My take: It was a fun sci-fi, monster movie with some good creepy elements to it.
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
I must had read the title at least 20 times before I saw the movie. Until I heard someone say “Quatermass” (pronounced QWAY-ter-mass) in the film, I honestly read it as “QUARTermass.” Silly me.
Quatermass (left) and a scientist examine the lone survivor of the crashed ship.
Now that I’ve seen the movie, I know the Quatermass is the name of one of the lead characters of the film, a scientist who sent a rocket ship to space. The movie starts with the rocket ship returning to earth and crashing into the British countryside. While the ship was supposed to return home, something is clearly amiss. Quatermass and his team are unable to communicate with any of the astronauts inside. When they crack open the ship, only one astronaut is still in the ship, and he is not quite right. He has taken on a ghoulish pallor and is in a near catatonic state.
While they try to treat the remaining astronaut, they also attempt to study him in an attempt to discover what happened to the other astronauts. The astronaut seems to be changing into something else. But what kind of creature is he changing into? And after his escape from the hospital, why is he leaving a trail of bodies in his wake?
The Quatermass Xperiment is a Hammer Films Production, and it’s the first Hammer Film that I have seen. The production company is well-known for their game-changing horror movies of the 60s and 70s. This was one of their early films, but it did not disappoint. It was a fun combination between science fiction and the macabre. And this story was clearly the genesis behind many future horror plots (to state which ones would be too much of a spoiler).
I would recommend this to those who like Space horror, scary science fiction, and monster movies. I watched it online at this site. Here is the trailer for the Quatermass Xperiment, which was released as “The Creeping Unknown” in the US:
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