Rating: 
Summary: The finest combination of science and horror ever
Review: Nigel Kneale is one of the greatest unsung writers of the 20th century and this film is one of his masterpieces. Andrew Keir is superb and the direction maintains suspense and intelligence throughout. Amazingly, though, the BBC black and white version of 1957 is even better, as is the final Quatermass story - the most chilling work ever produced by British television.
Rating:
Summary: Howlin' wolf good
Review: This film is so good you have to call it literature. A spaceship undeneath London giving everybody the screaming willies and a real English hero to sort out the creppy crawlies. Go! Buy Pizza! Watch the movie! Nibble your wife's neck just at the right moment!
Rating:
Summary: Classic SF, exciting and intelligent
Review: This story has at least two lives. There was a black-and-white three-part television series called "Quatermass and the Pit" and a colour movie called "Five Million Years to Earth". Both excellent and unforgettable, but I think the first, black-and-white version is the best, both because of a period charm and because it's longer - the story is so good you don't want it to finish too soon. However, in "Five Million Years to Earth" the creature created from the spaceship somehow looks more horrible. See them both!
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Sci-Fi
Review: At last, this movie has been re-released to the public. I have been searching for this one to replace an old copy from my youth. This is one of the best sci-fi films that works on so many levels. It's the best of the quartermass series. This one is so good, its currently being redone by director "Alex Proyas- The Crow" and will be released in the future. So see the original first.
Rating:
Summary: Very exellent and effective
Review: In a subway excavation one day workers unearth some bones. Then scientists (Lead by profecer Quatermass) dig deaper to find an alien spaceship with really cool fifties style bug aliens corpses inside. Then after all these weird occurances the spaceship coms to life and destroys London. Pretty intense. Tape is letterboxed
Rating:
Summary: excellent, well-written, fast-moving
Review: Marvelous detail and plot enhancements, due to years delay between original writing of script and actual start of filming. Keir is superb as Quatermass, and watch out for the full-bodied Barbara Shelley--hot stuff. Powerful and gripping all the way through, with priceless detail. Originally released in the US as "Five Million Years to Earth" since American audiences were not familiar with the Quatermass of British TV. In the top 5% of genre. Catch it. END
Rating:
Summary: An ancient martian spacecraft is discovered in a subway.
Review: Thanks to William Lustig we have this great rerealse of a science fiction classic. This is the third film of the popular film series from the Hammer studio based on Nigel Kneale's BBC TV serial about Professor Quatermass. In this installment Prof. Quatermass(Andrew Keir) is called in to investigate an ancient martian spacecraft uncovered during the building of a subway. His scientific efforts are stymied by Colonel Breen (Julien Glover) and the ship begins to release a powerful and destructive psychic force. It would be criminal to give away too much of the plot because there are so many thrilling twists. Kneale's script is excellent and so is Roy Ward (A Night to Remember) Baker's direction. The special effects are a bit primitive by today's standards. Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) is reportedly going to direct the remake. END
Rating:
Summary: In the US we call this classic "Five Million Years to Earth"
Review: Known in the Colonies as "Five Million Years to Earth," this science fiction/horror classic is arguably the best film ever produced by Hammer Studios. "Quatermass and the Pit" quickly gets you hooked, as workers extending the London subway system uncover some ancient skeletons to the delight of Dr. Mathew Roney (James Donald) and his assistant Barbara Judd (Barbara Shelley). By the time Dr. Quatermass (Andrew Keir) arrives upon the scene, the workers have uncovered an alien spaceship and the strange insect-like creatures that apparently piloted it from another planet. Unfortunately the arrogant Colonel Breen (Julian Glover) dismisses it all as a Nazi hoax left over from the war, despite the fact the craft is made from an unknown metal. Quatermass deduces the strange creatures might have been ancient Martians and is worried about all the strange psychic phenomenon associated with this area. But Breen and the bureaucrats have their way until all hell breaks loose. Like the original version of "The Thing From Another World," this is a film where the dialogue and the performances make you forget we are dealing with strange creatures from another planet. In point of fact, "Quatermass and the Pit" uses a bare minimum of special effects to create its thrills and chills. To be fair, the idea of Martians affecting human evolution to institute a surrogate race war is way out there, but such concerns are forgotten when the giant Martian image turns everybody in London mad and all that is left between humanity and the end of civilization are a couple of scientists and a giant crane. This 1967 film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, whose eclectic list of credits includes "A Night to Remember" and "The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires." Baker deserves a lot of credit for the tone of the film, which he maintains even during the final credits as an exhausted Quatermass and Barbara survey the ruins around them. If you do not watch the DVD version of this classic film, then make an effort to get the widescreen VHS version.
Rating: 
Summary: A dissenting opinion
Review: Perhaps my general perception of this movie may have been different, had I not ordered it with such high expectations.
A fan of the late night sci-fi flick, this sounded like a sure bet for a good show. So, for $26.95 I bought it.
The rest of the family gave it 3 big thumbs down, and I must say despite the mostly crisp acting and intelligent script, my thumb is certainly not up.
The movie starts out well enough with the mysterious discovery of the object and the folklore that goes with it,
but instead of picking up speed it kind of stalls out. I can't put my finger on why it fails, but it just never seems to offer any substance. Compared to the original "The Thing" for example, it doesn't give you that sort of a ride. Not to say the Pit is exactly boring, but well...
The movie could be taken as being slightly disturbing, I suppose, even against today's blood and guts fare, as it plots against anything a religous soul believes in. Of course other sci-fi's fall in the same, but with this one it was especially pointed.
Rating:
Summary: totally ahead of it's time
Review: watching this movie it is almost unbelievable to think that it predates the whole x files/ufo conspiracy /alien interventionist/von daniken debates by around 30 years. the controversial theory that mankind's development may have been facilitated by extraterrestrials using genetic engineering and selective breeding is given a surprising supernatural twist, and if you can see past the rudimentary special effects you will be rewarded with an extremely engrossing and challenging sci-fi scenario.i first saw this film on a late night creature feature on t.v. in '79 and it really hooked me.in fact, i will go right out on a limb here and declare this film,in my opinion, one of the most important science fiction films of the 20th century,specifically because of the issues it addresses. many people, myself included, have often wondered whether it may have been likely that humans were given 'evolutionary nursemaids' in the formative years of our prehistoric past, possibly not always for completely altruistic purposes.....
|
