This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

This is How Movies Should Be Made

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's just an overshoot, that's all. And those big things inside the domes? Well, they were just part of the process to make the wonderful synthetic food! Now you had to go and muck it all up. Well, we will just have to build another plant elsewhere to make more of the genetically altered food you are now buying at your local supermarket. Could you do us a favor too? If you find anymore overshoots, please return them to us at your earliest convenience. You will find the expiration date on the underside - yes that's it...turn it over and look...oops, now don't panic...ignore that old guy that tells you "put it down...on the floor" - there you'll feel better in a few moments. Bring the empty container to us and you'll get your very own rebreather mask and a machine gun that goes ratatatatatattat, KAZING! ENJOY!

This sequel to 'The Quatermass experiment' has a few details in common with it (professor Quatermass and evil aliens), but that's about it. Here, an important location was provided by oil company Shell, so don't look surprised if the monsters turn out to be looking like giant mobile oil-spills.The story is very doable, the atmosphere and locations are pretty nice once again, and there are plenty of not so much scary, but certainly fun enough monsters. This one does lack a character like Victor Carroon, but I suppose you can't always have it all.A good 7 out of 10.

In 1957 1 shilling and 9 pence was the price of one of the better seats in a cinema. I was too young to be allowed to see the film at the time of its release and the recent screening on BBC 2 is the first time I've seen it - 50+ years after its release - perhaps the first time it has been screened on British television? Its high rating of 7 and many enthusiastic reviews from the US confirm that it is an important British film of the time with a wide - and lasting - appeal.The opening is something of a teaser but the pace flags somewhat after that for the first 10 minutes or so then with the revelation of the unlimited seriousness of the problem, the pace gets faster and faster and film more and more gripping.Not as polished as "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers" but Nigel Kneale's creative ideas and screenplay ensure, not first time, that even nearly 60 years on this is still a rocket ride.

This science fiction thriller grabs our attention from the first scene where a young couple are driving fairly wildly; something is clearly wrong with the man who has a mark on his face after touching some strange rocks. I assumed these would be the main characters but after nearly crashing into Quatermass and telling him what happened we don't see them again. Professor Quatermass takes the rocks to work but is more concerned that his project to set up a colony on the moon has been cancelled. His colleagues had monitored a strange meteor shower in the area where the couple had driven from and analysis shows that the rocks aren't natural so Quatermass and a colleague go to the site and are shocked to find a large complex which is identical to their planned moon base. When his colleague picks up one of the unbroken rocks something is released and he suddenly becomes ill, Quatermass can't find out what is wrong as security guards take his friend and order him to leave the area. In order to have a look around he gets on an official tour with a member of parliament who has been concerned about the plant. Things don't go well on the tour; the MP dies after contact with the "food" the plant claims to be making and Quatermass is lucky to escape. Once back in London he gets help from a police inspector and a journalist and returns to the plant where they must confront the security forces to discover the plants shocking secret and destroy it, in this task they are helped my local workers who want revenge after one of them is infected.Despite being an old film this looked good as it was filmed at a real chemical works rather than using fake looking models, the only effect that looked poor by today's standards was the monster but that only appears briefly at the end. Today a film of this sort would probably be over two and a half our long, full of special effects and with a romantic side story tagged on, this however is less than an hour and a half long with minimal effects and no romance in sight which keeps things taut throughout. Brian Donlevy was good in the role of Quatermass and Sid James put in a fun cameo performance as the reporter who had a liking for drink. The sinister atmosphere was heightened by having all of the security personnel wear gas masks which effectively rendered then faceless, increasing the feeling that they were mindless automatons.