Franchises: Quatermass. Quatermass 2 (Enemy from Space) (1957)

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this may be the first movie sequel to use a numeral in the title. It's possible there's an earlier, more obscure movie that did it first, but that was my exact thought when I first watched The History of Sci-Fi and Horror and this came up during its quick rundown of Hammer's Quatermass franchise. The brief glimpse I got of it in that documentary also had the same kind of intriguing impact as the original Quatermass Xperiment, particularly the moment where Quatermass looks through a window and sees an enormous, living mass in the chamber beyond it, while Butch Patrick described the plot as involving the production of "synthetic food" that actually turns out to be nourishment for alien creatures. But, as with the first film and the later third one, other than a slightly deeper look into it from James Rolfe in his 2012 CineMassacre review of the trilogy, I wouldn't see Quatermass 2 until 2014, when I bought that Region 2 double feature DVD of the first two at the Spooky Empire convention in Orlando. Obviously, since I was quite taken by The Quatermass Xperiment, I was eager to see what the sequels had to offer. However, of the three of them, Quatermass 2 was the one that didn't leave much of an impression, as it wasn't as affecting as its predecessor or as colorfully memorable as the third one. In fact, I have to admit that, until Scream Factory put out its Blu-Ray release of the film (which I got a short time before I did this), I only watched it the one time in that DVD set. Upon rewatching it twice in high-def, I like it more now than I did and, while I don't find the story to be as interesting, atmospheric, or creepy, and I feel that the tail end of it, where it briefly turns into a full-on monster movie, could have been pulled off better, it does have a lot going for it in terms of its direction and the performances.

Speeding along a dirt road one night, a young couple comes very close to hitting another car, which just happens to be driven by Prof. Quatermass. At first angry, he then sees that the boyfriend, whom the girl says is delirious and tried to force them off the road, has a bizarre burn on the side of his face. The girl tells him that her beau was burned by some fairly normal-looking rocks they found near  where the town of Winterton Flats used to be. After stopping the still delirious man from running off, Quatermass helps the couple get back on the road. Later that night, at the observatory for the British-American Rocket Group, Quatermass' assistant, Marsh, and another scientist, Brand, monitor scores of meteorite-like objects coming down slowly. The signals disappear as mysteriously as they appeared, when Quatermass arrives, giving Marsh the stones to analyze. He also announces that the Defense Ministry has cut their funding for their ultimate project of building a colonization base on the moon. The next morning, when Quatermass comes in after having been up all night at the rocket launch area, he's told the stone fragments he brought in are of a substance that can't be identified and that they have a definite, symmetrical shape. He's also notified about the objects that were tracked the night before, namely that the rough estimate of where they came down is likely Winterton Flats. He and Marsh drive out to spot, coming upon a plateau overlooking the remains of a village and, shockingly, a facility that's been made from the designs of their proposed moon base. The ground is also littered with more of the stone fragments, with Marsh removing a whole one from beneath the ground. While examining it, it bursts in his face and he collapses to the ground. Quatermass briefly sees something on his face and then, Marsh is revealed to now have the same, distinct burn mark on his face as the man from the previous night. A squadron of soldiers, each with the same sort of marks on their faces, arrive and take Marsh away, while forcing Quatermass to drive off in his car. Unable to get any help from the local authorities in the nearby towns, Quatermass heads back to the observatory, telling Brand what happened and learns that more of the objects have come down. Based on a reconstruction of what the objects looked like before entering Earth's atmosphere, they conclude their construction is the sign of some sort of alien intelligence. In his investigation into what's happening, Quatermass soon uncovers a conspiracy whose influence reaches as far as Scotland Yard and which could spell doom for the human race.

Nigel Kneale

Quatermass 2 is actually the third film in a sort of trilogy of sci-fi/horror films Hammer produced at the time, as in-between it and its predecessor, they released X the Unknown, which they had intended to be a sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment, right down to its featuring the character. Though Nigel Kneale put the kibosh on the latter idea, that movie, from what I've seen, is still very Quatermass-like, especially in how the threat is a formless, creeping entity that, nevertheless, has an intelligence about it (the monster is very similar to the Blob, which came out a couple of years later). Following that, Hammer, eager to do a proper Quatermass sequel, grabbed the rights to the second television serial involving the character, but this time, Kneale insisted in being more heavily involved in the adaptation process, given how he wasn't satisfied with the first film. To that end, he wrote the first draft screenplay, which was then revised extensively by director Val Guest (much to Kneale's displeasure, Brian Donlevy reprised his role of Quatermass). Quatermass 2 proved commercially successful when it was released in May of 1957, but was eclipsed by the enormous hit that was The Curse of Frankenstein. Coupled with the even more successful Dracula the following year, Gothic horror became the company's focus rather than these noirish, sci-fi/horror films. As a result, plants to make the third television serial, Quatermass and the Pit, which was broadcast at the end of 1958 and the beginning of 1959, into a film didn't begin until the 60's dawned, and even then, circumstances would keep that movie from coming to fruition until 1967.

In the two years since The Quatermass Xperiment, Val Guest had taken a temporary sabbatical from Hammer and had made four movies for other studios: They Can't Hang Me, a musical called It's a Wonderful World, the comedy, Carry on Admiral, and the thriller, The Weapon. In an interview, Guest said that he had nothing else lined up when Hammer came to him with Quatermass 2, so he figured, "Yeah, why not?" Even though, this time, he was working from a screenplay actually written by Nigel Kneale rather than writing it himself from the serial's scripts, Guest, again, found himself having to seriously condense Kneale's work, as the screenplay he'd written was far too long. And, just like with the first film, Guest decided to make the movie feel as real as possible in how he shot and presented its story, although he now had a larger budget to work with. He followed the film up with his third and final Kneale adaptation, The Abominable Snowman, and went on to direct more films for Hammer, like the war films The Camp on Blood Island and Yesterday's Enemy, and the crime thriller, Hell Is a City, before breaking off and forming his own production company, under which he did another science fiction film, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, in 1964. While he would return to Hammer in 1970 for When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, he never directed any of their Gothics and his three Kneale films would be his only brushes with the horror genre.

Ironically, as much as Kneale may have disliked him, Brian Donlevy's portrayal of Prof. Quatermass in these films is significant in that he's the only actor to portray the character twice in separate productions, as each of the four television serials had a different Quatermass. It's also interesting to note that here, Donlevy's Quatermass is portrayed in a much more heroic, less amoral manner than he was in The Quatermass Xperiment. He's still a stern, humorless character, determined as ever to do things his way, but is more genuinely concerned with the well-being of those around him and with the survival of the human race this time around. You get this sense of him at the very start of the film, when the two teenagers nearly crash into him and yet, after he gets over his initial anger, he helps them get their car back on the road, shows concern for the burn on the boyfriend's face, and even offers to take them to safety in his car, an offer that is politely turned down. While his main concern initially is the cancellation of his moon colonization project and his being ordered to study atomic theory again, Quatermass grows interested in what happened to the couple when he learns the falling objects picked up the night before came down in the same area where the girl told him her boyfriend was burned. Between that and the discovery that the objects' full, intact forms have a symmetrical shape to them, he decides to head out to Winterton Flats with his assistant, Marsh. After coming across a new road that, at one point, leads to nowhere, Quatermass is shocked when he and Marsh come upon the remains of a destroyed town, and even more so when they see an enormous facility that's based on their moon-base plans. While investigating the spot, Marsh finds an intact object, only for it to burst in his face, leaving a familiar burn mark on his face. Quatermass, who caught a glimpse of something alive on Marsh's face, tries to help his assistant, only for him to be taken away by the facility's guards, who force Quatermass himself to leave. When he gets nowhere with the authorities in the nearby towns, he heads back to his observatory, telling his colleague, Brand, to put the place under 24-hour guard and, after telling him what happened, goes to his old friend at Scotland Yard, Inspector Lomax. After he tells him his story, the inspector informs him that the place is a government facility for producing synthetic food and has him meet with Vincent Broadhead, a member of Parliament who's been inquiring about it himself. His meeting with Broadhead gives Quatermass the chance to see the inside of the facility, as the two of them are given passage to do so.

Once in the facility, Quatermass wastes no time in trying to find Marsh, only to learn that the place's medical center is completely empty of patients. At one point, Broadhead breaks off from the group, prompting the tour guide to try to seal them inside the airlock to one of the large domes that dot the grounds, but Quatermass manages to escape. He then comes across Broadhead, who fell into a sphere-shaped building and is covered in a black, corrosive slime that he says is the "food." The substance eventually kills him and Quatermass is forced to flee the facility when the guards come for him. He gets back to London and tells Lomax what happened, as well as that he believes the group he was with have been infected with the mark he saw on Marsh and are now under the control of an alien intelligence. Though Lomax is initially skeptical, particularly given that there's a newspaper article that claims Broadhead has left the country, despite Quatermass insisting he's dead, he gets all the proof he needs when he sees the mark on the police commissioner. Knowing they can't trust anyone, as there's no telling how many higher-ups have been infected, Quatermass and Lomax decide to try to get the word out to the public through the help of a newspaper reporter, Jimmy Hall. At his observatory, Quatermass explains that he believes the alien life-forms in the meteorite-like containers are billions of tiny organisms with a singular consciousness that can combine to become one large creature, they take control of human beings by infecting their nervous system, and the toxic slime which killed Broadhead is food for them as they combine and grow inside the domes. The two of them then take the still incredulous Hall to Winterton Flats, where they blunder into a major disaster that also results in the little town near the facility learning exactly what's happening, as a barmaid at a dance at the Community Center is infected when a container smashes through the roof and responding guards massacre Hall. Escaping, Quatermass infiltrates the facility by dressing as a dead guard and sees firsthand just how enormous the alien creatures inside the domes really are. But, he and Lomax get caught up in a battle between the guards and the rioting townspeople, forced to take cover with a group of them in the building that houses the main pressure controls. In an attempt to kill the aliens in the domes, Quatermass shuts off all the gases being pumped there, save for oxygen, which is deadly to them in large quantities, and he also reveals he has a contingency plan: Brand is to fire their nuclear-powered rocket at the orbiting asteroid the aliens are from at midnight. Despite the loss of some of the townspeople and Quatermass' personnel at the observatory, the plan ultimately works and the aliens are stopped, though the movie ends with Quatermass wondering if there won't be more such invasions.

A couple of characters from The Quatermass Xperiment do return in the sequel, but Brian Donlevy is the only returning cast member. Jack Warner was too busy to reprise his role of Inspector Lomax, so John Longden was cast in his place, bringing a more serious, less comical spin to the character, a change that Kneale, for once, approved of rather than criticized. Lomax first enters the story when Quatermass comes to him after his and Marsh's fateful encounter at Winterton Flats. Initially happy to see Quatermass, Lomax's demeanor sours when he asks about the facility, telling him it's top secret. It's only when Quatermass shows him the meteorite fragments found there and says what happened to Marsh that he becomes willing to assist, going as far as to set him up with Vincent Broadhead. Following Quatermass' adventure at the facility, which results in Broadhead's death, Lomax is still skeptical about his claims, given the official government statement in the newspaper about Broadhead having left the country. Quatermass implores him to start an investigation and he, reluctantly, goes to talk with the police commissioner about it. But, when he sees the mark Quatermass described on the commissioner's hand, Lomax realizes he is right (you'd think, after what he was witness to before, Lomax would listen to Quatermass without any hesitation). Unsure of who he can trust, Lomax decides to use the press to warn the public at large, enlisting reporter Jimmy Hall to tell the story. After Quatermass lays out his theory of what's going on and how the aliens are operating, the two of them take Hall to Winterton Flats so he can see it all for himself. There, at the small town's Community Center, Lomax tries to get the townspeople to listen to Quatermass, but they, not wanting any trouble with those at the plant, almost throw them out, when a container smashes through the roof and infects a barmaid. With the soldiers then arriving and gunning down Hall when he tries to telephone his story, Quatermass and Lomax escape, the former trying to send Lomax back to London to get the word out while he infiltrates the base. But, on his way back, Lomax runs into the rioting townspeople, who ignore his warnings to go back to their homes and take his car to reach the plant. He gets caught up in their attack on the place and is forced to take cover with them and Quatermass in the main pressure control blockhouse. There, Lomax does what he can to help Quatermass and the townspeople from harm, though ultimately, the creatures inside the domes are released, forcing them all to flee. It's only through the launch of Quatermass' rocket that the asteroid the aliens hail from is destroyed, killing those on Earth and erasing the infection. The movie ends with Lomax wondering how he's going to make a final report on it all, while Quatermass wonders just how final it could be.

Jimmy Hall (Sydney James) initially seems like he's going to be just a one-scene instance of comic relief but he turns out to be a fairly major character for a little bit. He first appears at Scotland Yard's main desk, scrounging around for any story he can use to fill up the last columns of his newspaper, when Quatermass arrives back from Winterton Flats for the second time. Hall recognizes his name, though it takes him a while to place it, as he's quite drunk at the time. He later barges in on Quatermass and Lomax after the latter has discovered the commissioner is infected with the mark, having now remembered who Quatermass is. At first, Lomax tosses him out, only to immediately call him back when he figures the press may be the best way to warn the public of what's going on. They take him to Quatermass' observatory, where the professor describes what he believes is going on, but Hall isn't very good with scientific jargon and asks to be taken to Winterton Flats himself so he can talk with other working class people like himself. Arriving at the small town near the facility, they head to the Community Center and Hall asks about what it's like working at the plant, even inquiring about how to get a job there. His questions attract some unwanted attention from the town officials, one of whom recognizes Quatermass from the other day, and they almost get thrown out, when the townspeople get a small taste of what's happening for themselves. Having seen the barmaid get infected, Hall, despite Quatermass' warnings about using the telephone, calls in his story from the center. That's when the guards show up, eventually realize what he's doing, and gun him down.

Marsh (Bryan Forbes), Quatermass' assistant, is also here again. Here, he first monitors the objects being picked up by the observatory's radar, along with Brand. When Quatermass arrives at the place, he admonishes Marsh for taking part in what he initially sees a waste of the observatory's facilities and staying up most of the night. He also has him examine the stone fragments he got from the young couple who nearly crashed into him. The next morning, Marsh informs Quatermass that his and the others' examinations has revealed the object to have a symmetrical, hollow shape, and when he learns that they came down in roughly the same general area as Winterton Flats, where the couple is said to have found them, he decides to drive out that way, with Marsh accompanying him. Upon reaching the area and finding their moon-base installation has been built there, Marsh also notices there are more fragments scattered about the remains of what was a village. Unearthing an intact object, Marsh picks it up and notes that he felt a sort of vibration inside it. Suddenly, the object breaks open, letting out a gas that sends him into a coughing fit, while Quatermass briefly spots something on his face. He collapses to the ground and Quatermass tries to help him, finding that he now has the same mark on his face as the young man from the night before. He helps him to his feet, only for him to be taken away by the guards who arrive on the scene. Marsh isn't seen again until near the end of the movie, when he appears at the observatory, under the aliens' control and accompanied by infected soldiers. They attempt to stop Brand from launching the rocket meant to destroy the aliens' home that's orbiting near the Earth but fail, even though they fatally shoot him. Marsh and the soldiers flee afterwards, though given how the object's destruction kills the aliens and seems to stop the infection, it can be assumed that he regained his senses as well.

Brand (William Franklyn) spends all of his screentime at the observatory, where he's first seen monitoring the descent of the objects with Marsh. He tries to tell Quatermass about them when he arrives there but the professor is in no mood to listen, as he's more concerned about the cancellation of their moon project. Brand shares in his despondence about it, but he disagrees with Quatermass' assertion to send an unmanned rocket with a nuclear motor out into space by remote control, saying it would be too dangerous to ever bring back down. The next day, after he, Marsh, and other assistants have reconstructed the fragments' structure, they note their symmetrical and hollow nature. Brand also shows Quatermass his estimation of where the objects from the night before ultimately landed, sending the professor on his trek to Winterton Flats. When Quatermass returns, Brand is who he goes to, telling him to put up a 24-hour guard around the base, then tells him what happened. When they examine a reconstruction of the container composed of the meteorite fragments, they both concur that its aerodynamic shape points to some sort of intelligence being behind its construction. With more objects being spotted, he decides to scan over a much longer range  and later, he informs Quatermass the source of the objects is an asteroid in orbit near the Earth. Before he goes with Lomax and Jimmy Hall to Winterton Flats, Quatermass has a private conversation with Brand about a possible contingency plan, should something happen. When they're trapped in the plant by the infected guards, Quatermass reveals to Lomax what the plan was: come midnight that night, Brand is to launch the nuclear-powered rocket at the asteroid. Brand puts the plan into motion without question when the time comes, and even though he's shot up by the infected soldiers who appear with Marsh, he uses his last bit of strength to launch the rocket and arm it for detonation.

Vincent Broadhead (Tom Chatto), a member of Parliament whom Inspector Lomax sets Quatermass up with, tells him he's also been trying to get inside the facility at Winterton Flats, though his reason is because he sees it as a massive waste of money, one that's not producing any results, as he tells Quatermass there's been no distribution whatsoever of the synthetic food they're supposedly producing. Quatermass just happens to meet up with him on the day when he finally manages to get a pass into the plant, adding that those that run the plant are not going to fool him like they did "the others." Indeed, he reveals to Quatermass others have been allowed passage into the plant and have since returned, unwilling to talk about what they saw, which Broadhead believes is them being convinced to support the project (an assessment that's not completely incorrect). Naturally, Broadhead allows Quatermass to join him in their tour of the facility. There, the two of them break off from the group to investigate the medical center, as Quatermass is searching for Marsh, and later, Broadhead breaks off by himself to see inside one of the large, sphere-shaped structures supposedly containing the food. After Quatermass escapes from the group when their guide attempts to seal them inside one of the domes' airlock, he sees Broadhead stagger out of the top of the sphere, completely covered in a black slime that burns at his skin and causes him to go blind. He collapses near Quatermass, warning him not to touch him, and tells him the substance is the "food," which he slipped and fell into. He dies shortly afterward.

Among those whom Quatermass and the others meet in the small village near the plant, one of the most significant is Sheila (Vera Day), a lovely and very lively barmaid who works at the village's Community Center when they're hosting a St. Patrick's Day dance there. She's the first person Jimmy Hall talks to about the plant and, while she doesn't care for the questions, unlike the others, she tries to get things under control when everyone else in the center tries to Quatermass, Lomax, and Hall out. One of the alien containers smashes through the ceiling and Sheila, despite Quatermass' warning about it, picks the thing up, thinking it's just a harmless "overshot," as they call the objects. As happened with Marsh, the container bursts open, she becomes infected, and is taken away to the plant, her ultimate fate unknown. Another noteworthy character among this group is Paddy Gorman (Percy Herbert), a drunken, angry man who, when Hall asks about working at the plant, rants about being out of a job now that the plant is almost finished and how they're ignored by the guards, referring to them as "zombies." He's also among those who tries to throw the group out when it's revealed that Quatermass had a run-in with the guards, but after Sheila is infected and taken away, he and a mob of the villagers storm the plant, resulting in them getting caught up in a gunfight and having to seek shelter in the main pressure control blockhouse. Also among the group are Dawson (Charles Lloyd-Pack), the camp secretary, who Quatermass met the first time he went to Winterton Flats and who brought unwanted attention on him, Lomax, and Hall at the dance, and McLeod (John Rae), both of whom feel they should cooperate with the facility's higher-ups when they try to order them to leave the blockhouse. Not believing Quatermass' claims that there are alien creatures inside the large domes on, the two of them fall for the offer to see what's inside the domes for themselves and leave the blockhouse. It turns out the aliens had a very grisly plan for them: they use their very bodies to block the flow of oxygen into the domes in an attempt to curtail Quatermass' plan to kill the creatures.

There are two other actors in the film whom fans of Hammer would immediately recognize. One is John Van Eyssen, who would go on to play Jonathan Harker in Dracula the following year. Here, he appears as an unnamed PR man and tour guide for the facility and who is clearly not right the minute you see him, given how artificial and fake his pleasant demeanor comes off. Sure enough, a glance at his wrist when he checks his watch reveals he is infected. During the tour of the plant, he refuses to answer any of Quatermass and Broadhead's question, insisting they will know everything in due time, and sternly advises them not to break off from the group. When it's discovered that Broadhead has done so by himself, the guide attempts to seal Quatermass and the rest of the tour group in an airlock, planning to infect them, but Quatermass manages to escape. The other noteworthy actor is Michael Ripper, whom fans refer to as the very face of Hammer, as he appeared in more of their films than any other actor (in other words, get used to seeing him, as he's going to be popping up a lot this month). In this case, he appears as Ernie, a bartender for the village's dance who gets caught up in the mayhem that occurs when the mob storms the facility. He and Paddy Gorman are the only members of the mob left alive by the end of the movie, as they manage to escape from the plant with Quatermass and Lomax.

As mentioned earlier, Val Guest's approach to filming Quatermass 2 was virtually the same way in which he approached the first one: intending to make a "science fact" film rather than a science fiction one, he chose to shoot in a cinema verite style, often using handheld cameras, to make it resemble a sort of newsreel. Indeed, like the first movie, it has a bit of grit to its black-and-white photography that makes it feel a little more authentic (though not as much as the first one, given that this had a bigger budget), and it also, again, has a rather dreary look to it, due to all of the outside photography that's shot under a gray, overcast sky. However, while all of the nighttime exterior scenes for The Quatermass Xperiment were actually done at night, Quatermass 2 uses a lot of day-for-night photography, particularly during the climax at the plant. While it's not as overt in black-and-white as it would have been in color, you can still recognize it and, as a result, the movie doesn't have the same kind of creepy vibe as the first one, with not as deep shadows and stark, noirish feel to the look of the movie. In fact, it kind of feels a little more like a B-movie in that regard (the fact that it's more of a typical large-scale, alien invasion sort of movie also diminishes its eeriness but we'll get into that presently), and during the action sequences during the climax, the photography can sometimes make it hard to tell what happened to who.

The larger budget meant Guest could shoot even more on location than he had before, with the most notable example of this being the Shell Haven oil refinery in Essex, which was used to represent the plant at Winterton Flats. The scenes shot there, particularly during the sequence of Quatermass and Broadhead's tour of the facility, succeed in giving the film a major feeling of scale, one that you don't often get with Hammer, and because it wasn't run by that many people, Guest found it easy to make it come off as fairly deserted when the scene called for it. He was also able to make use of the town of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, which was under construction at the time, for the small village near the plant, and it gives off the feeling that this is a tiny place that, as the villagers tell Quatermass, doesn't have a police department. Also, in the scene where Quatermass first meets Broadhead, they actually shot in the foyer of the House of Lords in London (it's actually supposed to be the House of Commons but, hey, they were still able to film on actual government property), as well as in Trafalgar Square, and the film is full of a number of beauty shots of the British landscape, most notably in the sequence where Quatermass first drives out to Winterton Flats with Marsh. And while they did shoot scenes in a studio, like the interiors of Scotland Yard and the little village's Community Center, it wasn't at Bray but rather the New Elstree Studios. Bernard Robinson, who wasn't involved at all with The Quatermass Xperiment, served as the production designer here (in fact, it was his first film for Hammer, as he worked on this before The Curse of Frankenstein, which just happened to get to theaters first by a couple of weeks), and came up with several memorable sets: the interior of the observatory at Quatermass' institute, which has a room with radar screens and a rocket control room in back, with a mock-up of the moon project on a table; the inside of the processing area for one of the domes housing the alien creatures, which has an industrial, factory feel to it, with a walkway above a larger, downstairs area where the creatures are fed into the dome; and the main pressure control blockhouse, which you can tell used one of the studio's larger stages, as did the previous set.

Like the first film, matte paintings, along with some projection screen work, were used to add just that tiny bit more scale to the story, particularly in the scenes at the plant, where Les Bowie created some truly amazing matte shots of the domes. They also did matte paintings for the wide-shots of Quatermass' institute, with the rocket in the background, and for the shot where Quatermass and Marsh first see that the facility at Winterton Flats has been built using their moon-base plans. Rear-projection was used for the driving scenes and for a view of the rocket through a window in the observatory during the launch sequence, both of which are very obvious but not to the point where it's completely distracting. In addition, the movie makes use of some larger scale creature effects than were seen previously for the huge, alien monsters contained within the domes. However, the effectiveness of this work varies from one sequence to another. The first shot of them, when the disguised Quatermass looks through a window into one of the domes, is simple but effectively unsettling, as you see this enormous, fleshy mass undulating and rising up in various spots, but it's when they break out of their domes and start rampaging through the facility during the climax that things get a little tricky. There's some good miniature work when one of the domes explodes from being hit by an anti-tank gun, and the wide shots of the creatures first emerging from the domes and when they're walking around look quite creepy, but when you get in close on them as they smash their way through the plant, they come off as uncoordinated and clumsy, and you can tell there are people stumbling around underneath those things. As much as I love giant monster action, and there are nicely-scaled miniature buildings that the creatures smash and blow up during their rampage, it's obvious from watching that was far from Hammer's strong suit (then again, at this point, I haven't seen X the Unknown, so who knows?).

In terms of monster makeup, Phil Leakey didn't have as much to do here as he did in either The Quatermass Xperiment or The Curse of Frankenstein. His main task was creating the distinctive marks seen on those who've been infected by the aliens, which are jagged V-shapes, often accompanied by an ugly blister. There's also the rather gruesome moment where Broadhead stumbles down one of the plant's containment structures, covered in a toxic, black, tar-like slime that's supposedly the synthetic food being produced there. You see the stuff steaming, with Broadhead leaving a streak of it on the structure's wall as he makes his way down, screaming in agony, and when he collapses in front of Quatermass, you get a really good look at the slime, which Broadhead says has blinded him and is burning horribly, before he finally dies from its toxicity (filming that scene took such a long time that, when it was over, Tom Chatto joked about having a talk with his wife, who was a casting director, about having put him in the movie). There's only one moment of actual bloodletting, which is when three of the men are used to block the pipe that's pumping oxygen into one of the domes. The pipe inside the blockhouse bursts and blood drips out of the crack, which isn't that gruesome in black-and-white but the idea that they were used as makeshift plug, complete with their screams reverberating through the pipes, is a grisly thought.

While Quatermass 2 is a movie I do get enjoyment out of, I don't find it to be as classic or rewatchable as the first one and the biggest reason is because it's not as creepy. Whereas The Quatermass Xperiment was definitely a sci-fi/horror film, with significant touches of a suspense thriller, this is a more of a sci-fi/action thriller that briefly becomes a giant monster movie during its climax and, as a result, doesn't have the same palpable mood and atmosphere. Mind you, it should, given how a big part of the story is the unseen but ever-growing reach of the aliens' influence, which goes as far as to include Marsh and some of the higher-ups in London's government and law enforcement and, as in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, leaves Quatermass and Inspector Lomax leery of who they can trust, but it doesn't go any farther than Lomax discovering the police commissioner has been taken over and Marsh showing up near the end to stop the launch of the rocket. Some more instances of trusted characters turning out to have been infected, like Jimmy Hall or one of Quatermass' other assistants at the observatory, could have added to it significantly. Also, the big scale of this story is less unsettling to me than it was watching Victor Carroon slowly lose himself to the life-form that was taking over his body and mind as he wandered throughout London. While both movies make it clear that the threat the characters have encountered could endanger the entire planet, it felt more frightening in the first film, especially when the monster Carroon became was leaving behind living remnants of itself and was threatening to cover the Earth in its infectious spores, causing more people to go through a similar transformation. And finally, small, meteorite-like containers housing tiny alien creatures that can take control of people and come together to form enormous monsters is a potentially scary concept but, again, it never reaches its potential and isn't as affecting as the first movie's concept.

The movie wastes no time, as the first thing you see when it starts up is a car racing along a country road in the dead of night. The driver, a young woman, tells her boyfriend, Chris, who's injured, with a burn mark on his face, to hold on as they come to the main road. Chris, seemingly delirious, grabs the wheel and turns it, causing his girlfriend to lose control of the car. They speed straight across the main road, nearly hitting another car coming at them from the opposite direction, and end up in a ditch on the side. The driver of the other car, Prof. Quatermass himself, angrily storms out at them, asking if they're trying to commit suicide. He then sees the burn mark on Chris' face, as the girl tells him that that's what made him delirious. She tells Quatermass he got burned about an hour ago, while the professor notes he's never seen such a burn before. She hands Quatermass a small sack of rocks, saying they're what burned Chris, and adds that they went out to Winterton Flats for a picnic when it happened. She also mentions they heard a "falling" noise before Chris was burned. Chris lets out a pained, gasping yell, and Quatermass attempts to help the girl get the car back on the road. Suddenly, Chris disembarks and runs back the way they came, only stopping when he slips and falls. Quatermass and the girl help him to his feet. Thinking he's suffering from shock, Quatermass offers to get them into his car but the girl insists they can manage on their own. He helps her get Chris back into her car and get it back on the road.

Later that night, at the observatory for the British-American Rocket Group, two of Quatermass' assistants, Marsh and Brand, are tracking scores of slow-descending objects that don't appear to be meteorites. The signals peter out and fade as suddenly as they appeared, Brand figuring it's because they hit the ground. He estimates they came down in an area 90 to 100 miles to the north, and the two of them reset the scanner to double-check. Quatermass arrives and is not at all happy to see the radar dish atop the building moving far out of the range it's supposed to be set to. Bursting inside, he angrily admonishes the two of them, adding that Marsh had no right to take part in a project that might keep him up all night long. He gives Marsh the stones to analyze, saying they may be meteorite fragments, and then reveals to Brand that they're not going to receive any more funding for their moon-base project, as other projects are thought to be far more important. He reluctantly admits he's going to do what they told him and restudy atomic theory to find out where he went wrong, "Without spending money." Brand follows Quatermass outside, the two of them looking at the one rocket they've managed to build, and argue over its safety for launch due to its nuclear-powered engine. Quatermass makes it clear he intends to launch and bring back the rocket a hundred times if it means making the moon-base project a reality. He then heads down to the launching area, while Brand heads back inside. The next morning, a bleary-eyed, fatigued Quatermass arrives back at the observatory, when Marsh tells him they analyzed the fragments and have found that the thing has a definite shape. He follows Marsh into a room where Brand and another man comment they've discovered the whole object has a symmetrical, hollow shape to it. When Quatermass mentions that he found it the night before, Brand and Marsh remember the objects they picked up on radar and show him the rough area where they believe they came down. Quatermass notes that Winterton Flats, the place where the young couple had been, is in the area. He decides to drive out there and see for himself, telling Marsh to get the car. He also tells the one assistant to make a reconstruction of how the object may have looked before it entered Earth's atmosphere.

Quatermass and Marsh drive for the better part of the day, eventually taking a detour off the main road that leads them onto a bumpy, unpaved one heading into an area of patchy woods and grassy fields. They come across a new road under construction, one with a sign that reads, "GOVERNMENT PROPERTY," and another nearby that says, "KEEP OUT." The new road appears to have had a good number of heavy vehicles coming through, as Marsh notices some tire tracks, as well as another route that heads off to the left. They keep following the road they're on, when it suddenly dead-ends. Quatermass decides to go back and try the other road they saw; as they turn around, they don't notice the armed figures emerge from the woods beyond the dead-end. Taking the other road, they drive for a while longer, when Quatermass suddenly stops the car in an area where the road runs along the edge of a steep slope. The two of them get out and Marsh sees why Quatermass stopped: at the bottom of the slope is an installation that is their proposed moon-base, right down to the very last detail. Trying to tell himself that it's just a massive coincidence, Quatermass walks down the slope to get a better look, when Marsh notes the ruins of a village around them and they figure it must be what's left of Winterton Flats itself. He then notices that the ground is littered with meteorite fragments that are identical to the one back at the observatory. They look around and examine them, when they hear a siren start up nearby. Quatermass decides they'd best go and explain themselves to those who run the place, when Marsh uncovers a totally intact object under a patch of earth. Examining it, he sees it hasn't even cracked, when he then says that he felt a type of vibration within. Suddenly, the object lets out a loud hiss and starts billowing gas, causing Marsh to cough uncontrollably. He doubles over and falls on his back, holding his face, as Quatermass rushes to his aid. He mentions he saw something on Marsh's face for a brief second and, when he removes Marsh's hand, he sees a burn mark like the one he saw the night before.

The siren continues and several jeeps full of men are dispatched to the spot. Quatermass helps Marsh up, when he sees a vehicle pull up nearby. He turns to see another vehicle parked nearby, with men disembarking, and then realizes they're surrounded, as there are more men approaching from a nearby hill, all of whom have weapons drawn on them. Another jeep pulls up on the road next to them and the men get out and head towards them. Quatermass asks them to help get Marsh back to their car and they take him away. Quatermass then tries to explain what happened, when he notices a soldier examining the spot behind him with a Geiger counter-like device. He asks if they know what the objects are, when he sees that the man in front of him has the same burn on his face. The guard walks down to the spot where the one man is using the scanning device, only for him to shake his head at him. Quatermass demands to know who they are and what's going on, following them back up the slope. Seeing that Marsh is being taken away, Quatermass tries to accompany him, only for the guard in front of him to hit him in the face with the butt of his rifle, sending him tumbling down the slope. Two other guards get him on his feet and walk him back to his car, which they turn around so that it's facing the direction from which he came. With no emotion in his voice, a guard tells Quatermass, "Go. Go now." Reluctantly. Quatermass gets into the car, the guard shutting his door, and he drives off, as they all stand there and watch.

Quatermass drives to a nearby village and, upon learning it has no police department, goes to meet with the Camp Committee at the town's Community Center. Inside the center, which is an almost totally empty building, save for the camp secretary, Dawson, sitting at a desk while an assistant takes dictation, Quatermass asks about the facility. Dawson's demeanor goes from pleasant to rather defensive, saying that the townspeople are working there in construction and have been asked to keep quiet in return. Quatermass tells him what happened with Marsh but Dawson's only concern is that he made trouble with the plant's guards. Quatermass then attempts to call the police station at the nearby town of Frawley in order to ensure Marsh's safety but Dawson stops him, telling him to go talk to them in public but not to phone them. He and his secretary also tell Quatermass that they won't do anything to help him anyway. When he gets nowhere with the police at Frawley, Quatermass heads back to the observatory, arriving there that night. Brand tells him that more of the objects from the previous night were spotted, when Quatermass orders him to put on a 24-hour guard immediately. After Brand tells a female secretary, Kelly, to get Michaels and Peterson over there right away, Quatermass explains what happened, that the "meteorites" are actually a sort of container, the moon-base has been built there, and Marsh is being held there. He adds that he's going to speak with Scotland Yard the next day. Later, Quatermass examines the reconstruction of what the objects look like before they hit the atmosphere and he and Brand realize that it's aerodynamic design means there was some sort of intelligence behind it. Brand is then called back into the observatory's main control room, where he's told there are more objects being detected. He decides to completely readjust the radar antenna to scan over a long range.

The next day, while he's driving to Scotland Yard, Quatermass stops at a red light at Trafalgar Square and spots a convoy of trucks carrying heavy equipment. Once at Scotland Yard, he meets with Inspector Lomax and asks him about Winterton Flats. Initially, Lomax refuses to divulge what goes on there, saying it's top secret, but then, Quatermass gives him the pieces of one of the objects. Later, he finally tells Quatermass it's a government project for developing synthetic food and sets him up with Vincent Broadhead, arranging for the two of them to meet at the House of Commons within an hour. There, Quatermass learns from Broadhead about Winterton Flats' sordid history and that, after three months of waiting, he's been granted permission to see the place for himself. A PR man arrives with Broadhead's pass and asks if he may bring Quatermass along. The man agrees and Quatermass and Broadhead head off to have lunch before joining up with the inspection party in an hour. Looking at his watch, the man yells at them to be on time, as they have a tight schedule... and a shot of his wrist shows the same mark on him. Within an hour, Quatermass and Broadhead join the inspection party, heading out in a couple of cars.

Arriving at the plant, the PR man takes Quatermass and Broadhead's passes to the guards at the main gate, allowing the cars to pass through. They drive into the heart of the place before stopping and disembarking. The PR man then leads them on, tapping his watch to, again, indicate they're on a schedule, when some workers walk by them and wolf-whistle at the young woman who's part of the group. Broadhead comments, "Certainly nothing abnormal about them." Quatermass then spots a small building nearby that reads, "MEDICAL CENTER," on its front and goes to look inside, Broadhead joining him. At that moment, the guide realizes the two of them have separated from the group and tells the others to wait as he goes to fetch them. Inside the medical center, Quatermass and Broadhead are greeted by a rather stern doctor, who demands to know what they want. Quatermass asks if they have any patients and, while the doctor insists they don't, he shoves his way through the double-doors to the infirmary. To his dismay, he finds nothing but a room of empty beds. Undeterred, he asks the doctor if anyone was brought in the day before but is again told no. The guide then appears, advising them not to break off from the group and has them rejoin the others. He also ignores Quatermass' attempts to ask him about Marsh, insisting that all questions will be answered in due time. Once they're all back together, the guide insists they continue on in order to keep to their schedule, saying they will see the entire plant and, when asked about the giant domes, tells the others all questions will eventually be answered. The tour continues and, when they ask, they're told that the raw product of the synthetic food is pumped through large pipes into the domes where it "matures." They come upon a large, sphere-shaped structure, on which Broadhead spots an inspection door. He attempts to have a look but the guide stops him, again saying he'll see everything later. The woman in the group asks if they're going to see inside one of the domes and she's told that's where they're going. They're then led inside a building adjoining one of the domes, which the guide says is an airlock, and head across a walkway. The guide tells them they'll be taken to the downstairs area, when Quatermass spots three men down below putting on gas masks. When he asks, he's told it's merely part of the process. The guide tries to hurry them along, when he notices that Broadhead isn't with them. He rushes back to the door and, looking over the railing, hits a button next to it, which causes it to slowly close. He says it's a "safety precaution" but Quatermass, not being fooled, rushes to the door. The guide tries to stop him but Quatermass is able to fight him off and slips out. With that, the guide forces the others to head downstairs.

Quatermass flees from the dome and shouts for Broadhead, his calls echoing through the place. He does so several times but gets no answer and sees no sign of Broadhead, until he arrives back at the structure he was curious about earlier. Looking up, he sees Broadhead emerge from the top of the sphere, completely covered in a steaming, black slime and yelling and coughing as he stumbles back down the stairway leading up to it, leaving a streak of the stuff on the side of it. He nearly falls when he reaches the ground and stumbles toward Quatermass, yelling at him not to touch him. He finally collapses and rolls to a spot at the structure's base. Again telling Quatermass not to touch him, he tells him he tried to find out what was inside the sphere and he fell in. Saying that he can't see, he says the substance he's covered in is the "food" and that it burns horribly. Just as Quatermass is about to go for help, Broadhead yells and coughs once more before expiring. Quatermass hears a siren and the sound of whistles blowing and realizes the guards are coming for him. He runs across the length of the large pipes that line the place, ducking to hide from a patrol at one point, and, heading back to the cars, has to hide behind a large tank to avoid some more guards. Once they've passed, he runs for the cars, only to get shot at by a sentry on a very high walkway. Three more fire at him from elsewhere, as he uses one car as cover and makes his way to the other one, which he manages to commandeer. He drives it off the plant's grounds, several more guards firing at him, and heads back towards the main gate. He gets there just as they're opening the gate up to allow a large truck in but decides to go for it anyway, gunning the car to the truck's right side. A guard jumps up on the side of the truck to get out of his way and then, he, along with some other guards, fire on Quatermass, but he manages to escape.

Once he's back in London, Quatermass goes straight to Inspector Lomax and tells him he needs to call a large-scale emergency action, before going on to describe what happened at Winterton Flats. He tells him the group he was with have likely been infected in the same way Marsh was and that Broadhead is dead. For emphasis, he shows him a section of his coat he had to cut off, as some of the slime that killed Broadhead got splashed onto him. In response, Lomax shows him a newspaper with the headline, VINCENT BROADHEAD LEAVES ON TRADE MISSION, but Quatermass insists it's a lie and was printed to cover up his death. Though Lomax has a hard time believing it, he decides to see the commissioner, per Quatermass' imploring. Lomax enters the commissioner's office and sits down across from his desk. Just as he's about to tell him what's going on, Lomax stops dead when he sees a strange mark on the commissioner's right hand. Trying not to arouse suspicion, he mentions another case, asking for his advice on it, and then promptly leaves the room. Back in Lomax's own office, Quatermass receives a phone call he's been waiting on: it's Brand, who tells him they've traced the source of the objects to an asteroid-like body orbiting the Earth, remaining invisible through a state of eclipse. He's then rejoined by Lomax, who asks him to describe the mark he saw on Marsh. When he does, Lomax confesses he's just seen it, when they suddenly hear and see the doorknob turning. However, it turns out to be drunken Jimmy Hall, who just now remembered who Quatermass is after having seen him when he first came in. Lomax throws him out, only to then realize that their best bet would be to inform the public at large through the press and calls him back in. Telling him they're going to give him the biggest story of his life, Lomax has Quatermass take them and Hall to his observatory.

At the observatory, Quatermass shows them a radar screen that's detecting the circling asteroid. He goes on to give them an explanation about how the aliens may truly originate from a planet where toxic gases like ammonia and methane serve as atmosphere, that they're millions of small organisms that can accumulate to form gigantic masses, and when they arrive on Earth in the containers, they must seek shelter inside a human host or die from the new atmospheric effects. Hall, however, isn't able to follow Quatermass' scientific jargon, and so, Quatermass describes what he believes was the escalation of the invasion: first random landings, then the taking of Winterton Flats and the government research facility, before moving on to possibly infecting the entire planet. Still needing to hear it from ordinary, working class people like himself, Hall decides he wants to visit Winterton Flats at once and talk with the townspeople who work at the plant. Conceding, Quatermass sends Hall and Lomax outside to wait for him, as he makes arrangements for an alternative plan. Once they leave the room, Quatermass tells Brand to put double guards on every part of the base and says he wants to talk with him privately in the control room. Before he does, he goes out to the entrance and has Kelly get the laboratory on the line. When he speaks with them, the one chemist tells him they've just finished their analysis of the black slime and that it's a concentrated ammonia corrosive. After he hangs up the phone, Quatermass sends Kelly outside to see if the car is ready and, when they're alone, tells Lomax and Hall that the slime is deadly to everything on the planet. However, he does think it is food... meant for whatever is inside the enormous domes at the plant.

That night, a St. Patrick's Day dance is being held at the small Community Center in the town near the plant and everybody there is dancing and drinking plenty of booze. When Quatermass, Lomax, and Hall show up, the first person the latter talks to is Sheila, the very energetic, free-spirited barmaid. He asks her about work at the plant, when Lomax notices that Dawson, who's standing nearby, appears to recognize Quatermass, and he goes and informs another man, McLeod, about it. Hall then asks Ernie, the bartender, about working conditions at the plant, and he says that it couldn't be better, adding, "Do you know what they pay in unskilled labor?" Dawson and McLeod show up and ask about their inquiries regarding the plant, when the very drunk and bitter Paddy Gorman barges in, saying they're all working on short time and that the jobs will be gone since construction of the plant is nearly finished. Despite the others telling him to be quiet, Gorman goes on complaining about the "zombies" who run the place, when Hall makes the mistake of asking what's in the domes. That's when Dawson reveals he knows Quatermass, telling the others he got into trouble with the guards the other day. Not wanting the same kind of trouble, they attempt to throw the trio out, when Lomax decides to make a formal announcement. He goes to the small stage in the back of the center and yells for everyone's attention, telling them to turn the music off before asking that they listen to what Quatermass has to say. Quatermass and Hall join Lomax and, despite attempts from Dawson to make him out to be a spy, Quatermass tells them that poison rather than synthetic food is what's being produced at the plant. This prompts jeers from the crowd, one of whom throws a bottle at them, and everyone turns on the three, forcing them to the door. Before they can be thrown out, there's a loud crash in back and a woman keels over after letting out a yell. Everyone heads back there to see what happened, and while the woman is moved off the stage, Hall notices a large hole in the ceiling. He and Quatermass note a depression in the floor, which Gorman writes off as nothing more than an "overshot." While the others see to the woman, who was merely frightened, Sheila goes to have a look at the hole and explains to them that "overshots" are what they call large stones that fall outside the plant. Having seen enough, Quatermass and Lomax order everyone out of the building, the former telling skeptics that these things are not as harmless as they appear. That's when Hall points at the back of the building...

...where Sheila has removed the stone from under the floorboards. Horrified, Quatermass tells her to put it down slowly but Sheila, still thinking it's harmless, puts her ear to it. He, again, tells her to put it on the floor and she does, when it bursts open, causing her to jump back. As they watch, she starts to pant heavily, when the tell-tale mark appears on the upper part of her chest. Gorman and Lomax rush to her aid, while Quatermass simply informs Dawson to call a doctor. While everyone else moves Sheila away from the stage and sets her down on a cleared table, Quatermass and Lomax head outside, where they hear a high-pitched, whipping sort of sound. Quatermass says that the objects are coming down by the hundreds. Lomax goes to fetch Hall, who's using the telephone to get his story out. He tells Quatermass of this, who exclaims that he told Hall not to use the telephone. Before they can stop him, they spot a couple of jeeps coming their way and quickly duck out of sight. The soldiers park near the center and disembark, using the same device as before to find the missing object. Seeing them come in and head to the back, where they find the cracked stone, Hall continues to phone in his story, albeit more discreetly, while Gorman demands the soldiers tell them what happened to Sheila. As Quatermass and Lomax watch from outside, Hall ducks down behind the bar, continuing to give out the details of the invasion, when one of the soldiers spots him and points him out to his comrades. Seeing this, he doesn't even try to hide anymore, and when he attempts to quickly get the rest of his story out, the soldiers open fire on him, throwing him back against the bar. He slumps down to his front, when they shoot him again for good measure, and he slowly collapses to the floor out of sight. Lomax attempts to rush inside but Quatermass stops him, saying there's nothing he can do now, and the two of them pile in the car. Quatermass decides to drive to the plant, and they're fired upon as they leave.

On their way, Quatermass and Lomax see more soldiers on the side of the road. Quatermass is so distracted by this that he doesn't see a vehicle stopped in the road ahead and ends up running over the soldier who was standing there, preparing to shoot them. They pull over and get out to have a look at the soldier's body, hearing more soaring overhead and seeing squads nearby. Spying the back of the truck, Quatermass sees some large containers filled with the gases the aliens live on and figure it's how the soldiers transport them back to the domes. He then tells Lomax to get back to London and try to make people believe him. Quatermass begins removing the dead soldier's uniform and equipment, planning to get inside the plant to see if he can do something. While Lomax isn't keen on this plan, he hears the ever-approaching squads and runs back to the car. Elsewhere, a mob of the townspeople, led by Dawson, McLeod, and Gorman, make their way towards the plant, outraged over Sheila having been taken away and Hall getting gunned down. They see a car coming towards them and block its way, but it turns out to be Lomax. They tell him what they're planning and he tries to make them turn around and go back to their homes, but makes the mistake of getting out of the car. Instantly, they swarm the car, intending to use it to reach the plant faster and pay no mind to Lomax's pleas. Meanwhile, Quatermass, disguised as a soldier, has joined up with one of the squads, as it heads back to the plant. Arriving there, he walks inside the airlock of one of the domes, which is abuzz with activity, as soldiers unload the containers and prepare to distribute the contents into the dome in the downstairs area. There, Quatermass walks among the soldiers, watching them do their job, and decides to finally see what's inside the dome. Peering through a window in the wall, he sees an enormous, undulating mass that fills the entire volume of the dome's floor. Taken aback by this sight, he slowly backs away from the window. His actions gets the attention of one of the soldiers, who points him out to a couple of others. All but convinced that he isn't who appears to be, they're about to advance on him, when an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, telling all personnel to head to Gate 4 with their weapons. They then forget about the possible intruder and join the others as they head out.

As the siren goes off, squadrons of soldiers head to Gate 4, where the townspeople are quickly approaching, with Quatermass' car in their center. Lomax pushes his way to the front of the mob, where Gorman is banging on the gate with a club, demanding to talk with the management. Again, he tries to talk them into going home but it still proves useless. The voice over the loudspeaker warns them to clear the gate as a couple of jeeps from the outside head towards it, but once the gate is open, the mob takes the opportunity to push forward. A massive riot breaks out, with Gorman and another man disarming a couple of soldiers and using their weapons against them. Caught up in the craziness, Lomax has no choice but to defend himself and grab some weapons too. The now armed mob heads into the heart of the place, several of them getting shot from behind, as more and more guards are dispatched, with orders to kill on sight; amidst the chaos, Quatermass, still in his disguise, heads elsewhere. The soldiers take up positions on the walkways and fire on the mob as they continue their assault. More of them are shot down and one group, led by Gorman, try to find cover. After shooting one guard outside of a door, they run inside the building, dragging the body inside and closing the door. Two guards up on a walkway behind them are about to fire, when another one suddenly turns on his comrades and shoots them. The rogue guard immediately reveals himself to be Quatermass to the remainders of the group: Lomax, Gorman, Dawson, McLeod, Ernie, and a couple of other men.

Lomax and Ernie run up to the walkway, taking the dead guards' guns, and Ernie is told to cover the window. Gorman points out a locker down below that's marked as containing emergency weapons and he and another man try to get it open. With a lull in the fighting, Lomax then tells Quatermass that, obviously, he wasn't able to contact anyone. The gunfight is still going on outside and Dawson, in a panic, tries to head back out but Gorman stops him. He says they won't attack them while they're in the building, which happens to be the main pressure control blockhouse, where the controls for the domes are housed. Heading back up to the walkway, Quatermass looks at a panel next to the window with a series of gauges and valves, which he sees feed ammonia, hydrogen, methane, and oxygen into the domes. Realizing the oxygen could be meant as a way to acclimatize the creatures, he has Lomax and Gorman help him in cutting off the supply of all the gases, save for the oxygen, hoping it will kill them. Ernie shoots outside the window, saying the guards are starting to move in, and an announcement is made over the loudspeaker, telling them to lay down their weapons and leave the building. Ernie fires on the soldiers outside, as the voice over the loudspeaker, again, tells them to abandon their weapons and come out. Gorman runs to the window and yells, "Come out and be shot to bits, is that it?!" Dawson suggests they do what they're told but Quatermass says they have to hold the blockhouse until the oxygen takes effect. Everyone wants to know what's inside the domes and he tells them: enormous alien creatures that can also infect human beings. The voice continues to demand they abandon the blockhouse, again saying they won't be harmed, while Quatermass figures it could take hours for the oxygen to kill the creatures and that more will come until the asteroid they originate from is destroyed. Lomax asks him what his contingency plan was and Quatermass says it was to use his rocket as a makeshift nuclear bomb to destroy it, adding that Brand is to fire it if he hears nothing from him before midnight.

At the observatory, Brand prepares to do exactly that, despite Peterson being incredulous about it. Inside, he makes a call to Michaels, telling him they're launching, and he and Peterson head into the control room, where he makes an announcement for everyone to clear the base for firing. Though he admits he has no idea the thing won't blow up before it lifts off, Brand makes the final preparations for the launch, with Peterson helping. Suddenly, Marsh bursts into the room, much to their surprise, accompanied by a group of soldiers who incapacitate Peterson by grabbing him and flinging him to the floor. Brand is then ordered to come with them and motions to do so, only to quickly turn around and run for the launch controls. He's instantly sprayed with bullets but manages to hit the lever regardless, activating the rocket, which shakes the base as it begins its launch. Marsh and the soldiers exit the building, while Brand, using the little strength he has left, crawls over the control panel and manages to push the lever that will set the rocket for detonation, before succumbing to his injuries. Back at Winterton Flats, the group manages to pry open the locker containing the emergency weapons, which they see are more rifles and anti-tank guns. Up on the walkway, Ernie says that somebody is shooting off flares into the sky. Hearing this, Quatermass runs up to the walkway and looks out the window. Seeing a small, glowing object streaking through the sky, he tells Ernie that, rather than a flare, "It's the one thing that may save us... and humanity."

Some time later, the plant is eerily quiet, with no sign of any activity, as the group continues to hold up in the blockhouse. A few of them are getting impatient and wondering what the soldiers could be up to, while Lomax asks Quatermass what would happen if they hit one of the domes with their anti-tank guns. He says that they wouldn't be able to stop whatever came out and that it's best to slowly poison them to death. Gorman, Dawson, McLeod, and the others down below are getting impatient and still don't believe what Quatermass has been saying about what's in the domes or about launching the rocket. The voice comes over the loudspeaker again, telling them the oxygen being pumped into the domes will destroy what they've helped to create and that anyone who's been injured will receive treatment. Dawson and McLeod are about to comply, ignoring Lomax when he tries to stop them, as they've not been shown any proof of what Quatermass says is in the domes. McLeod gets on the phone down below and asks to be connected with those in charge, as well as that they want to know what's in the domes. Quatermass rushes downstairs and tries to stop him, when the voice tells them there's nothing alive in the domes and that they can see inside for themselves. Quatermass and Lomax try to warn him that it's a trick, but Gorman pulls Quatermass off McLeod and holds him back at gunpoint, while another man does the same to Lomax. McLeod accepts their offer and he's told to meet them outside of Dome 3 in two minutes. He, Dawson, and another man head out, ignoring Quatermass' warning that they'll be infected. Gorman tells Ernie to cover them from the window, just in case, and the remaining three join him up there, watching through the window. They see the men meet up with two people who aren't in uniform, who lead them towards the dome. Though it looks okay, Quatermass and Lomax are sure they're going to be infected and warn them that, if their voices come over the loudspeaker, not to listen to them. Suddenly, a series of horrific screams echoes through the pipes, followed by some loud thudding sounds. The voice comes back over the loudspeaker but Quatermass tells them they need to prepare for anything and must put on the dead guards' gas masks. One of the pipes bursts, leaking out oxygen, and a gauge shows enormous pressure in Dome 3, meaning it must be blocked on the other end. Blood starts dripping out of the crack in the pipe and they realize that the aliens actually used Dawson, McLeod, and the other man's bodies to block the pipe. Enraged at this, Gorman and Ernie fire on the dome, as Quatermass and Lomax futilely try to stop them, when Ernie manages to blow it up with his anti-tank gun. They start hacking and coughing when they're hit by the backdraft of gases from it and Quatermass tells them to get the gas masks on.

With his mask on, Quatermass looks out the window and sees the gigantic, alien creatures emerging from the destroyed dome, one of which starts right at them, smashing everything in its path. They have to carry the one man, who lost consciousness, to the floor below, when the monster smashes through the wall behind the walkway. They flee through the door, Gorman grabbing some extra weapons from the locker and firing on it before joining the others. The monster smashes through the plant's architecture, causing explosions all around, as it chases the group. A group of soldiers get crushed by it, before it pushes over a pair of smoke stacks, causing another huge explosion. Meanwhile, the group has to shoot their way through some other soldiers, as they head for a nearby truck, knocking the driver out. Quatermass and Lomax then realize the man they've been carrying is dead and leave him behind, joining the others in the truck. Gorman drives them towards the closed gate and crashes through it, setting off the alarm. Realizing the guard who was in the truck is still alive, Quatermass determines to keep him, saying they need him as proof of what happened. Gorman stops by the side of the room and they see that the monsters are in pain from the oxygen-rich atmosphere they've been exposed to. Up in the sky, Quatermass' rocket makes contact with the asteroid, lighting the night up briefly. The monsters suddenly keel over onto the remains of the plant, causing a huge explosion. Quatermass tells them to take cover, as a hurricane-like force of wind comes at them, strong enough to push the truck on its side and nearly topple it over. Then, the air quickly subsides and everyone gets to their feet and removes their masks. Quatermass declares it's over, when he and Lomax see that the soldier they had with him has awakened and gotten to his feet. He stands around in a daze and the others rush to help him, when Ernie sees the mark which was on his face is gone, meaning that all of the victims are likely being freed from it. While Ernie and Gorman help the man to safety, Quatermass and Lomax glance at the burning remains of the plant down below. Lomax comments, "You know what worries me? How am I going to make a final report about all this?", to which Quatermass responds, "What worries me is how final can it be?"

James Bernard returned to score the sequel, this time composing much more music than he had for The Quatermass Xperiment. In keeping with the film itself, the score, though composed entirely of strings and percussion, is less dreary and unsettling and is designed more to be either suspenseful or exciting, opening up with a constant, driving piece that changes in tenor as it goes on and later creating a fairly thrilling action theme, with drumming behind frantic strings, for the mob storming the plant. Bernard also comes up with an understated string piece as a leitmotif for the alien infection, which you hear when someone is revealed to have the mark; a low, gloomy bit that plays when Quatermass and Marsh drive to Winterton Flats; and a big, overbearing theme for the giant monsters that figure into the movie's ending. Really, the only part of the score that hearkens back to the original's chilling atmosphere is the main title theme, which is made up of freakish, high-pitched strings that oscillate in pitch and climb as the theme progresses.

All in all, while not as strong as its predecessor, Quatermass 2 is certainly an enjoyable sequel with plenty of good ingredients: good acting and memorable characters, nice direction by Val Guest, impressive production values that make for memorable location work and sets, some instances of well-done effects work, a handful of grisly moments and implications, fun action and chase sequences, and a well-done music score. However, where the movie falters is that its story isn't as powerful and chilling as that of the first film, and there are some moments where the special effects could have been done better, most notably in the very clumsy and awkward performances of the giant monsters at the end. It still makes for an entertaining watch and goes at a pretty good pace during its 81-minute running time, but I would put it sort of in the middle of the scale for Hammer's films (high middle, mind you).