My Cultural Diet

The Quatermass Xperiment is considered the first proper horror film from the legendary Hammer Studios, which would ultimately become synonymous with the genre thanks in part to a string of Dracula films starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it also holds the dubious distinction of being the only horror film to scare someone to death (a nine-year-old boy, tragically). Of course, watching it now, seventy years after its release, its story of a scientist racing to protect London from a possible alien virus that came back on a crashed rocket is more quaint than anything. (Interestingly, the titular hero is actually something of a jerk and egomaniac, and the film’s final shot suggests that he’s learned nothing from the preceding events.) At the same time, The Quatermass Xperiment is still a pretty enjoyable “classic” sci-fi/horror film, and the creature effects can still make your skin crawl, even after you see the strings.

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