The Quatermass Xperiment

Based on a BBC Television serial inspired by the work of the talented Nigel Kneale, Hammer puts together one of the best examples of sci-fi horror of the decade, not to mention the first installment of a popular 4-film series.

Val Guest goes for realism, succeeding in his far-from-assured objective of bringing plausibility to a highly extraordinary event interrupting Londoners’ everyday lives. Taut as a violin string and rich with rapid-fire dialogue scenes, the film draws its life-blood from the fine performance of Brian Donlevy, highly skilled in depicting a tough, decisive protagonist (“If the whole world waited for official sanction, it would be standing still!” and “Every experiment is a gamble”).

Right from the start, Bernard Quatermass – a positivist rarely prone to compromising, intolerant of authority figures, often cynical and off-putting – puts scientific knowledge and logic above all else, aspects that render his character rather unsettling, and which will be somewhat watered down in future installments of the series. Richard Wordsworth’s intense performance as the astronaut horribly infected by the unknown alien parasite is worthy of mention.

The special effects are unambitious, but not without a crude effectiveness. The concept of a phagocytic blob will be reprised numerous times in genre films, starting with Hammer’s own “X the Unknown” (1956) and “Quatermass II” (1957), and again with the well-known and overrated “The Blob” (1958).

Among the scenes worthy of note, we would include the renowned ending at Westminster Abbey and the tragic encounter between the mutant and the little girl in what can be considered a heartfelt homage to the immortal “Frankenstein”. It’s no coincidence that Shelley’s work will also soon come to the attention of the British production house with “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957).