Quatermass and the Pit

Title - Quatermass and the pit  (five million years to earth)
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Sci-Fi

Quatermass and the pit is the third Quatermass film, the first in colour and the last one by Hammer horror.

The film starts with a team of workers digging to extend the ‘Hobb’s end’ tube station in the London underground when they discover a number of skulls and skeletons.  The site is then handed over to Dr Mathew Roney who believes that the skulls belong to an ancestor of man who roamed the earth five million years ago.  The excavation is halted when the team discover a strange item that is believed to be a bomb of some type.

At the same time Professor Quatermass has been called in to a meeting with Colonel Breen who tells him that his rocket/moon project is now being controlled by the military, Quatermass is not happy about this.  The meeting is interrupted by a message to Colonel Breen asking for him to go to the Hobbs end site with bomb disposal to examine the object they have found.

The object is said to be safe so it is fully uncovered.  The team find an entrance and, once inside they find a room full of what appears to be giant insects.  Breen believes that is an old experimental German V weapon and the creatures are fake, put there to scare British during the war but Quatermass and the archaeological team believe it is something else and that is is tied to all the tales of haunting that have been reported around Hobbs end all through history.

Out of the four films Quatermass and the Pit the most different, the other three concern themselves with an alien threat that has come from beyond the stars and, even though the first two take some influence from horror as well as sci-fi Quatermass and the pit is, at it’s core a horror film with leanings towards Sci-Fi.

There seems to be an anti military message in Quatermass and the pit.  this is first evident when Quatermass finds out that his project is going to be taken over by the military, he is outraged as he sees the colonization of other planets as a way of leaving our old warlike  behind.  The theme is carried on by the way the army is portrayed.  Both  Quatermass & Breen  refuse to believe that any of the supernatural events are connected to the find at hobbs end, in fact both refuse to believe in the supernatural at all, but as the film goes on  Quatermass begins to accept that there is something odd happening and that it is connected to the aliens whereas Breen just becomes more and more stubborn and un-receptive to anything other than his own theory.  There is also a hint of an army with the aliens/ possessed human as they go ahead with the racial cull.

The Aliens in this film seem to be better developed that in the previous two films, they have a better back story and more of a reason to want to conquer us although this does cause a problem with the effects.  This is overcome well though, the scenes on Mars are always seen through grainy footage and the alien corps’ are meant to be degrading so they are not seen for long.

The intertwining of Sci-Fi and horror is also handled well, the way the memories of the aliens have become change over time to become our devils is used well and the explanation that phenomenon such as ghosts and poltergeists are actually caused by latent psychic power inherited from the Martians is interesting.  It is interesting to note that there a similar theories about poltergeists in the real word, minus the aliens of course.

I feel that Quatermass and the pit is best of the four films, it has a strong story and a good mix of horror and Sci-Fi and is definitely well worth a watch.

The Quatermass Xperiment

Title - The Quatermass Xperiment (The creeping unknown )
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Sci-Fi

The Quatermass Xperiment is the first  of four films following the adventures of the British scientist Professor Quatermass.  The film started life as a BBC series but most of the episodes have been lost.  It was later made into a film by Hammer Horror as one of their first films.

The film starts with a rocket crash landing on a farm.  The rocket was part of a government experiment for the first manned flight into space.  The project was headed by Professor Quatermass who is in trouble for launching the rocket early.  The rocket had a crew of three but when it is opened there is only one person aboard, Victor Carroon.  The space suit's of the other astronauts are still intact and the door has not been opened.  As the rocket has been in space there is no where the other astronauts could have gone.

Victor is very ill and is kept at Quatermass' lab.  At the same time Scotland Yard begin an investigator to find out what has happened to the other men, this is led by Inspector Lomax. Quatermass thinks the investigation is a waste of time as no one at Scotland Yard is qualified to investigate anything that happens in space.

Victor is moved to a hospital when it is decided that there is not enough medical equipment in Quatermass' lab.  Victor's wife, Judith tries  to break him out of the hospital but, in the few minuets he is left alone Victor pushes his hand into a cactus and he kills the man who was helping  her.  As Victor goes on a killing spree he slowly changes into something else and Quatermass and Lomax realise they are dealing with an alien invasion.

The Quatermass Xperiment was released in 1955 and, in my opinion it still holds up now. Admittedly  some of the technology is a bit dated but, as Quatermass' lab is mentioned to be quite hi tec it's not that bad.  The film does not rely to heavily on special effects and the creature at the end is not seem much so this does not go against it.  It has a good story and characters.

Quatermass starts wanting to be in control of everything and he finds the involvement of Scotland Yard nothing but an annoyance.  As the film progresses he begins to realise that, even though he has the most knowledge on the rocket and space side he is not equipped to deal with the situation.  He begins to release some control of the situation when he is convinced to let Victor go to a hospital and, once Victor is on the loose he knows that he needs the police to help track him down.  It does seem to annoy Quatermass that he is equipped to deal with everything and this is evident at the end of the film when he takes control of the situation ignoring every done else to stop the creature.

Inspector Lomax is almost the other side of the coin to Quatermass.   He realises from the beginning that he is ill equipped to deal with the situation but he knows that he has a job to do.  There are a couple of scenes at the start of the film where Lomax could have become the comic relief as a bumbling detective who is out of his depth but this is cut short when he goes to Quatermass offering to help him in stead of trying to handle everything himself.

Victor, as the monster is handled well.  As I have said the film is not effects heavy.  For most of the time we see Victor as a normal man although his features are drawn out .  Most of the transformation is kept to his arm which he keeps hidden for a lot of the film.  Victor is portrayed as scared and in pain for most of the film, needing to feed but fighting for his humanity.  This is most apparent in a scene where he meets a little girl by a river.  The scene has a striking similarity’s it to a scene in Frankenstein.  In both tales the monster meets a little girl by a river but in Frankenstein the monster kills the girl by accident and this helps the creature realise what he is and that he does not want to live, making him more human.  In the Quatermass Xperiment Victor does not kill the girl and goes on to become  ore monstrous, loosing his humanity.   In a way the character of Victor is almost a reverse of Frankenstein monster, the monster starts as a none human creation and becomes more human where as Victor starts out human and becomes more monstrous. The similarity are only heighten by the creature in the Quatermass Xperiment bearing the name of the man who d created the monster in Frankenstein.

The monster at the end of the film is not shown much.  When we do see it we get the feeling that it is some kind of plant jellyfish,  it is resting so not moving much which is good because if they had put to much movement into it I think it would have looked dated now.

By the standards of today's films the Quatermass Xperiment is not too scary.  When it was first released in the UK it was given an X rating (an 18 in today's ratings) but modern releases have been dropped to a pig (children can watch with there parents).  There are some creepy parts to the film but it does rely on its story and characters.

Well worth a watch in my opinion but if you don't fancy it in black and white the series was remade in 2002 and this is also worth a watch.

20th century boys part 2: The last hope

Title - 20^th century boys part 2: The last hope
Language - Japanese
Genre - Sci- fi, conspiracy

I reviewed the first part of this trilogy a while ago (the review can be found here) and finally decided to watch the next part.  As the films carry on from each other there will be spoilers for part one in this review.

Part two is set 15 years after part one, Kenji and his friends failed to stop the giant robot from spreading the virus and in the aftermath Friend, the cult leader form the first film has risen up to be the new ruler of Japan.  History tells us that Kenji was the person responsible for the robot and virus and he is missing, presumed dead.  The rest of Kenji’s gang are in hiding except for Shogun who is still in Friends prison where he is only known as Number 3.

In the fifteen years since the end of the first film Japan has become slightly futuristic looking city, there are blimps in the air, giant monitors on the sides of buildings and loud speakers in the street all of which are used for advertising and spreading propaganda about how good Friend is.  The scenery is like a more realist, less futuristic blade runner with out the hover cars.  Most of the population seem happy but at the beginning of the film we see that there is a lot of violence as the Chinese mafia is at war with the Thai mafia in the back streets.

The film starts with the sides of the mafia fighting in a number of back streets.  The gunshots are heard in a nearby café.  When one of café regulars mentions where the fighting is happening the waitress runs out into the middle of the gun fight and forces both sides to stop.  We discover that the waitress is Kanna the baby from the first film and she knows the truth about her Uncle Kenji but know one will believe her.

A body is found during the aftermath of the mafia fight which is first assumed to be a victim for the violence but it turns out that is was an assassination by a corrupt police man. 

The customer who first told Kanna where the fighting was taking place than asks her for help, she has a friend who knows why the man was killed and they need Kanna’s help to protect her as it has information on Friend and what he is planning next.  The information leads Kanna to ‘Friend land’ a summer camp used to brain wash people into supporting Friend.  The murdered man was in Friend land and took part in something known as the bonus round.  Kanna decides to get into friend land to see if she can find out what is happening.

At the same time as this is all going on Shogun and a manga artist who has been imprisoned for righting the wrong type of manga make their escape from the prison and meet up with one of the other heroes from the first film.

Kanna and one of her classmates enrol on a stay in Friend land and they meet up with Kanna’s uncle Yoshitsune, one of the heroes from the first film who tells them that only the best students get to go into the Bonus round, but warn against it as it is dangerous.  Kanna ignores the warnings and pass the tests to get into the bonus round, along with her classmate.

The Bonus round uses virtual reality to take two girls back in time to when her uncle and his friends first wrote the book of prophecies, specifically to when ‘Donkey’, the group member who’s death set the current events in motion went into the school and saw the ghost.  Kanna sees two other boys one of whom has hanged himself and the other who is watching him.  The second by has a copy of the new book of prophecies and the first boy comes back to life.  Whilst this is going on Friend enters the room to speak to Kanna and to tell her who her farther is.  While Kanna is talking to the adult Friend her classmate is on the roof looking for the child version of Friend to try to find out who he actually is, she approaches a masked child who takes his mask off.

Yoshitsune pulls the plug on the computer that runs the bonus round and Kanna sets off find out about the new book of Prophecies.

Shogun is now on the trail of Friend during his investigations he is approached by an old lady who recognises him as one of Kenji’s friends and she hands him a copy of the new book of Prophecies.  The book was written but the children Kanna saw in the past and, reading through the book Shogun realises that they are approaching the final chapter in it where Friend is made into a god and the human race is ended.   Shogun, Kanna and Yoshitsune are now in a race against time to work out what the final prophecy means and how they can stop it.

20^th century boys’ part 2 is long which i find unusual for a middle film; it picks up well form the first part and is still as good.  The film keeps things as real as possible but still has a slight feel as being what an anime would be like if it came true. 

The future of 2015 manages to carry the feeling of what a child may imagine which is as it should be being as it is meant to be based on the books of prophecy.

The film also manages to keep the identity of Friend a secret, just when you think you know who it is the plot takes a turn to remove that character as a red herring.

There are a couple things in the film that you are never sure if they are real, there is a bit about Kanna having esp but, like the ray gun and the robot in the first film you can’t tell if it is real or just part of the fantasy set in motion by Friend recreating the books of prophecy.

I enjoyed the second part of 20^th Century Boys and regret not watching it sooner and I’ll be watching part 3 for next weeks blog.   

20th century Boys Pt1 the beginning of the end

Title - 20^th century Boys Pt1 the beginning of the end

Language – Japanese

Genre – Sci Fi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20^th century Boys is an epic 3 films long and the first film is over 2 hours long. It start proper when a group of friends attend there high school reunion against the backdrop of two occurrences, an out break of a strange disease that drains it's victims of there blood and a cult which is gathering a big following.

Kenji, one of the group was told that one of his customers had disappeared and, when he went to investigate he found a symbol on the house wall, the Symbol was created by Kenji and his friends when they were still at school and only the small group knew about it. As Kenji and his friends dig deeper into the mystery they find that the leader of the cult, who is only known as Friend is bringing a story that the group wrote as children, the 'Book of Prophecy' tells how an evil organisation will end the word on December 31^st 2000. Kenji and his friends fight to stop the prophecy’s from coming true.

I have to say it's been a while since I've seen anything that has made me want to review it right after I've seen it but the first part of 20^th century boys is one hell of a ride, starting out as a mystery and leading into an apocalyptic sci-fi complete with plague spewing robots and even a ray gun it reaches into the future without being to fanciful.

The story is mainly set in the late 1990's to 2000 but also flashes back to Kenji's child hood and into 2015 (when I think the second part is set) with the main story ending as the group fight the aforementioned robot.

For a film that has robots, ray gun's and biological weapons 20^th century boy is very grounded in reality, showing where the technology comes from, and why it is deployed leaving the viewer with a chain of events that could conceivably happen and I think this is part of why the film is so good, that and the excellent sound track.

Defiantly one to watch & I will be watching part 2 very soon