QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967)
Also known as: FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH
97 minutes
Dir: Roy Ward Baker
Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Cinematography: Arthur Grant
Prince George has just been presented before us all while I’m writing a film review about the awakening of a new insect overlord on planet earth.
Coincidence? Cognitive association?
Whatever the reason, before we’re impaled in the throne room by 9 foot high Praying Mantis it’s time to get some salted popcorn and blob out to ‘Quatermass and the Pit’, the last of the Quatermass films.
Professor Quatermass is a sci-fi superhero character who had a cult following in the 50s on British TV. Imagine a scientist sleuth who uses reason and lab equipment to battle extra terrestrials. The show was subsequently translated into a series of three films, met with a varying amount of success at the box office.
The last of these, made 10 years after Quatermass 2 asks the topical questions:
- Is religion more rational than you thought? Can it be explained with science?
- Is mankind going to implode through unexpectedly opening a Pandora’s Box?
The film opens on an excavation site at an underground station where a skull is unearthed. This is followed by unearthing a missile. Is it something leftover from WW2? Or is it something not from planet Earth? And what does it contain?
As much a thriller horror as it is a sci-fi, the legacy of Quatermass and the Pit exists because it successfully creates tension by keeping the viewer blind. It’s a technique employed and perhaps overused in today’s horror films, but feels surprisingly fresh and sinister in this film. It helps to constantly tease you (by not showing you events, happenings) and then out of nowhere unexpectedly surprises you with intense graphic images of horror.
It’s this technique that makes ‘Quatermass and The Pit’ an especially creepy film, a film that is pumped full of tension and unease. You aren’t really party at any point as to what is about to happen / who is going to die / what can we do?
It’s a film that plays with your psyche and leaves you feeling that perhaps something like an alien race taking over planet earth could logically happen… and perhaps it’s not as entirely far fetched as it sounds. This statement sounds totally absurd but the film lets you entertain this notion seriously, which is seriously smart considering it’s very much planted very much in the horror genre.
Tips for enjoying Quatermass and the Pit
-If you enjoyed this film, then revisit not only the TV series – but also other vintage shows that deal with Sci-Fi on present ‘The Outer Limits’ or ‘Tales of the Unexpected’.
-The Daemons, a TV story from early Doctor Who, retells a similar story and the consequences of man unearthing things that should be left alone.
Can’t find it / buy it?
Other Links for Trivia and Info on Quatermass and the Pit:
Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_and_the_Pit_(film)
IMDB entry
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062168/
IMDB Trivia page
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062168/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
Rotten Tomatoes
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