Review of Quatermass Xperiment, The

Introduction

The Quatermass Xperiment was made in 1955 by the famous Hammer Films, and was based on a BBC television series made in 1953.

The plot centres on a British rocket that launches three astronauts on an experimental mission, however after losing contact with Earth, the rocket crash-lands and the authorities arriving at the scene find only one of the three astronauts on board.

The real terror becomes apparent when the surviving astronaut is consumed by an alien organism and sets out on a murderous rampage...

Video

The video is presented in 4:3 full-frame, in black and white. Made nearly 50 years ago in 1955, the movie isn`t going to have the visual impact of today`s sci-fi effects spectaculars, however given the age and origins of the film, it is very well made and the aging visuals in no way detract from the enjoyment of the film.

The picture itself is not bad given the vintage of the source material, and suffers from very little dirt and limited grain. There is evidence of mpeg fuzziness on some scenes, notably the metal rocket, but most other scenes are well compressed.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in the original Dolby Digital Mono, which is clear and understandable, but clearly not one to demonstrate the capabilities of your home cinema setup.

Features

Extras consist of a trailer for "Quatermass and the Pit", an audio commentary from the director and a Hammer Films historian and an interview with the director.

The interview runs for just under eight minutes and is quite interesting, despite having fairly dreadful picture quality which has a distinct yellow tint.

The director`s commentary track is very interesting and it was nice to hear the director of an old movie talk about how it was made - a stark contrast to how things are done nowadays.

The trailer for Quatermass and the Pit is quite good fun, but suffers from VHS quality visuals with plenty of dirt on the print.

Conclusion

Overall, this is classic British sci-fi horror, which despite its age is still a very watchable movie.

With the relatively short 78 minute running time, the film managed to maintain my interest for the most part, helped by good direction and decent performances. The movie starts out as sci-fi and turns into classic Hammer Horror as the plot progresses, building up nicely towards the end.

The picture is of reasonable quality and the sound is more than adequate. The director`s commentary track is a nice bonus and rounds off a reasonable package.