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A rocket ship returns to earth, but two of the pilots are missing and the third is inexplicably ill and unable to speak. Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy), who sent the men into space without the government’s consent, is eager to find answers. That becomes difficult, however, when the trip’s lone survivor escapes captivity and begins mutating into something… unhuman.
The Quatermass Xperiment (aka The Creeping Unknown) is the film that lifted Britain’s Hammer Films out of relative obscurity and began their legacy as the world’s premiere genre film producers for the next twenty years. Director Val Guest (The Abominable Snowman, Yesterday’s Enemy) keeps a good pace as the mystery unfolds, revealing an alien parasite that has stowed away on the rocket, now threatening the planet. Guest refrains from showing the monster until the very end, but it’s a satisfying reveal. Before then, he adopts an approach similar to Val Lewton (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie), using shadow and insinuation to build suspense. The creature’s attack on several zoo animals is a standout scene that takes this approach.
The character of Quatermass and Donlevy’s overly-gruff performance do the film no favors. Richard Wordsworth gives a commendable performance as the mute, afflicted astronaut. If the script had allowed him to speak or better communicate his agony, perhaps even make him the main character, The Quatermass Xperiment would be considerably more compelling. But even without diving deeper into its dramatic potential, it’s a well-made and memorable sci-fi horror flick from an era that produced countless more forgettable imitators.
With Jack Warner and Margia Dean, who is badly dubbed in the U.S. version of the film. Based on a BBC television play by Nigel Kneale.