Prismark10 Hammer Films remake the BBC television serial Quatermass 2 and this time Nigel Kneale adapts his own original story.Brian Donlevy who seemed too much like a tough guy than scientist in the original film reprises his role again. Here he is more softer, slightly more academic but still comes across as an action anti- hero.Professor Quatermass finds a secret Government base which is producing synthetic food but there seems to be something more sinister involved that could involve aliens and there is a government conspiracy to keep it all hushed up.I like the fact the he manages to zip up and down from London to Carlisle like it was a matter of minutes away rather than 4-5 hours on the motorway and there was no motorway at the time.There is a good supporting cast involved in this film with Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn and Sid James. Vera Day provides some sauciness.Its a little bit dated, although still spooky here and there. Its also a bit schlocky and some of the acting is on the hammy side. The character who gets blackened at the industrial plant and then carefully comes down the ladder is on the silly side.

Scott LeBrun Hammer Studios follows up their solid feature film version of "The Quatermass Xperiment" with this tense and intelligent sci-fi thriller. Brian Donlevy returns as Professor Quatermass, who is making a routine trip to his observatory when he nearly gets into a traffic accident with some panicky youths. While he and a young associate, Marsh (actor / director Bryan Forbes) scout the area, they come upon an elaborate installation similar to the lunar project that Quatermass himself is working on. Eventually Quatermass gets wind of the fact that certain locals are being turned into "zombies", so to speak, and being forced to work for an alien intelligence."Quatermass 2" is good fun for any fan of this genre or of the character. It's co-scripted by director Val Guest (who'd previously done "The Quatermass Xperiment" and character creator Nigel Kneale, based on the TV production. It has an excellent forward momentum, beginning with a breathless opening and gradually increasing the tension. The tale is (for this viewer, anyway) not quite as creepy as the first one, and it has an exposition heavy script, but it's faultlessly performed by its strong supporting cast. John Longden now plays the role of the police inspector Lomax, played by Jack Warner in the first film. Donlevy is a tough, no- nonsense hero, softened a little bit this time around, but still the kind of guy who doesn't mince words. Sidney James adds a dose of comedy relief as the wary reporter Jimmy Hall. Also doing creditable work are William Franklyn, Tom Chatto, John Van Eyssen, and ubiquitous Hammer actor Michael Ripper.It's a particular joy to see Quatermass and Lomax joined in the fight to rescue humanity by many angry locals. This adds to the excitement of the big finish. The stark black & white photography by Gerald Gibbs is most impressive, and Philip Leakey does the convincing makeup effects. There are some monster creations that show up near the end that are at the least pretty amusing.Considered by some to be superior to "Xperiment", and followed 10 years later by the very interesting "Quatermass and the Pit".Eight out of 10.

Spikeopath The Quatermass Xperiment had been a major success for Hammer upon its release in 1955, becoming the company's biggest grossing film up to that time. Moving quickly to capitalise, Hammer Film Productions put together the elements for the sequel, Quatermass 2 (AKA Enemy From Space). Val Guest once again directs and co writes with Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale, Brian Donlevy returns as the irrepressible professor Quatermass, James Bernard scores and Anthony Hinds is again on production duties. Joining Donlevy in the cast are John Longden, Sid James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn & Vera Day. The plot sees Quatermass investigating meteorites that have been falling at Winnerden Flats. Whilst up in the Winnerden Valley, Quatermass and his colleague, Marsh, discover a huge power plant complex that looks suspiciously like the model Quatermass has been working on as part of a potential colonisation of the Moon. When Marsh is burnt by one of the meteorites, guards appear from nowhere and take him away down in the valley. Just what is going on at this strange plant? Quartermass intends to find out, but Winnerden has many secrets, secrets that could spell doom for mankind.A sequel that is at least the equal of its predecessor, Quatermass 2 deals in politico paranoia and chilly alien invasion hysteria. Similar to Don Siegel's excellent Invasion Of The Body Snatchers from the previous year, the film doesn't rely on shlonky shocks to make its heart beat. There's much sci-fi discussion and jobs-worth like characters that are easy to follow, but all serve a purpose as Winnerden's secret starts to show its cards. As Quatermass' trail leads to the higher echelons of power, the paranoiac feel of the piece really kicks in, with the mood greatly enhanced by Gerald Gibbs' monochrome photography and Guest's imaginative use of hand held cameras for certain scenes. The effects work is clever and does its job, while the cast work hard to make the effective story work. Tho the film made good money it was overshadowed by the huge success of Hammer's release of The Curse Of Frankenstein the same year, while the film wasn't given much promotional help from Kneale who was very critical of the finished product. With much of his scorn directed towards Donlevy who he always felt was wrong for the role of the intrepid boffin. With that in mind, it's perhaps unsurprising to find the film still today is very divisive among critics and sci-fi fans alike. So you take your chance then. Personally I think it's one of the best sci-fi movies to have come out of Britian. As was the first film, and as was Quatermass And The Pit from 1967. Pretty great trilogy actually. 8/10

Tweekums This science fiction thriller grabs our attention from the first scene where a young couple are driving fairly wildly; something is clearly wrong with the man who has a mark on his face after touching some strange rocks. I assumed these would be the main characters but after nearly crashing into Quatermass and telling him what happened we don't see them again. Professor Quatermass takes the rocks to work but is more concerned that his project to set up a colony on the moon has been cancelled. His colleagues had monitored a strange meteor shower in the area where the couple had driven from and analysis shows that the rocks aren't natural so Quatermass and a colleague go to the site and are shocked to find a large complex which is identical to their planned moon base. When his colleague picks up one of the unbroken rocks something is released and he suddenly becomes ill, Quatermass can't find out what is wrong as security guards take his friend and order him to leave the area. In order to have a look around he gets on an official tour with a member of parliament who has been concerned about the plant. Things don't go well on the tour; the MP dies after contact with the "food" the plant claims to be making and Quatermass is lucky to escape. Once back in London he gets help from a police inspector and a journalist and returns to the plant where they must confront the security forces to discover the plants shocking secret and destroy it, in this task they are helped my local workers who want revenge after one of them is infected.Despite being an old film this looked good as it was filmed at a real chemical works rather than using fake looking models, the only effect that looked poor by today's standards was the monster but that only appears briefly at the end. Today a film of this sort would probably be over two and a half our long, full of special effects and with a romantic side story tagged on, this however is less than an hour and a half long with minimal effects and no romance in sight which keeps things taut throughout. Brian Donlevy was good in the role of Quatermass and Sid James put in a fun cameo performance as the reporter who had a liking for drink. The sinister atmosphere was heightened by having all of the security personnel wear gas masks which effectively rendered then faceless, increasing the feeling that they were mindless automatons.