Officially the first ever sequel to use the numeration of "2" in the title (a claim usually made for The Godfather Part 2 and French Connection II) this movie has liquored-up Brian Donlevy reprise his role as Prof. Bernard Quatermass, eager to get his moon project off the ground with little-to-no government funding. His team pick up a shower of strange meteorites falling through the atmosphere and falling onto the new-town of Winnerden Flats (actually the first stages of Hemel Hempstead) so off they go and discover that space bacteria has turned them all into zombies working in a government plant that looks a lot like Quatermass' own moon base.
Obviously no one believes him, the movie would be over in twenty minutes without this mass-produced difficulty, so he recruits a ragtag bunch of sidekicks to kick in the front gates and discover the true horror that lurks within this secret facility. It can be called pure 50s sci-fi pulp but there's mild allegory here to give it some meaning beyond the hokum all these years later. For a long time I was convinced I had already seen this but I was getting it mixed up with the similar [[ASIN:B07ZWBPMDK X: The Unknown]]. The original [[ASIN:B00NQKW8EW Quatermass Experiment]] was notable as the first movie (to my knowledge) to make effective use of "found footage" and the character has endured over the years with further sequels and remakes (and less sozzled actors). Nigel Kneale's writing is very wordy and fast with the dialogue, but, unusually for the time, it doesn't descend (too far) into "silly science" and feels like it has legitimate weight.
We all despise the endless parade of remakes and sequels defecated out of Hollywood studios in "current year" but Quatermass 2 and the multiple incarnations of the character prove that it's hardly a new phenomenon.
Originally shot in color on 35mm Ansacolor film (which I have never heard of) the intended aspect ratio for Quatermass 2 is 1.75:1, but instead of a color horror movie in standard widescreen Hammer decided to save money by producing black and white prints for distribution and the color version has been locked away for over 60 years.
Obviously no one believes him, the movie would be over in twenty minutes without this mass-produced difficulty, so he recruits a ragtag bunch of sidekicks to kick in the front gates and discover the true horror that lurks within this secret facility. It can be called pure 50s sci-fi pulp but there's mild allegory here to give it some meaning beyond the hokum all these years later. For a long time I was convinced I had already seen this but I was getting it mixed up with the similar [[ASIN:B07ZWBPMDK X: The Unknown]]. The original [[ASIN:B00NQKW8EW Quatermass Experiment]] was notable as the first movie (to my knowledge) to make effective use of "found footage" and the character has endured over the years with further sequels and remakes (and less sozzled actors). Nigel Kneale's writing is very wordy and fast with the dialogue, but, unusually for the time, it doesn't descend (too far) into "silly science" and feels like it has legitimate weight.
We all despise the endless parade of remakes and sequels defecated out of Hollywood studios in "current year" but Quatermass 2 and the multiple incarnations of the character prove that it's hardly a new phenomenon.
Originally shot in color on 35mm Ansacolor film (which I have never heard of) the intended aspect ratio for Quatermass 2 is 1.75:1, but instead of a color horror movie in standard widescreen Hammer decided to save money by producing black and white prints for distribution and the color version has been locked away for over 60 years.