Professor Bernard Quatermass returns for the second of three films by Hammer, and it's a minor improvement over the first film. Not only is Donlevy's performance as Quatermass smoothed out, the production values and storyline are both refined. After nearly sixty years, the plot seems like a rather cliche variation on the body snatcher premise, but considering its contemporaries, I'd say Quatermass 2 does a fairly good job keeping it fresh. Quatermass encounters a woman rushing to the hospital after her boyfriend got burned from touching a meteorite. When he returns to his research base, he discovers that his aides have discovered a barrage of meteorites in the area. Further investigation reveals mind control, a government conspiracy, a mysterious factory base, and an alien plot to take over the world. Quatermass is not as rushed and forceful in this film as in the previous installment, but he still sticks out as the brazen American among an all-British supporting cast. He lacks the compassion of Andrew Keir's characterization of Quatermass, my personal favorite. Val Guest manages to keep the tension high and budget from showing. The special effects department pulled off some good work involving matte paintings, puppets, miniatures, and some almost undetectable composite-work for 1957. The film feels familiar because the plot structure doesn't differ whatsoever from the first (or the third film, really), but it's a slightly more involved and polished outing this second time around.
7/10
