Quatermass 2 poster & wallpaper

Brian Donlevy, John Longden

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. Profess...( read more  read more... )or 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

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69% liked it

1,052 ratings

Unrated, 85 min.

Directed by: Val Guest

Release Date: January 1, 1957

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DVD Release Date: May 23, 2000

Stats: 46 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (46)

  • cowmageddon
    May 14, 2007
    cowmageddon
    This movie is one for a Saturday night after a six pack of beer has been consumed.
  • alanjayh
    October 3, 2008
    alanjayh
    One of the best early sci-fil efforts I have seen, this movie about an alien invasion was likely the blueprint for such films as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" among others. Crackerjack acting, paranoia, suspense, thrills, chills and a healthy dose of gunplay action..this film...( read more) has it all and is to be applauded for its originality. Ahead of its time and a compelling watch.
  • capricornelm
    October 11, 2008
    capricornelm
    Dr. Quatermass is the director of an important scientific base, where he builds nuclear rockets for the colonization of the Moon. A strange fall of meteorites in a nearby village leads to the discovery of a huge base under a strict military control, officially a factory of artifi...( read more)cial food. The shrewdness of Quatermass reveals that the factory is the place chosen by the aliens to conquer the Earth:
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    I'm not familiar with 'Quatermass' in any way whatsoever and thanks to a friend for recommending this to me coz I find myself enjoying while watching this movie .. I can honestly say that it is an excellent fifties science fiction and is certainly a must for 50's sci fi fanatics...

    The black and white photography is excellent , has a strong story and convincing acting of the characters though special effects often fall short by standards, but for sure were pretty good for that time...Another classic movie ...
  • fifo35
    March 24, 2008
    fifo35
    This was one of the first of its kind; a subtlety scary vision of a secret alien takeover. X-FILES may owe a debt to this low-budget, but nevertheless effective film of the powers-that-be who are conspiring with the invaders, and one lone, determined scientist who accidentally un...( read more)covers the sinister plot.

    QUATERMASS II (U.S. title: ENEMY FROM SPACE) was produced before INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, the film it is often compared to, due to their thematic similarities (loss of identity, social oppression, dangers of conformity, and blind allegiance to a greatly questionable, authoritarian power). However, it was released in the U.S. shortly after BODY SNATCHERS, probably making it look like a copycat to some.

    Superb writer Nigel Kneale (excellent script, highly original for its time, derived from the earlier BBC serial) was known to strongly despise Brian Donleavy's gruff performance as the lead character. Kneale did not like the fact that Donleavy presented the character as a cold, methodical misanthrope who treats his colleagues like expendable underlings. He will probably want to boil me in oil for saying this, but I felt that presenting the lead character as morally ambivalent and ethically questionable jettisoned the standard 50's scientist/hero sterotype (for once he is not nice and charming). It also added a further degree of tension to the well-plotted story. In many ways, his alienated character is somewhat alien; perhaps that's the only true way to resist social pressures and conditioning. The allegory here is strong.

    As the story opens, Quatermass is driving one night on a remote country road. He is furious that the stodgy Whitehall bureaucrats rejected his funding request for a proposed moon colonization project. A speeding car nearly hits him head-on as it runs off the road. The shaken passengers are a frightened woman and her boyfriend, who is in a crazed state, and has a strange black mark on his face.

    Quatermass returns to his isolated lab, where radar reveals to his assistants that many small meteor particles (at least that's what they assume they are) have descended over a rural village known as Wynerton Flats.

    Going out there with his colleague, Marsh, they first discover his moon project, fully constructed, and some small, mysterious rocks. As Marsh examines one, it emits an eerie gas and pops in his face, leaving the weird black mark. Strange soldiers arrive, behaving like aloof zombies, abduct Marsh, strong-arm Quatermass in the typical fascist tradition, and order him to leave. (There may be one flaw here: Why didn't the "soldiers" either abduct or kill Quatermass, instead of letting him go, so he can inform?)

    Naturally the authorities all have tight lips about the secret activities at Wynerton Flats, but Quatermass manages to convince a few officials to go out there with him. A government aid (with that strange black mark on his wrist) conducts a formal tour of the plant, where everything seems to be normal. Not so. The small group is indoctrinated by the zombies (who resemble Nazis), but Quatermass manages to escape.

    (This scene truly exposes Donleavy's ruthless side: He and a woman are taken into a large dome, but Quatermass flees, leaving the woman behind, without any concern for her fate. Hell, he doesn't even abide by the old fifties hero tradition by risking his life to save the distressed damsel. In many ways Quatermass was an ahead-of-his-time anti-hero. I always felt that this added a disquieting strength to the drama and the severity of the dire situation, but I guess that Kneale will still vehemently disagree).

    I'll stop here, but don't worry, the worse is still to come. The sense of growing unease and mounting terror (strong qualities of your finer British Science Fiction at that time) escalates. Be patient, for it does carefully build into a total state of alarm, as Quatermass and the local angered citizens challenge the invaders (who have taken over most of the government and military officials) to a brutal showdown. There is something highly menacing in those domes.

    This impressive film is true Science Fiction at its best. It thrills without pandering and is thoughtful to the point of disturbing. You can't trust anyone. Its social and political implications are definitely troubling. This is not for your Lucas and Spielberg crowd, for we're not talking about commercial catering to eight-year-olds. Val Guest directs in a cold, cynical Kubrickian manner, accentuating the high degree of paranoia, and the picture's black & white photography conveys a bleak, creepy mood. (Sorry, no pretty pictures here). The intriguing story takes on true nightmarish proportions.

    The few effects won't win any CGI awards (don't forget, computers weren't around then) but the briefly glimpsed monster (in the gothic Lovecraft tradition) is quite sickening. After all, it can manipulate man's dirty politics, you can't get more reprehensible than that.

    From the late sixties to the late eighties this film was unavailable to the public, and it was feared to be permanently lost, but it later was released on video and shown occasionally on the Science Fiction Channel. Many notable Science Fiction and Horror authors (I believe that Harlan Ellison and Stephen King were among them) have championed this small, but remarkable early Hammer production. This is the film that many others have "borrowed from." Just a polite way of saying RIPPED-OFF!
  • darkdial
    April 5, 2007
    darkdial
    Wow! Finally got a chance to see this Hammer theatrical adaptation of the Kneale british Sci-fi Television serial. A literate, well directed (compliments of Val Guest), absolutely gripping science fiction masterwork! Superior to The Quatermass Xperiment due to this installment...( read more)'s much more involved and original tale. Once again we get great work from the classically trained English suporting cast (no surprise). Donlevy, I admit, takes some getting used to in the Quatermass role, but once the pace starts rolling he really slides into the part comfortably. CAN NOT WAIT to revisit again soon.
  • devilson
    October 2, 2006
    devilson
    brilliant hammer horror

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