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Quatermass 2 [VHS] by Val Guest
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VHS Tape Cover InformationActor: Brian Donlevy, Bryan Forbes, John Longden, Sid James, William Franklyn Director: Val Guest Edition: VHS Tape Audio: English (Original Language), Analog Format: Black & White, NTSC, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered Running Time: 85 minutes Release Date: 1999-03-23 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Publisher: Starz / Anchor Bay Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
VHS Movie Reviews of Quatermass 2 [VHS]Movie 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.
Summary of Quatermass 2 [VHS]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 Axmaker
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