Quatermass 2
by Val Guest
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DVD details
Actor: Brian Donlevy, Bryan Forbes, John Longden, Sid James, William FranklynDirector: Val Guest
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.37:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-05-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
DVD Reviews of Quatermass 2
DVD Review: the very 2nd 1-e quatermass2
Summary: 3 Stars
i think this 1's better than 1st via a tad. good story of alien pods makin norm. humans into their zombieslaves whenever they can be close 2 them by bad luck or e z carelessness, in addition to a few very lg. mud blobs @ the end but unfortunate as usual, i.e. scifi films-if they'd show/use more of the monsters they already have, it'd make much better a film. donlevy-quatermass finally seems more like a hero in this/his pic especially since he had nothing 2 do w/ these monstas this time round. DVD Review: After Seeing "Quatermass 2," You'll Never Wish Again On A Shooting Star
Summary: 4 Stars
Professor Barnard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy of "Gamera the Invincible") returns in "Quatermass 2," the sequel to Hammer Production's "The Quatermass Xperiment." This classic science fiction horror masterpiece is as excellent, if not superior, as the original. Professor Quatermass appears to have mellowed since we first met him; he displays more compassion towards his fellow man.
Professor Quatermass learns that meteorites of uniform size and shape are falling at regular intervals and landing in a particular site. Upon further investigation, he learns the landing site is near a top secret government facility that contains huge domes. He is told that synthetic food is stored in these domes? Synthetic food for whom . . . or what? The true nature of this facility is being kept a secret by a government conspiracy involving officials at high levels.
There is plenty of action in this movie. An angry mob of townspeople descend upon the facility and fight the guards who are nicknamed "zombies." It reminded me of a gothic horror film when the villagers attack a castle suspected of harboring a vampire. Many people are shot and killed. This film is similar to the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" because humans are possessed by aliens and forced to protect the colony that has established itself at the facility.
If only "Quatermass 2" could've been filmed in color. The wounds on people's faces and arms would've appeared more grotesque. They were adequately described in detail but there is no substitute for living color. Too bad we learn so little of the creatures. Where exactly do they come from and why did they choose earth to colonize?
Some critics say "Quatermass 2" is the best of the Quatermass trilogy. I disagree. I think all three films are equally wonderful. Each one deals with alien colonization and should be watched in the order in which they were released. "Quatermass 2" is a must have for fans of science fiction horror and fans of Hammer Production.
DVD Review: One of My Favorites
Summary: 5 Stars
Definitely one of my personal sci-fi favorites. Strong supporting cast. Well written and directed. I highly recommend this film. If you can't afford the more expensive dvd version, then, by all means, purchase a vhs copy. You won't be disappointed.DVD Review: Tense, Realistic, & Gritty
Summary: 4 Stars
Following on their success with The Quatermass Xperiment, Hammer quickly bought the film rights to its BBC sequel. Bringing back many of the same creative team who made the first film so successful and allowing original writer Nigel Kneale to co-write the script, Quatermass 2 had a lot to live up to.
Like its predecessor, Quatermass 2 has a strong cast. Brian Donlevy returns as Professor Bernard Quatermass. Quatermass is the archetype science fiction film scientist: a scientist obsessed with their quest for science before turning having to deal with the consequences of that quest. In this film Quatermass goes from disappointment in the government's refusal to back his Moon Project (this was more then a decade before Apollo 11 mind you) to intrigued by a continuous fall of meteorites to the last hope against an extraterrestrial invasion. The nature of the story means that Donlevy (and Quatermass) are caught in the effects of the story rather then the cause of it, this films till has a good performance from Donlevy. There are many new faces including John Longden who takes over from jack Warner as Lomax, filling in very nicely and there's Sydney James who practically steals any scene he's in as reporter Jimmy Hall in one of the film's best performances. Then there's the storing supporting cast including Bryan Forbes as Marsh, John Van Eyssen as the sinister public relations man at the facility, and then there's Tom Chatto as Vincent Broadhead, the government official looking for the truth behind the mysterious facility. Chatto isn't on screen for long but he has a chilling exit that marks what is perhaps the film's best moment.
Quatermass 2 does what it predecessor did so well: it rose above a genre that was at the time defined by the clich?d and outrageous monster and alien invasion films. This film is far from clich? thanks to some excellent dialogue and plotting by Kneale and co-writer / director Val Guest. Yet on top of that there is something unnerving about watching this film. Nigel Kneale played into Cold War fears and secrecy to create a story about what happens when the need for secrecy is circumvented to cover up someone else's sinister agenda. True it's done in a science fiction context that seems far removed from then let alone today more then fifty years later, but it is still a powerful message and the overriding theme of the film.
The film is also helped immensely by two of the strongest elements of The Quatermass Xperiment: the black and white cinematography and the music score. The black and white cinematography adds atmosphere and realism to a film that begins as an investigation into meteorite showers and turns into a race against an invasion from creatures from one of the moons of Saturn. It helps also that the locations for the facility are as dark and foreboding as the script called for which adds even more tension and realism to the film. . The music score by James Bernard is terrific in adding to the atmosphere of the film and it never intrudes, but just helps to bring one a little bit closer to the edge of one's seat. There seems to be a lot less music in this film then there was in Quatermass Xperiment, which might be good or bad but I have a hard time telling which. Either way, Quatermass 2 wouldn't be the same or really even as good either one of these two elements.
The biggest fault of the film is what is the biggest fault if films of the era: the special effects. While one could look past this fault in Quatermass Xperiment it is impossible to overlook here. The special effects in this film are totally unconvincing I am sorry to say. This is a shame because not only does it bring down the film in terms of comparison with its predecessor but nearly makes void all the realism placed by all the other elements of the film. Thankfully this major downside is made a lot less catastrophic by better elements of the production.
Yet outside of the special effects, there is much to like about this film. It has a strong cast, a script that contains both good plotting and dialogue eon top of delving into the heart of the issue of government secrecy, excellent black and white cinematography and a highly atmospheric score from James Bernard. In short, Quatermass 2 is just as tense, realistic, and gritty as it predecessor and well-worth seeing.
DVD Review: Great 1950's Sci Fi
Summary: 4 Stars
Is Professor Quatermass a nice guy? No.
Are the effects great? No.
Is it a fun film? Absolutely, yes.
Brian Donlevy is great as the surly Quatermass. The story is classic 1950's Sci Fi / Horror. There are labs and scientists, space ships and aliens, and secret government plots.
If you like the genre, this is a really fun film.
Description of Quatermass 2
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. Professor 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 AxmakerGeneral DVDs
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