Feinde aus dem Nichts (1957)

Feinde aus dem Nichts: Directed by Val Guest. With Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes. Professor Quatermass, trying to gather support for his Lunar colonisation project, is intrigued by mysterious traces that have been showing up.

“Val Guestu0026#39;s Quatermass II is my favourite film ever. The cold, dawning revelation that builds up all the way through the first half of the film that the invasion is actually underway and that the u0026#39;zombiesu0026#39; not only WALK AMONG US, but are actually IN CHARGE and IN POWER is terrifyingly atmospheric. I always like to think that if the invasion ever did come, it wouldnu0026#39;t come through massive mother ships as per Independence Day, but from within, from the suburbs, the rural villages. Really clever invaders would use Earthu0026#39;s own power structures, governments and resources against it without anyone noticing, not turn up en masse in flying saucers spoiling for a fight. The idea of the invasion falling to Earth in meteorites through a form of collective intelligence (recycled in the 1973 BBC Doctor Who serial Spearhead From Space) continues this threatening vein of invasion, and provides the most atmospheric scene in the film when Quatermass stands in the open night air as whizzing sounds around him give away the increased number of the meteorites now falling (the invasion is now fully underway!). Other scenes are just downright terrifying and follow the Kneale tradition of u0026#39;terror through revelationu0026#39;: the lorries in London carrying the symbol; Quatermassu0026#39; first glimpse through the dome viewing panel; and when it is revealed how the zombies are blocking the pipes!! This u0026#39;revelationu0026#39; aspect can be seen in all of the Quatermass films and serials (in The Quatermass Conclusion: when it is revealed by the body parts that the hippies werenu0026#39;t u0026#39;transportedu0026#39;, in Quatermass and the Pit: u0026#39;you mean WE are the Martians!!u0026#39;). Storytelling, atmosphere and terror like this hasnu0026#39;t survived the onset of todayu0026#39;s special effects. Film makers like Dean Devlin just donu0026#39;t need to employ methods like this anymore, and this is why thinking peopleu0026#39;s science fiction relying on chilling, atmospheric and scientifically valid stories, plots and concepts will never ever be repeated.”