Monster of the Day #61

Updated on July 7, 2010 By Ken Begg 11 Comments

World’s most revisionist version of Romeo and Juliet?  Nope.  Almost as good, though.  Just a crackerjack movie, and one that builds to this very nice climax.  Good work, chaps.

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  • Ericb

    One of the best sci-fi movies ever. I hope they don’t ruin it with a cgi remake.

  • Sandy Petersen

    This is in my opinion the greatest SF movie of the 50s and 60s. It covers so much area and has so much stuff. it is one of my go-to movies for showing people how great SF could be without a budget.

  • alex

    A true forgotten classic. Got it a few years ago on a Hammer double feature DVD and could not believe how good it was.

  • BeckoningChasm

    The first half hour or so is also incredibly frightening.

  • Makes the case for sequels quite well, this film does. Really, really good.

  • Rock Baker

    I haven’t seen Five Million Years to Earth in so many years I’ve forgotten pretty much everything other than the ‘we’ve got an unexploded bomb-wait it’s not a bomb-Quatermass discovers it’s a Martian rocket’ set up. I really need to see it again. Didn’t like it as a kid because Donlevy wasn’t playing Quatermass, but I’m ready to give it another go now.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I have never seen this. Luckily, TCM will help me rectify that later this month.

  • JazzyJ

    OK, had to go look up some pictures — for some reason, I did not remember the big beastie… ;-)

    Yes, truly a great film from the 60s.

  • JoshG

    I saw this when I was younger, but I found it rather disappointing at the time. I’ll have to catch it this weekend, I think I’ll appreciate it more this time around.

  • Luke Blanchard

    The TV serial version also survives (as does the TV version of Quatermass II, but only part of the first serial). The serial was spoofed in an episode of The Goons.

  • Gamera

    Watched this on TCM last night- thanks Ken for the heads up!
    Funny, I picked up the BBC mini-series a year or so ago and for some reason figured the movie version wouldn’t be as good. After seeing the movie now I think it’s a little better than the TV since with a shorter running time it’s tighter, and the FX improve rather than detract from the film. Seems really odd to me when it came out though since it predated the whole Eric von Daikan ‘Hot Rods of the Gods’ fad by twenty or so years.