One of the best presents I’ve gotten recently was Quatermass II, a staggering box set from British Hammer Studios (famous for bring blood and heaving breasts into cinemas in the late 60s, not to mention the Christopher Lee Dracula movies and Peter Cushing Frankenstein series). This was one of the Studio’s early sci-fi films, based on a popular Quatermass TV series that premiered live on the BBC in October and November of 1955. Hammer snapped up the film rights with excellent director Val Guest at the helm for a 1957 release.
Knows as Enemy from Space in the US (Americans had little knowledge of who or what Quatermass was), this turned out to be a superior sci-fi movie written by Nigel Kneale starring Brian Donlevy as the cranky Professor Quatermass who investigates a small English village beset by a meteor shower. The meteorites break open and infect their host and before long the whole village is in concert planning an alien invasion. An incredibly intelligent and wildly suspenseful film which still holds up as a paranoid alien possession film alongside others like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Now does the film necessitate a 5-disc set, which includes a 4K UHD Blu-ray of the British release Quatermass II and a separate one Enemy from Space for the US release (even though there is no difference between the films except for the title?) The box includes two Blu-ray discs with copious extras (and I’m not kidding). It includes a handsome book “The Quatermass Papers” with fascinating articles on the making of the film and visits to the set and detailed comparison between the TV series and the feature. In the booklet is the UK pressbook and European posters. There is an extra book devoted to the comic book (from Dez Skinn’s The House of Hammer magazine) with artwork by David Lloyd. There are 8 reproductions of lobby cards and a fold out poster for the movie. If that isn’t enough the final disc on the set is the complete BBC series (this is the only disc that is a Region B).
Ludicrously expensive, this box set may sound like overkill to most people but for me this was the rare film my father took me to (and possibly one of three pleasant memories I have of the man). As a kid, I was mesmerized by the intelligence and creepiness of the premise. There are scenes that have haunted me ever since. Like when a group of officials are being led to their doom into the secret facility (which was shot at a Shell oil refinery). Or a scene at a local bar when an alien projectile crashes through the ceiling and a barmaid crouches down only to have it explode, causing a weird gash to appear on her chest. One of my favorite sequences is when a British official breaks off from the tour at the secret facility and climbs up a dome supposedly housing artificial food, only to fall in, re-emerging coated with a black sludge “that burns!” as he careens down the staircase screaming in agony.
I vividly remember the drive home with my father who turned to me in the car and said, “You know- that movie was really good.” I was so relieved and pleased at his surprised reaction because it meant he finally “got it” as to my obsession with this kind of film. For that memory alone, this box set is heaven-sent.
