Quatermass and the Pit: A Review.

19th November, 2018.

Yes: I’m officially out of a job.

Yes: I’m officially trying to keep mind body and soul together on a non-existent pittance.

And yes: I’m so bored that tinkering around with iMovie’s broad range of interesting effects seems like a goo idea.

Yes … 

You’ve just watched the intro video, haven’t you … ?

Just be thankful I’d not got all Max Headroom at you.

It still surprises me what you can do with copy and paste!

~≈§≈~

At any rate … ?

I’ve had time off.

Obviously!

While I’m off?

I’ve time to — obviously — go job-hunting.

And cleaning … and … 

Well anything that doesn’t involve cash to be frank.

That includes raiding the movie collections.

Believe it or not, I’ve something or an extensive one, built from the various DVD and blu-ray back ups I’ve done over the years.

And one I’ve still not completely watched.

Given that, given I had time off … ?

Watching one of them would be good.

Sitting around for a while … ?

The 1967, Hammer version of the Nigel Kneale scripted, Quatermass and the Pit.

Frightening?

Well … 

~≈§≈~

Based on the TV series of the same name, and set in an era when London is getting heavily re-built, Quatermass and the Pit sees a team lead by Doctor Roney (James Donald) excavating at Hobbs End tube station.

The diggers who were digging out the extension to the tube … ?

Have found skulls.

It’s only when Roney finds what looks like a missile?

He calls in both the Bomb Squad … 

And the British Rocketry Group.

The bomb squared led by Colonel Breen (Julian Glover), and assisted by Doctor Quatermass (Andrew Keir), himself … ?

Soon find that …

• There’s more humanoid bodies under the ship …  
• There’s something in the sealed forward compartment.
• Some of the workmen haven’t stopped screaming!

You can tell things are going to go wrong, can’t you … ?

~≈§≈~

Now … 

Good … ?

Frightening … ?

Let’s do latin, first out, shall we?

Frightening …

I’m not sure that I could tell you, there.

No: there’s no outright jump scares, no blood soaked splatterations, no gore … 

But … ?

There’s a certain atmosphere to Quatermass and the Pit I think you’d not see: outside a certain type of vintage British film.

This is one of them: Quatermass and the Pit is doomy, with a downbeat ending that few — except maybe The Wickerman — have.

I can also see how influential this was.   I kept thinking that the original series must have influenced the team behind Pertwee’s era of Dr Who … 

And, funnily enough, Doomwatch: the series that focused on where science could do wrong, the main character, Dr Quist, a latter day version of the Cassandra-like Quatermass.

Whether I’m right?

Is another matter.

Frankly?

I’m glad to have seen something that was obviously a product of the 1960s … but felt modern.

Quatermass and the Pit.
★★★☆