Hammer wanted to make another Quatermass movie but Nigel Kneale refused to give over the rights to his character, so they just ripped it off. Instead of Brian Donlevy we have Dean Jagger, an even less charismatic American actor playing a scientist investigating a mystery. This one involves a creature coming out of a crack in the earth.
Apparently Joe Losey was slated to direct by Dean Jagger nixed him on the grounds that he didn’t like Losey’s left-leaning politics. Imagine – Dean Jagger powerful enough to protest who directed the film! (To be fair Hammer’s US co-financiers probably had a greater say.) Leslie Norman took over instead and does a workman-like job. The support cast includes some familiar faces: Leo McKern is a journalist who seems to have an awful lot of authority (he bosses the scientists around) and Anthony Newley a soldier. A good thing too since Jagger isn’t very inspiring.
There are some excellent special effects – I love the two head-melting scenes – although when the creature grows at the end and we get a good look at it, it’s just the blob (I wonder if the makers of The Blob were inspired by this?).
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