Review: X – The Unknown

Soldiers at a quarry dealing with the handling of radioactive materials are badly burned when a huge crack opens in the ground under them. Dean Jagger is a scientist at a nearby research facility who looks into the incident. Before long a series of attacks leave the victims badly burned if not completely melted. What on Earth – or anywhere else perhaps – is going on here? Anthony Newley and Michael Ripper play soldiers, Leo McKern is an investigator, John Harvey plays a military Major, and William Lucas plays Jagger’s right-hand man.

 

Directed by Leslie Norman (1958’s “Dunkirk”), this 1956 Hammer sci-fi film was intended to be a spin-off from Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass series. However, since the screenplay was written by Jimmy Sangster (“Horror of Dracula”, “The Snorkel”, “The Nanny”) and not Kneale, the latter refused the use of his characters, thus the final product comes with some character alterations. It’s Quatermass in all but name, and frankly a lot better than Hammer’s rather dull “The Quatermass Xperiment” at the very least. This is really good low-budget filmmaking, and American character actor Dean Jagger is perfectly cast in a rare lead role. Aussie-born Leo McKern offers sturdy, matter-of-fact support as an investigator.

 

I really liked this one, it’s genuinely creepy at times and the plot is irresistible 50s sci-fi. The facial mugging in the attack scenes is a tad silly, but the radiation sound FX and gruesome visual FX are terrific for the time and budget. I also really liked the stark, B&W cinematography by Gerald Gibbs (“Quatermass II”, “The Devil’s Agent”), it really works wonders as the film verges on being a horror film at times. Composer James Bernard (“Horror of Dracula”, “The Devil Rides Out”) delivers yet another strong music score in an impressive line of them.

 

Top 10 Hammer for my money, an enthralling, sometimes genuinely creepy sci-fi story with rock-solid performances, terrific cinematography, and impressive low-budget FX. Seek this one out, it’s a damn fine B-movie.

 

Rating: B

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Jinnah

The story of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Sir Christopher Lee) the politically moderate founder of Pakistan. A Muslim lawyer, Jinnah fought to form a separate nation from India for the Muslim minority, whilst Mahatma Gandhi (Sam Dastor) wished for India to stay united and proposed Jinnah as the new PM as a compromise. James Fox plays British viceroy Lord Mountbatten, Indira Varma plays Jinnah’s wife, and veteran bit player Vernon Dobtcheff plays a British dignitary.   Although Christopher Lee’s title performance received some critical notice and the actor himself was very proud of the work, this modestly budgeted 1998 biopic from director Jamil Dehlavi ( “Immaculate Conception” with Melissa Leo) and co-writer Farrukh Dhondy ( “Red Mercury” with Stockard Channing and Ron Silver) was largely ignored at the time and still very little-known today. Part of that is probably due to the poor marketing of the film, and difficulty in finding a distributor. It’s hard to get people to talk abo...
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit t...
Read more

Review: Bloodbrothers

Detailing the trials and troubles of a working class Italian-American family, where brothers Paul Sorvino and Tony Lo Bianco try to persuade the latter’s sensitive son (a slightly too old Richard Gere) to join them in the construction business. Gere has more of an interest in working with kids, and gets a job offer by doctor Floyd Levine at the local hospital. Dad of course, sees social work as woman’s work, and belligerently disapproves, but he gets some support from his waitress girlfriend (played by Marilu Henner). Meanwhile, Lo Bianco’s frustrated wife Lelia Goldoni has become mentally unstable and her lashing out at their youngest son (Michael Hershwe) has led to his anorexia. Kenneth McMillan plays a disabled bartender, whilst various well-known character actors and faces play construction workers (Danny Aiello, Robert Costanzo, Eddie Jones, etc). This 1978 Robert Mulligan ( “To Kill a Mockingbird” ) tale about a seriously dysfunctional Italian-American family is too broadly ...
Read more