Quatermass II – 1957 | 85 mins | Sci-Fi | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Quatermass II was a sequel based on Nigel Kneale’s own 1955 TV follow-up to The Quatermass Experiment, the script was adapted by Kneale himself and director Val Guest, the need to use an American writer to insure US ‘appeal’ apparently no longer a concern after the first film’s success.

The theme again is alien invasion, this time in the form of a substance able to take over humans. Acclimatising to the earth’s atmosphere in a giant industrial plant allegedly making synthetic food, the substance, which again has the look of a giant chocolate pudding, is ultimately destroyed when oxygen is pumped into its containers, though not before it has zombified most of the local population and half the British government.

An incident-packed adventure, most notable for its themes of corruption in high places, the film again stars Brian Donlevy as Professor Quatermass and re-united much of the crew responsible for the first film, including editor James Needs, composer James Bernard and effects man Les Bowie, who apparently had shares in blancmange. Though the film did fairly well when released, it was obvious that Hammer could not continue plundering what was basically the same idea indefinitely.