From the April 1953 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #10
Friday, March 21, 2008
Let the Past Lie Buried!
This may be my favorite post of the month so far… something about the central idea here is very cool and clever to me, and those of you who are Hammer fans may be somwhat reminded of certain scenes and implications expressed / hinted at in their brilliant Quatermass and the Pit film while you read this too. Enjoy!
From the April 1953 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #10
From the April 1953 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #10
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VERY COOL STORY. TOOK ME A WHILE TO READ IT HERE AT WORK THIS MORNING BUT IT WAS 100% RIVETING. I HAVEN'T SEEN THE QUATERMASS MOVIE IN AGES, IS THAT THE ONE WHERE THEY FIND THE SPACESHIP BURIED IN THE TUNNEL?
"Glenn Niles fondled the bone with growing excitement!"
Now there's the kind of writing I like to see!
Seriously, this is one epic comic story. I can see why it's a fave--an entire town possessed by neanderthal tendencies, men smacking women for no reason, bloodlust unleashed, a mad professor with no respect for the dead, a FREAKING NEANDERTHAL ZOMBIE!!! Wow. Just wow.
This one has everything--even the DOGS are possessed! Who knew the neanderthals were so spiritually powerful?
The art is great too, though once again I wish the colorists had had more time...still, the wild-eyed crowd scenes are chilling, and the close ups of Niles in his madness all excellent. The only misstep artistically is that "cloud face"--but we know these guys were on tight deadlines.
Heck, I even love the "dripping" narrative boxes! Great one.
Though I have to question the mathematics of this..."You took one body out, so we must replace it with yours! And those other two guys...and put the original bones back...how many is that again?" Oh well, I guess numbers hadn't been discovered in neanderthal times...
>IS THAT THE ONE WHERE THEY FIND THE SPACESHIP BURIED IN THE TUNNEL?
Yes, same movie.
>Seriously, this is one epic comic story.
I agree. And you make alot of smart points as usual Vicar. Have you seen Quatermass and the Pit? Or 5 Million Years to Earth as it's known in the US? I'm just curious to know if anyone else sees the similarities that I see between this story and the film. The huge evil head that materializes above the city, the evil power that overtakes and possesses the villagers etc...
Nigel Kneale's crowning achievement.
Oh yes, I have seen that one, as well as the Quatermass Xperiment. I prefer the Pit, though--a friend I watched it with noted how Andrew Kier's brogue gets thicker and thicker the more tense the action becomes, which is a joy.
I see the similarities in the way the crowds get more and more regressively violent, I guess--though I see more similarities between Quatermass and the Pit and Tobe Hooper's glorious mess of a sci-fi/vamire epic, LIFEFORCE.
Yep, the similarity's pretty close. The "Quatermass and the Pit" movie's based on Nigel Kneale's 1958 TV serial, so the comic's first by five years. (The movie's very close to the original TV script, and I'd say all the better for it - the other Hammer Quatermass films badly weakened the characters and stories.)
>Hooper's glorious mess of a sci-fi/vamire epic, LIFEFORCE
Yeah maybe... but I'm mostly referring to, as someone on IMDb so aptly put it about Quatermass and the Pit, "the suggestion that the human mind and it's psychic and sixth sense qualities was the result of alien intervention with our ancestral primates millions of years ago." Maybe you forgot that while they attempt to solve the riddle of the alien craft that they also unearth several ape-like skeletons too.
>so the comic's first by five years.
Excellent point Tim, thanks! And I agree the other Quatermass films aren't as good as The Pit, but Quatermass 2 still has alot going for it (the end is practically a kaiju film!)
I'd love to see the original '58 seriel again sometime, my copy is an old old washed-out bootleg on vhs.
Fascinating story today, and an equally fascinating discussion brewing here. I now see I have to find these Quatermass films and discover what you're talking about, it all sounds right up my alley. Thanks!
>I have to find these Quatermass films and discover what you're talking about
All of them are highly reccomended.
Okay little potboiler,man those Fawcett guys loved using color holds!.I agree about PIT being the best Quatermass film,but XPERIMENT is my 2nd favorite,mainly because of Richard Wordsworth's performance.
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