inspector Lomax' of Scotland Yard.Quite a few films and television shows have, down the years, pinched ideas from 'Quatermass', most notably 'Dr.Who' in 1970 with 'Spearhead From Space'.The film gains impact from the factory sequences being shot at the Shell oil refinery in Essex. A frightening place even without the monsters. One flaw though - how do the ammonia breathing monsters manage to survive when the domes are destroyed?It would be a decade before Quatermass was seen on the big screen again - this time, in colour, in 'Quatermass & The Pit' ( 1967 ), starring Andrew Keir and James Donald.

Just like its predecessor, this is a movie that surprises within its genre. '50's science-fiction/horror wasn't exactly known for its class or greatness but some of the exception from the '50's to this were also some great classic ones at the same time. Just think about "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "The Thing From Another World" for instance. What those movies all did was taking its genre serious and approach it from a scientific and also more classic horror approach. So instead of having straight forward monsters we have an actual build-up, with solid written story and characters to like and feel for."Quatermass 2" is also a movie that approaches the genre with some more class than many of its fellow genre pieces from the same time period. It's a movie that mostly relies on its mysterious build up and eerie atmosphere. It has some great moments in, though it also is being quite ridicules at times. But this also has to do with the fact that of course by todays standards the '50's science-fiction flicks look all so terribly outdated now days.It's an Hammer film from the period that the Hammer studios were not only solely known for its horror productions. The movie also does have some of the, what later would be, typical Hammer film moments in it. Basically Hammer films were all some early exploitation flicks but in its beginning period it still showed some more class and also had some obviously more serious intentions still with its movies.The acting in the movie is really great. Brian Donlevy reprises his Dr. Quatermass role again and he was great to watch again. The role of Lomax is this time being played by John Longden, who also did a real great job.It's a good looking movie with its atmosphere. The movie is shot in black & white, which enhances the mystery and also tension of the entire movie. It's a movie that really is build on its atmosphere and mystery. It does use some special effects but it does this to a minimum. It's really not the type of science-fiction movie you would expect from one that got made during the '50's.Just like its predecessor, a great little '50's gem.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/