QUATERMASS AND THE PIT   1967
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
97 minutes
In English

This is the best of Hammer Horror studio's 'Quatermass' movies... and it is also the one that explodes in a furious climax. It's considered to be a British masterpiece... and it has a haunting mood that accumulates into a whirlwind frenzy. It also features a groundbreaking idea about the nature of mankind and the development of human intelligence. I should note that the film stands independent of the other movies in the series (the only link is the main character - Professor Quatermass).

A bit of the plot? Excavation work on an underground metro station in London unearths a strange-looking object. At first it's mistaken for a undetonated bomb from World War ll, but soon eerie things start to happen, and some very odd-looking skulls are found, along with several ancient corpses of locust-type creatures. The British government calls in Professor Quatermass to investigate, and as danger looms, he struggles to save London's population from an impending apocalypse.

This gem was made with very little money, and with almost no spectacular special effects - and yet it is one of the most imaginative and intelligently paranoid science fiction films ever created. One thing is sure, it definitely left its mark on the entire sci-fi genre... after Quatermass, nothing would be the same again.

This will be a high-definition screening.