Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

A 5-million year old Martian colony ship containing the remains of the original insectoidal crew is found buried beneath London. Disturbing the ship causes a release some kind of paranormal energy that causes visions of the horned Martians, violent compulsions, and psychokinetic disturbances, so the area (Hob's Lane, 'hob' as in 'hob'globin for example) is reputed to be cursed. Despite hero Quatermass' warnings, the army dismisses the ship as an unexploded experimental weapon from WW2 and allows the press to bring in generators. The ship, which was programmed to compel the original Martian crew to preserve the colony at all costs and to destroy any different life forms (apparently a continuation of the eugenic genocide that destroyed their home world), fully awakens and drives the local humans to embark on an orgy of destruction and murder. Earth is saved by an astute guess as to the nature of the Martian technology and a convenient crane. Overall an imaginative and intriguing set-up let down by a weak ending - the astute guess was not based on much data, so comes across as a bit of a Deus Ex Machina, and the crane was just tooooo convenient (and the heroic martyrdom of James Donald's character is a bit silly – what did he think he was going to do, perched on the edge of the massive construction crane – shift it with his weight?). Despite the limitations of the climax and some dodgy special effects, "Five Million Years to Earth" (aka "Quatermass and the Pit") is a great example of the cerebral (relative to most concurrent American releases) science fiction movies to come out of Britain in the 50s and 60s. Overall, a clever spin on the classic premise of aliens being the inspiration of our racial memories of devils and demons (for other examples, see A. C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" or the third doctor serial "The Dæmons" (1971)) and well worth watching for both the story and Andrew Keir's excellent portrayal of the iconic (in some circles) 'Bernard Quatermass' character

I rate Andrew Keir as the best Professor Quatermass by far. However, this film has some very poor production values - as this movie is set in then modern day London, why not film there rather than relying on some rather obvious studio sets? The latter only made the film look decidedly amateurish. The direction is hampered as well.A few effective moments and Andrew Keir's performance can only compensate for so much.

Original, intriguing...and disappointing.Workers on an extension of one of London's underground train stations discover skulls and other remains in their diggings. They then discover also discover a large missile-like object. Thinking it is an unexploded WW2 bomb, an army bomb squad arrives to investigate. However, the object doesn't seem like a WW2 bomb...Great set up, poor ending. Original story, that developed in very intriguing fashion. However, the conclusion was very lacklustre, and quite out of place with what had gone before. After such a tight, plausible first 60% or so, the remainder was quite silly, random and implausible. Ultimately, a movie of two halves with the good work of the first half almost entirely undone by the second. Overall, a decent movie, but only just.

A mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass (Andrew Keir) is called in to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.This is the film that inspired John Carpenter. Okay, so not "the" film, as he also was strongly influenced by the films of Howard Hawks. But you can see this film in "Prince of Darkness", and also in "In the Mouth of Madness". And, of course, it stands on its own.Some of this is a little silly. The alien / arthropod corpses are a bit less than believable as living creatures, but at least they tried to make up for that with goo blood and other touches. And the images from Mars... a bit weird. But, hey, still a fine film.