Quatermass (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Quatermass (1979) – P. Haggard

Writer Nigel Kneale’s final outing for Prof. Bernard Quatermass finds the elderly rocket scientist (now played by Sir John Mills) in the bleakest of dystopian futures. Society has completely broken down (think Children of Men or Mad Max) and youth gangs are rampaging everywhere. Quatermass is brought out of isolation in Scotland by the disappearance of his granddaughter, who has seemingly joined a cult of Planet People who travel to mystic locations such as the Stonehenge like Ringstone Round awaiting a mystic force to take them to another world. When a force really does appear, Quatermass and a small group of space scientists realise that it may not be a force for good.  Across four episodes, the team attempts to figure out what is happening and try to stop it – meanwhile all of the world’s young people are being rapidly depleted (including 70K people in Wembley Stadium).  Shot on an extremely low budget, the four-part series is nevertheless very effective (perhaps as a result of the low budget) and even though you can’t always trust Quatermass, as played by John Mills he is always charismatic. The (often elderly) supporting cast – who you can’t count on to stay alive – do a solid job in support.  This is easily the grimmest of the Quatermass releases but worth tracking down.