Let me start off by stating that this wasn't too bad of a movie. In the beginning, it really was creepy and compelling. But as the story went on, it got less and less interesting, and more and more silly. At one point objects are floating around a cavern, and you can very clearly see the strings. Yes, I know this was the 60's, and no, I don't expect them to use black magic to hide the strings, but that doesn't stop it from instantly ruining the mood of the scene.

But the effects get far worse than that. Near the climax of the movie, the leading female character gets hooked up to a mind-reading machine, which will display what she sees on a TV monitor. She psychically views a great war on Mars, with many insect creatures fighting each other. And it just looked horrible. The models they used looked as small as G.I. Joes, and less life-like.

Oh, BBC, you never fail to disappoint.

I have read that this is actually a remake of a television mini-series from 1958, which was a sequel to a 1957 movie called Quartermass 2. Why 2? Because that movie was a sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment from 1955. There was another TV series after Quatermass and the Pit, called simply Quatermass, which was made in 1979.

Unlike such lovable London characters as Dr. Who and "that black guy from Red Dwarf," Quatermass isn't very pleasant or memorable at all, and I can't understand why someone would perpetuate stories about him for nearly 30 years.

He does that thing that all scientists in cheesy sci-fi's do, and that being coming up with outlandish and wild theories from little or no empirical data. After he sees the dead insect aliens in the buried ship he naturally assumes they're from Mars and that they've super-evolved apes into humans and therefor we are all Martians. Makes since to me.

This movie, while entertaining, wasn't cheesy enough to make fun of, and wasn't exciting enough to be wonderfully enjoyable. At only 90 minutes, they had to rush the story somewhat. Perhaps the original mini-series is better?