Quatermass 2
Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) is looking for support to create colonization of the moon. He is intrigued by radar showing what might be meteorites crashing into the Earth. He follows the track to where they would have landed and finds a destroyed village. He also finds a factory that looks like the moon project he is working on. His assistant finds a rock that released a gas that burns him.
Trying to find out what is going on he is told the factory makes synthetic food. He doesn’t believe it. He keeps digging to find out what is really going on in the secret facility. And why they have armed guards. And what are those rocks that are landing on Earth really for?
“Quatermass 2” AKA “Enemy from Space” was released in 1957 and was directed by Val Guest. It is the second Quatermass film produced by Hammer Studios. It is also based on the British television serial Quatermass II. The American release of the film was titled “Enemy from Space”. The film is similar to the serial; however again, some plot changes were made for the movie.
Aliens don’t always come in solid form. And some can hide in plain sight. It’s a tale of possession that seems to be a staple of the Quatermass legacy.
The story is reported to have inspired the British film “They Came from Beyond Space”, as well as the “Dr. Who” episode “Spearhead from Space”.
“Quatermass 2” is just as intriguing as the first one was. But then it’s Hammer so I’m not surprised. It’s unfortunate that the Quatermass movies are not as well known as they should be. Hammer’s Gothic/Horror movies such as “The Curse of Frankenstein” seem to have left the Science Fiction/ Horror movies in shadows.