BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

trash_42 I had never heard of the Quartermass series before and after seeing Quartermass II: The Enemy From Space, I hope I can find the others.Being honest here, I never have been too much a fan of British made films as comparatively they always had what I (personal opinion - NOT meant as a negative!) felt was a cheap, amateurish feel to them. I still see this in some of today's work. However, this movie was quality done for its day. The actors, for the most part don't deliberately "act" so it distracts from the plot. Instead they seem immersed enough to make the plot flow smoothly.A definite fun watch, and likely I will watch it again. When taken in context of the time period it was made, it would rate a full 10... I think. But just b/c this review may be read by people too young to remember/understand this was made in a much different time period and culture, I rated it an 8. Its certainly not part of the Star Wars series ... but to enjoy these old films, people must realize watching it to make a comparisons with modern productions will always be disappointing.Watch films like this for the fun of seeing how people back then saw sci fi. Then they become very enjoyable since you get to experience the mindset underlying today's sci fi culture, and you can see where we came from!

deletewindowson I was lucky enough to find this on YouTube and have rewatched it a couple of times. Definitely IMO as well, it's the best of all the Quatermass offerings. I know that most people will disagree. Oh well. What makes this work is precisely what some would complain about: it's clunky. Very clunky. Funky and clunky. But I like that. Why I don't know. The main actor is.. let's say it: he's terrible. This was live television back when. Maybe that's the charm: they make mistakes. I like that. The man slotted for the part died and this fellow was brought in. Supposedly he "had trouble" with the "technical parts" of his lines. Hmm. I don't know. I just think he was a bad actor. But, as I said, I like that. Don't know why. The space trip is a riot. Really enjoyed it. Especially when they're walking around on the "asteroid". It's wonderfully ridiculous. They wear spacesuits that make them look like giant dildos. No kidding. And yet the series is actually frightening. As clunky as it is it still manages to provide a chill. Don't forget.. this was just after WW2.. after Naziism and Fascism in Europe and the rise of absolutist Communism in Eastern Europe. Therefore you could see the series as metaphor for the fascist or communist usurpation of power in the UK. That's where the chill comes from. Normal people easily corrupted and turned into grim fascist goons working for hideous monsters. That is a metaphor that still resonates and somehow the clunkiness amplifies the effect. For me anyway. You probably wouldn't see it that way. Oh well.

graceblog I could never get totally comfortable with a Quatermass who looks like and spoke like an American gangster. In spite of Brian Donlevy's fine acting skills, I thought he was totally mis-cast in this early sci-fi techno thriller. His gruffness, rudeness, and curtness, especially to women, especially date this story and get downright annoying at times. And his diction hardly creates the illusion of a top level scientist. He says things like "What's dat?" and "Both aya" (for "Both of you").It's the story that carries the movie, and a great story it is. "Meteorites" that are actually carriers of alien germination cells rain down on earth. Once a human gets too close, a meteor bursts open with a jet of ammonia gas and shoots a tiny stinger or spore into the intended carrier. Thus, humans are taken over as hosts to these aliens. Quatermass is pulled into the government conspiracy to hide the beach head "factory" of the alien invasion force when his subordinates spot the unusual series of meteor showers and his own assistant is spirited away by guards of the mysterious plant.Less is definitely more in this story. Granted, the scene where a man, coated with the pitch- like "food" manufactured at the forbidden factory, dies in agony in front of Quatermass is horrifying, even now. Otherwise, the suggestion is more powerful than the special effects. As people are taken over, and Quatermass's search for his missing assistant is thwarted again and again, the tension builds. The "tour" of the plant builds to near terror. But after that, as the viewer actually sees what Quatermass is talking about, the story becomes a lot less powerful. BBC special effects diminished the impact. As any Doctor Who fan can tell you, what the story places in your mind is far superior to what it actually depicted.The enemy forces blocking the pipe with "human pulp" struck me as absurd. And an untested atomic rocket in the backyard of the research HQ was another impossible device in the plot. Ultimately, the story reached for one horror too many, and was further undercut by the especially poor special effects at the end.That being said, it was terrific Sci-Fi for 1955, imaginative, technological, and filmed locally to enhance a "this is now" feel to the horror.For Doctor Who fans, the similarities to SPEAHEAD FROM SPACE and INFERNO are unmistakable. Some of the long shots of the plant look like shots from INFERNO (and, much later, from THE HAND OF FEAR). Another Doctor Who tie-in is the presence of Roger Delgado (the Master, from Doctor Who) as Conrad, though I never was able to spot Conrad in the film. (However, Delgado shows up in the credits, so he's got to be in there somewhere.)It's apparent that the first season of the Third Doctor era borrowed heavily from Quatermass. I'd recommend that hard-core Whovians drop the pence to buy this two-DVD set. You'll enjoy the stories and will be entertained by trying to tie in the plot lines to Third Doc/Liz Shaw era stories. The DVD Double Feature (Quatermass and the Pit and Quatermass 2) are sold by Anchor Bay.

Vigilante-407 Unfortunately, at the current time Quatermass II is really only available in bootlegs of varying quality. That's how I saw it, though the copy I found is of pretty good quality considering the rarity of the material. Like most folks, I watched all the movie versions of the Quatermass saga before seeing any of the hard-to-find BBC television serials. The effects are, of course better in the silver screen treatments, but the television serials let a lot more exposition and explanations get out, so things make even more sense and characters and situations get fleshed out in some rather interesting ways...the movie (Enemy From Space) has an unmanned rocket being launched at the aliens, while the serial has Quatermass and a fellow scientist taking the rocket up to face the aliens.John Robinson makes a great Quatermass...very arrogant and domineering, but at the same time you can sense some concern for humanity in the man. He's no quite as good as John Mills in the last installment of the series (The Quatermass Conclusion), but he does make the serial much more enjoyable than the movie (nothing against Brian Donlevy in that particular production).It's also fun to see Roger Delgado (best known as The Master on Doctor Who) in the role of the reporter who comes with Quatermass to the strange little town of Wynnerton Flats.Unless you frequent the newsgroups and video-trading circles, you don't have much chance of finding this little gem...but if you do, remember that it is definitely worth the four hours to watch.