The Quatermass Xperiment In the London countryside a rocket crashes into a farm. The rocket had been sent into space by Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donleavy). Of the three men in the rocket only one was on board when it crashed. He is injured and taken to a clinic. Something is happening to him. He is slowly changing. The lone survivor Victor Caroon (Richard Wordsworth) is taken from the clinic by his wife Judith (Indira Varma). He escapes and begins rampaging through the streets of London.
Quatermass speculates that there may be a form of life just drifting in space that invaded the rocket and killed two of the astronauts but infected Caroon who is now a carrier that is now loose on Earth and multiplying. Each time he kills someone he absorbs them. And changes.
"The Quatermass Xperiment" was released in 1959 and was directed by Val Guest. The film is a British Science Fiction drama from Hammer Studios and was based on a 6 part BBC Television serial produced in 1953. Some plot changes were made for the film adaptation. The American version distributed by United Artists was renamed “The Creeping Unknown”. The “Quatermass Xperiment” is considered the first of the “Hammer Horrors”. It is also the first of three Quatermass movies done by Hammer. A remake was done in 2005 for Television featuring Jason Flemyng, Adrian Dunbar, Mark Gatiss and David Tennant.
As a monster Richard Wordsworth is excellent. Both lethal and wretched. A combination I last saw with Boris Karloff in Frankenstein. The storyline is unique. Unfolding slowly and quietly. Almost mysteriously. Tension building until you are on the edge of your seat. Its great Science Fiction and great Horror.
Jane Asher, former fiancé of Paul McCartney plays a little girl that tries to befriend Victor Carroon as he is changing. The look of the monster was enhanced by the use of bovine entrails and tripe.