THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT
(1955)
Dir - Val Guest
Overall: MEH
Though certainly important in the whole of British horror movies and indisputably for Hammer Studios as its success sealed their fate in the horror genre for decades to come, The Quatermass Xperiment does not quite surpass its pacing issues. Based and adapted off the BBC television serial by Nigel Kneale, it was a hit when released and two more direct sequels would proceed it, but the film itself is very tedious as it spends over half of its running time doing virtually nothing, with the first of any real turmoil only emerging in the third act. Because we the viewer are fully aware before even watching that an alien lifeform has somehow overtaken the sole surviving astronaut Victor Carroon, (an effectively gaunt Richard Wordsworth), witnessing a bunch of scientists, doctors, and Scotland Yard inspectors endlessly speculate as to the specifics of why when ultimately it completely does not matter to the plot, it is honestly just a bore to sit through. The only thing at all that transpires in Xperiment, (the "E" was omitted from the title to go along with the film's initial X rating, clever marketing there), is Carroon's transformation and ultimate demise.
(1957)
Dir - Val Guest
Overall: MEH
Following up 1955's profitable The Quatermass Xperiment with a bigger budget and once again utilizing director Val Guest and Brian Donlevy in the title role, Quatermass 2 suffers from similar ailments as its predecessor. Original author Nigel Kneale was on board to write the initial script, which Val Guest compressed to fit into an under ninety-minute movie. Kneale's similar complaints he made with the first adaptation in Donlevy's stiff performance were still present and to his defense said American actor is rather ineffective in the lead. He generally just appears bossy and rather flatly delivers most of his lines. The actual plot this time around is quite different from the first installment and sits right at home with both The Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the previous year and The X Files which of course would emerge decades later. Once more though, the movie drags along and the story simply is not interesting or unique enough to make the deliberate, cinéma vérité style by Guest really work. Still, this was notably enough at the time of its release, (even if it was grossly overshadowed financially by Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein form the same year), but it has aged poorly and lacks the momentum to sustain its reputation as a renowned sci-fi conspiracy work.
(1967)
Dir - Roy Ward Baker
Overall: GOOD
For the third and final cinematic go-around, things finally come together with Quatermass and the Pit. Just as the others had been, this is another adaptation, this time after the BBC television serial of the same name that proceeded it by nearly a decade. Though Columbia Pictures rejected making it as a direct follow-up to Quatermass 2, (with the same director/lead actor team of Val Guest and Brian Donlevy), this ended up being a beneficial setback as the recasting of Andrew Keir, (Dracula Prince of Darkness), is a major improvement. Keir is eons more likeable as Professor Bernard Quatermass and Roy Ward Baker maintains a level of suspense that Val Guest never quite achieved with the earlier two movies in the franchise. The story once again involving alien possession and the British government going out of their way to mislead the public is the strongest out of all Nigel Kneale's screenplays in the series and in many ways the most ambitious. There are some adequately intense scenes that bring the film's horror elements more to the forefront than ever before and the minimal setting does not anchor the plot so much that it becomes tedious either. As silly as it is to watch British officials continue to put numerous pedestrians and news personal in harms way while insisting everything is safe, these are forgivable logical jumps as the rest of the film succeeds as a heightened achievement in the genre.
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