Finding The Man Who Could Cheat Death on Netflix UK,I started keeping a look out for Hammer Horror movies to appear on TV in the run up to Halloween.Greatly enjoying Quatermass 2 and Quatermass and the Pit,I was happy to spot the BBC airing an "unofficial" Hammer Quatermass sequel,which led to me finding out if x marked the unknown spot.
The plot:
Drilling for a source of radiation under the earth's core, Private Lansing notices water beginning to boil above the surface. Trying to run away,a mysterious explosion goes off,and leads Lansing and his fellow soldiers with radiation burns.Called to the scene with "Mac" McGill, Dr. Adam Royston finds the radiation being drilled to be a completely different type to any he has seen before. Performing tests on the site,Royston begins to fear that the soldiers have cracked something which should have remained buried in the earth.
View on the film:
Landing between the Hammer's more Noir style of the past and the lush Gothic Horrors that were on the horizon,director Leslie Norman (who replaced original choice Joseph Losey,who was suspected by the lead actor of being a "Red"-with Norman being so "difficult" to work with that Hammer never hired him again!)and cinematographer Gerald Gibbs masterfully sit the movie between both eras of Hammer,via mountains of dirt giving the army sight a tense Film Noir atmosphere,where Royston's trench coat is unable to shield him from the horrors that the army has unleashed. Despite the monster looking like the catering department dropped some cake mix on set, (all part of Hammer's "handmade" charm!) Norman follows on from the superb work he did on Ealing's The Night My Number Came Up with a slithering atmosphere which touches 50's paranoia on James Bernard's low-hanging violins score and the oncoming Gothic Horror,as the soldiers shiver in fear over the screen being soak in a rich,low-lit black tar.
Chopping and changing the names in his Hammer writing debut after Nigel Kneale stopped the Quatermass name from being used,the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster cuts the 81 minutes into a lean and mean Sci-Fi Horror Film Noir. Written at the time as a warning over nuclear weapons,the intelligent allegorical route Sangster took now makes the title appear as a warning against fracking,from the evil being at the earths core,but the army being told not to stop drilling until they get right into the belly of the beast. Bringing up some monster jolts for a easy shock, Sangster largely takes a restrained Film Noir flavour approach to the Hammer Horror, unveiling itself in Royston uncovering in various tests the full threat that has been uncovered.
Sent in to give the flick an American gloss, Dean Jagger gives a terrific performance as Royston,whose inquisitive mind Jagger presents in a playful manner. Joined by Hammer's superb character actors Michael Ripper, Kenneth Cope and Frazer Hines, Leo McKern gives a great performance as "Mac" McGill,thanks to McKern making McGill try to keep a grip on reason,as McGill and Royston uncover the unknown Hammer.
The plot:
Drilling for a source of radiation under the earth's core, Private Lansing notices water beginning to boil above the surface. Trying to run away,a mysterious explosion goes off,and leads Lansing and his fellow soldiers with radiation burns.Called to the scene with "Mac" McGill, Dr. Adam Royston finds the radiation being drilled to be a completely different type to any he has seen before. Performing tests on the site,Royston begins to fear that the soldiers have cracked something which should have remained buried in the earth.
View on the film:
Landing between the Hammer's more Noir style of the past and the lush Gothic Horrors that were on the horizon,director Leslie Norman (who replaced original choice Joseph Losey,who was suspected by the lead actor of being a "Red"-with Norman being so "difficult" to work with that Hammer never hired him again!)and cinematographer Gerald Gibbs masterfully sit the movie between both eras of Hammer,via mountains of dirt giving the army sight a tense Film Noir atmosphere,where Royston's trench coat is unable to shield him from the horrors that the army has unleashed. Despite the monster looking like the catering department dropped some cake mix on set, (all part of Hammer's "handmade" charm!) Norman follows on from the superb work he did on Ealing's The Night My Number Came Up with a slithering atmosphere which touches 50's paranoia on James Bernard's low-hanging violins score and the oncoming Gothic Horror,as the soldiers shiver in fear over the screen being soak in a rich,low-lit black tar.
Chopping and changing the names in his Hammer writing debut after Nigel Kneale stopped the Quatermass name from being used,the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster cuts the 81 minutes into a lean and mean Sci-Fi Horror Film Noir. Written at the time as a warning over nuclear weapons,the intelligent allegorical route Sangster took now makes the title appear as a warning against fracking,from the evil being at the earths core,but the army being told not to stop drilling until they get right into the belly of the beast. Bringing up some monster jolts for a easy shock, Sangster largely takes a restrained Film Noir flavour approach to the Hammer Horror, unveiling itself in Royston uncovering in various tests the full threat that has been uncovered.
Sent in to give the flick an American gloss, Dean Jagger gives a terrific performance as Royston,whose inquisitive mind Jagger presents in a playful manner. Joined by Hammer's superb character actors Michael Ripper, Kenneth Cope and Frazer Hines, Leo McKern gives a great performance as "Mac" McGill,thanks to McKern making McGill try to keep a grip on reason,as McGill and Royston uncover the unknown Hammer.