Really Surprised!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The first time I saw this was as a kid on a Saturday morning triple feature at the theater; recently was able to watch this again and it makes more sense. Wonder why? Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) puts a manned rocket into space and makes big news all over Europe, when it crashes into a countryside outside of London. The news cameras are rolling and Quatermass is concerned about the three astronauts that left on the journey. As the door is opened, only one traveler is found inside. Astronaut Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth) seems senseless and unable to communicate. After being taken to a private clinic, his wife (Margia Dean), manages to have him smuggled out. Scotland Yard and Quatermass start a manhunt to find they are now hunting a monster that is killing animals and people. Still, what happened to the other two astronauts?Uncanny and tense early Sci-Fi. At the movies all those years ago, I couldn't hit pause in order to get another root beer and popcorn. If you get a chance: don't pass this one up.Also starring are: David King-Wood, Jack Warner, Lionel Jeffries, Gordon Jackson and Harold Lang.

Scripted by Richard Landau and director Val Guest, based on Nigel Kneale's BBC TV serial, "The Quatermass Xperiment" a.k.a. "The Creeping Unknown" is an intelligent, atmospheric, and genuinely creepy movie.A spaceship crashes back down to Earth with only one of three astronauts returning with it. Something is clearly quite wrong with the man; as it turns out, he's in the beginning stages of transforming into something else, and the stakes get raised when he inevitably escapes.Brian Donlevy is the stubborn, gruff scientist in charge, Bernard Quatermass, and he's not your typical hero from sci-fi of the era, as he doesn't exactly try to be friendly or likable. He doesn't really have the time for people with different agendas than his own. Kneale and Guest have disagreed on Donlevy's interpretation, with the author failing to be impressed with this take on the role. A strong supporting cast helps to make the movie fun to watch: Jack Warner as the intrepid Inspector Lomax, David King-Wood as Dr. Gordon Briscoe, Lionel Jeffries as Blake, Maurice Kaufmann as Marsh, Thora Hird as the comedy relief character Rosie, and especially Richard Wordsworth as the doomed astronaut Victor Carroon. His role is nearly a silent one, but he conveys a lot through the tortured expression on his face throughout. That's Jane Asher as the little girl who encounters Carroon.Guest generates some pretty good suspense at select points, and the makeup effects are definitely very good for the time. The final incarnation of the creature is appropriately hideous. One scene that really stands out is at a zoo where the music score drops out and the silence becomes palpable. This is, in this reviewer's humble opinion, the creepiest portion of the movie. James Bernard's music is quite scary, and the movie gets off to a Hell of a great start; it hits the ground running. And the pacing is efficient all the way through. This proved to be an early success for Hammer, who entered their long running Gothic period with "The Curse of Frankenstein" two years later; at this time they were known as Exclusive films.Science fiction fans will be sure to find this a genuinely interesting and tense movie that entertains solidly from beginning to end.Eight out of 10.

Quatermass Xperiment, The (1955) *** (out of 4) Effective sci-fi tale from Hammer has Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) sending a rocket into space with three astronauts but when it crashes back to Earth there's only one alive with the other two missing. The one who survived, Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth) soon starts to transform into some sort of monster and before long he's stalking London. I'll be honest and admit that I'm really not a huge fan of British cinema and especially some of the science fiction that came from them during the 50s and 60s. With that said, THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT is without question one of the best of its genre simply because the film goes for the "less is more" approach and this really adds a level of creepiness that's hard to find in a genre picture from this era. Just take a look at the opening sequence as lovers are in a field making out only to heard a loud noise, which sends them running into the house and seconds later there's a crash. The sci-fi genre has had countless spaceship crashes but I really can't think of one more effective than what's on display here. We never really get to see anything but it's the direction of Val Guest that really puts us on the edge of our seats. This strong direction continues in the next major scene when they go to open up the spacecraft to see what's inside. The screenplay is actually very well-written and offers up several good twists and turns as the film moves along. One such example is a scene where the wife of the astronaut tries to sneak him out of a hospital and things don't go as planned. As for the monster, it's quite effective and again it's because of the less is more approach. We really never get a good look at the monster and as it deforms more we just see bits and pieces of it. When we first see what's happened to the hand it's just a few seconds that we get to see but the effect is quite chilling. The performances are another major plus with Donlevy doing an excellent job as the scientist only interested in the future and not caring what's going on in current times. Donlevy manages to be a guy you love to hate and this serves the film well. Wordsworth is very effective in his scenes dealing with his mental breakdown and Jack Warner is fun as the Inspector. THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT has become a cult favorite over the years and it's easy to see why. This genre gave us so many bad movies that it's always hard trying to find one that actually works. It's clear not too much money was spent on the production but everyone involved took the material and raised it up to the levels of a classic.

This classic British science fiction film opens with the first manned rocket returning to Earth and crash landing in the English countryside. Once opened there is a surprise in store for the authorities; only one of the three-man crew is there, the others have disappeared. The survivor, Carroon, is taken to hospital but leaves with the assistance of a man hired by his wife; Carroon kills this man in a strange way; his body looks as if it has literally been drained. Quatermass, the scientist in charge of the rocket programme, is investigating what has happened and when he realises the danger posed by Carroon he and the police must find him before he can mutate into a strange alien creature and possibly destroy all life it comes into contact with.For such an old film this was still fairly gripping; the special effects might have been weak by today's standards but the producers knew these limitations so kept scenes featuring effects to a minimum; even when we did see Carroon in his mutated form we only saw him in extreme close up or on a television monitor. As there was little gore and no swearing or innuendo it is probably suitable for all but younger children even though it had an X certificate on its original release. The acting was pretty good, especially from Brian Donlevy who played Quatermass and Richard Wordsworth who played Carroon. Quatermass is very different from how one would expect the hero to be today; very restrained and working to defeat the creature with scientific methods rather than with explosions and brute force.