‘Quatermass’ Ushered In A New Wave Of British Films In The Fifties… Perhaps It Could Again?

By Jonathan Sothcott.

In pre-Doctor Who fifties Britain, Quatermass was the biggest name in Science Fiction. The BBC series The Quatermass Experiment had emptied pubs up and down the country as people scrambled to get home and watch the latest episode. In the post-war error of soft horror and sci-fi movies, it was something different: something with an edge. Hammer Films, then a steady but unremarkable producer of black and white thrillers, picked up the movie rights for a song and Nigel Kneale began adapting and condensing his story of a mutating astronaut for the big screen.

The resultant movie – brilliantly directed by Val Guest and starring American actor Brian Donlevy (whom Kneale reportedly hated, but whose box office appeal was enough to open the picture internationally) as Quatermass and Richard Wordsworth as Caroon, the unfortunate astronaut, was a huge success. Granted an adult only ‘X’ certificate by the British Board of Film Censors, it was released as The Quatermass Xperiment in a brilliant marketing move and almost immediately spawned a sequel, Quatermass 2, as well as an unofficial companion piece by Hammer (X – The Unknown) and a number of inferior immitations.

There is no doubt that the success of these X-rated pictures directly paved the way for the explosion of the technicolour Hammer Horror explosion, spearheaded by The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula a few years later, making them a pivotal influence on the next two decades of British cinema. A third Quatermass film – Quatermass and The Pit, would follow towards the end of the sixties but despite being the best of the series (and one of if not the best British science fiction films ever made) it was a little out of time in a world preparing for more relatable horrors such as Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary’s Baby.

There have been subsequent attempts to resurrect the franchise since – a disappointing TV conclusion starring John Mills; a radio memoir and even a reboot starring Jason Flemyng and David Tennant but none of them caught fire.

The big news this week, however, is that the revived Hammer, now best known for The Woman in Black, has teamed with Legendary to make a new Quatermass movie. It has been touted for 20 years of course – in the 90s the late Roy Skeggs, then Hammer chairman, talked of a Quatermass & The Pit remake set in the New York subways starring Sean Connery. The new Hammer is no false prophet or wishful thinker, however – the company has repeatedly demonstrated respect for its legacy mixed with shrewd box office nous. Make no mistake: Quatermass is coming home and this is great news for the British Film Industry.

Quatermass is a brilliant character – a grumpy, anti-establishment scientist – more Tony Stark than Doctor Who and there is the potential for a massive franchise here. And maybe, just maybe, for the second time in nearly 65 years, Hammer Films is about to usher in a new wave of British Cinema. Their films got people away from the novelty of television and into cinemas on a regular basis. As Martin Scorsese said – if we saw the name Hammer we knew it was going to be a special film. All power to your elbow boys – I’ll be first in line for the new Quatermass film.

Jonathan Sothcott is a British Film Producer who regularly cites Hammer Films as a major influence. He owns Hereford Films www.herefordfilms.co.uk.