By Lee Pfeiffer
MGM's burn-to-order division has released the 1955 film The Quatermass Xperiment on DVD. The film was essential in establishing the "Hammer Horror" brand that would serve the British studio well in the years to come. The movie was based on a BBC mini-series that had won acclaim for its intelligent treatment of a science fiction/horror story. By necessity, however, many of the nuances of the TV series were omitted when transferring the storyline to an 82 minute feature film.
The movie begins with a War of the Worlds-like scenario: a rocket ship crashes on a remote farm, thus causing a media frenzy. It turns out the ship is not from an alien world. Rather, it is the brainchild of a respected scientist, Prof. Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) who has secretly engaged three astronauts to make an unauthorized flight into space. The crash landing back on earth convinces Quatermass that bucking official authorities has paid off: this is the first manned rocket to enter space and return to earth. However, there are some unexpected complications: two of the three astronauts and inexplicably missing and the third, Carroon (Richard Wordsworth), is reduced to a trance-like state, staring catatonically into thin air and not speaking to even his wife and closest associates. As Quatermass and his colleagues attempt to solve the riddle of the missing astronauts, Carroon becomes a virtual killing machine. It turns out he has been infected by an alien presence that could wipe out humanity if a way isn't found to stop him.
The Quatermass Xperiment (no explanation given for the missing "E" in "Xperiment") was praised from its initial release for elevating the sci-fi genre to a level of intelligence that was rarely seen in the UFO-obsessed 1950s. The film boasts a fine cast and good performances, with Wordsworth particularly compelling in his silent role. The movie made a hefty profit in England but had less impact in the American market where it was released under the absurd B movie title The Creeping Unknown. There are some very memorable sequences in the film that explains why it has been championed over the decades by legions of horror movie fans and even high brow critics. However, like the equally atmospheric Night of the Demon, the film is compromised by director Val Guest's decision to morph the character of Carroon into a physical monster that resembles a British version of The Blob. This relegates the final confrontation with the beast (creatively set inside Westminster Abbey) into a routine sci-fi flick. Nevertheless, The Quatermass Xperiment (which inspired two sequels) retains its impact as an important film in the Hammer Studios canon.
The DVD includes the original American release trailer.
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